The Bilsdale Hunt Song

Lyrics

1
Ye 'earty sons of chase give ear,
And listen to my song,
It's of a hunt with Bilsdale Hounds,
It's of a hunt with Bilsdale Hounds,
Which lately 'as been run.

Chorus:
An' a huntin' we will go, will go,
An' a huntin' we will go, brave boys,
An' a huntin' we will go.

2
On the eighteenth of November last,
It bein' that very day,
With all our upstanch 'ounds we went, x2
Ti cover straight away.

3
Up Eskerdale we did pursue,
Right to that lofty crag,
Our 'ounds gave mouth for certain truth, x2
That they were upon a drag.

4
We ran this drag across the moor,
Right onto Thorodale Rocks,
And at ten o' clock that varry day, x2
Unkille`d was our fox.

5
By Arden Hall and Coomb Hill Wood,
And Sunny Banks also,
Frae Peak Scar Gill to Murton Hill, x2
In spite of all their foes.

6
Up Cayd'le straight 'e took 'is flight,
To Boltby Hills so high,
Down the long plain Bold Rennie came, x2
We 'eard a jovial cry.

7
Through Cold Kirkby and Askerndale(?),
And Scawton Town 'e go,
By Playpit Post and Noble Duke, x2
This valiant fox did go.

8
To Tom Smith's Cross and Lea High Wood,
And Buttriss Wood full past,
Bi t' Byland Abbey and Crook Hill, x2
And Wattery Gates 'e passed.

9
Through Newburgh Park to Pond Beck Wood
And Oulston Wood 'e found,
All 'is skill 'e tried or 'e'd surely 'a died, x2
If 'e 'adn't gone ti ground.

10
It's twenty-five miles it was our chase,
We ran it in three hours space,
Our 'unters true that did pursue, x2
And Ah'll name them ivvery one.

11
There was Mr Walkington on 'is chestnut mare,
Charles 'Arrison on 'is bay,
Jonah Bulman, Leonard 'Eseltine, x2
Peacock and Clarke was there.

12
Come, sportsmen all, your glasses fill,
And let this toast go round.
Five couple of 'ounds of 'igh degree, x2
And the' viewed the fox ti ground.

Chorus
An' a huntin' we will go, will go,
An' a huntin' we will go, brave boys,
An' a huntin', tally-ho!

This is a traditional song about Yorkshire, collected in Yorkshire.

Provenance

The Bilsdale hunts a wild moorland country adjoining the Farndale, Hurworth, Sinnington and Cleveland Hunts. Its area once formed part of the wider area hunted by George Villiers, the second Duke of Buckingham, from Helmsley Castle in the seventeenth century, and the hunt can claim to be one of the oldest packs in Great Britain. The lineal descendant of the Duke's pack is the Sinnington though. See the notes on TYG76 for further information on the earlier hunt.

The hunt came out of the doldrums in 1897 when Mr Henry Selby Lowndes took the pack, and Handley Cross House was built with stables and kennels, by Canon J L Kyle. When Selby Lowndes left the hunt in 1900 the Bilsdale went back to 't' awd way o' hunting', trencher feeding, and everybody involved had their say in the management. After that kennels were moved several times and the hunt lurched from trencher-fed to orthodox style and back several times until 1930 when a committee took control with Mr W E Ainsley as Huntsman. He was one of a family connected with the Hunt going back before records were kept, and had a few hounds kenneled at his Spout House Hotel in Bilsdale. He carried on until his death in 1953 when his son Basil succeeded him.

This version was recorded by Mary and Nigel Hudleston from a Mr Ainley(sic) of Spout House, Bilsdale, and published in their Songs of the Ridings, 2001, p188. A comparison of John's version and the printed one says a lot about the skills of the original transcribers. Presumably it is Basil Ainsley who the Hudlestons recorded. The song describes a chase of about twenty-five miles north to south along the Hambleton Hills from Arden Great Moor down into the Vale of York finishing about four miles north of Easingwold at Oulston. Much of this route is since 1983 an official walk called The Hambleton Hobble.