Fox-Hunting

Fox hunting was popular among the local gentry. An item in the Blackburn Mail for May 18th 1796 records how the hounds belonging to Henry Sudell pursued a fox from Pleasington to Walton, then on to Brindle, Wheelton, Withnell, Heapey and Hoghton, then back to Pleasington, from there to Samlesbury Woods, Balderstone and Osbaldeston, before crossing the River Ribble to Alston, where the fox was killed. The pursuit lasted five hours and covered 50 miles.