Following a couple of talks I gave last year, I have just put together an article for the Chichester Local History Society Journal and have finally got my act together to put it on this blog. It briefly outlines the history of the Charlton Hunt and the involvement of the Dukes of Richmond. I have purposely not called the post ‘The Charlton Hunt’ as that story really only covers the period of the first half of the 18th Century. Thereafter the 3rd Duke moved the Hunt to Goodwood and the rest of the story is the struggle to keep it viable.

In 1675 in the turbulent closing years of the reign of Charles II a fox hunt was established in Charlton, a small village on the Downs just a couple of miles north of Goodwood. Although hunting with hounds is ancient, the Charlton Hunt appears to be the first documented pack of hounds to be entered to chase only the fox. Within the space of a few years it attained a popularity amongst the nobility and gentry never since equalled. Almost all the sons of Charles II and every noble family in the land had a representative at Charlton. The Duke of Monmouth even arrogantly claimed that when he was king he should have his court at Charlton! The hunt established itself very quickly as a club, where one had to be elected as a member to be allowed to follow the hounds. However on occasion guests were allowed to participate. So keen were the members to attend every meeting that many built hunting boxes. These were gentlemen’s residences (female company was not encouraged!) that were simply decorated, but often very stylish, where it would be possible to live for the whole season. So it is little wonder that the 1^st Duke of Richmond also wanted his own hunting box nearby! A thoroughly spoilt young man, Charles Lennox had at the tender age of three, been created Duke of Richmond and Duke of Lennox! By nine years old he was already a Garter Knight and known at Court as ‘Prince Charles Lenox’!

Charles Lenox, later 1st Duke of Richmond

The first record we have of any connection between Charles Lennox and Goodwood was in 1689 when a fatte bucke presented by the Duke of Richmond at Goodwood was sent to a group of diners belonging to the ancient society of ‘The Corporation of St Pancras. At that time the Duke was renting the the simple half-timber framed lodge which had been built originally for the Earl of Northumberland as early as 1617. Eventually in 1697 the 27 year old Duke of Richmond bought the house, acquiring it for the principal purpose of fox hunting at Charlton. Being devoted to the hunt, the Duke, together with his brother-in-law George Brudenell, Earl of Cardigan, rose regularly at dawn to ride over the hill to Charlton.

But perhaps fox hunting was not the sole reason for the meeting of nobility in such a remote location. Despite his professed loyalty to the Crown, the first Duke may well have been an intermittent Jacobite. As the natural son of a Stuart King, the nephew of another and the first cousin of the ‘Pretender’ Prince of Wales, it would be surprising if he did not have such affiliations. The family of his Duchess, Anne were also well known for their Jacobite leanings. Her father Francis Brudenell had already spent four years in the Tower of London. Jacobites living in England were by definition extremely secretive, for of course disloyalty to the Crown was treason, punishable by death. By 1714 against this backdrop of fox hunting the first Duke had become firm friends with Richard Boyle, the 3^rd Earl of Burlington who was well known in inner circles for his Jacobitism. The regular foreign trips undertaken by the architecture-loving Earl were more probably a cover for clandestine meetings.

So it is quite possible that up until about the time of the early 1720s, Jacobite meetings took place at Charlton in a primitive room used by the hunt. Their meeting place for hunt business, on the southern edge of the village could easily have doubled as a secret site for any Jacobite enthusiasts at the time of the 1715 uprising. Whenever he went hunting between 1714 and 1722 Lord Burlington may well have been meeting men who had travelled from France, landing just five or six miles away at Chichester or a little more remotely at Itchenor. Around 1722 Lord Burlington designed a new dining room for the hunt – thereafter referred to as the “Great Room”. It was paid for by subscriptions from the many wealthy hunting men. A poem dedicated to the 2^nd Duke described it as a single storey with a domed roof.

The 2^nd Duke of Richmond inherited in 1723 and enthusiastically settled in to the delights of the chase at Charlton. In 1729 despite weighty commitments at Court he agreed to become Master of the Hounds. Luckily his marriage settlement had provided enough finance to buy further estates.  On the 2^nd September 1730 the Duke purchased the manors of Singleton and Charlton including a farm in each village as well as the forests from the Earl of Scarbrough, whose seat was some ten miles to the west at Stansted Park. This extra land allowed him to pursue his dream of his own stables and lodge in Charlton. Work had already commenced on the stables in late 1729 and Fox Hall, as it later became known, is thought to have been designed by Roger Morris – a pupil of Lord Burlington. Records show that a payment of two Guineas was made to Morris to distribute amongst the workmen plus eight Guineas for Morris himself. Until recently this was thought to have been payment for the Council House in Chichester. However from the dates it is far more likely to be for the building of Fox Hall. The lodge provided compact accommodation, with just one main room on the first floor that was most certainly used for entertaining and dining after the hunt. A large recessed area with draped bed served as the Duke’s bedroom. Downstairs were three small offices where the Duke’s servant could sleep and prepare breakfast. In the lodge his silver comprised a coffee pot, a candlestick, six teaspoons, a strainer, a pair of tea tongs and a cream pail!

Fox Hall, Charlton

During the 1730s the 2^nd Duke, as Master of the Hounds had kennels built in the main street of the village. These were later converted into cottages for the estate. The 26^th January 1739 has become immortalised as the most famous day of the Charlton Hunt and it is still known as the ‘Grand Chase’! The hounds ran continuously from eight in the morning through to six when it would have already been dark for a couple of hours. The Duke stayed the whole of the fifty-seven mile course. The distance was checked after the event by servants sent out with a cartwheel to re-trace the route! The 2^nd Duke’s hunting life is further remembered by a large memorial in Singleton Church dedicated to his favourite huntsman, Tom Johnson who died in December 1744.

Throughout its heyday, in the years 1730-50, Hunt members were perfectly housed. Gentlemen’s residences sprung up throughout the village of Charlton and regular members of the club took the opportunity to experiment with architectural ideas on a small scale before becoming celebrated architectural patrons. For example, member Thomas Coke, subsequently the Earl of Leicester created, with the help of Burlington and William Kent, one of the great icons of English Palladianism at Holkham Hall in Norfolk. Even Sir Robert Walpole had his own lodge in Charlton, later building Houghton Hall on the neighbouring estate to the Earl of Leicester. A more local subscriber was Sir William Gage who in the 1740’s created stunning Palladian interiors at Firle Place close to Lewes. In 1751 Dr Richard Pococke passed through Charlton and noted ‘several lodges of a Society of Hunters with a large room in which they dine’

After the shock of the 2^nd Duke’s death in 1750 at the age of forty-nine, the Charlton Hunt went into a steep decline. The club had been his creation and all the members his friends. Hunting ceased altogether and the hounds were dispersed to other packs. Lord Burlington’s Great Room fell into disrepair and was finally torn down in 1785. After the 3^rd Duke came of age he decided to revive the hunt with the help of Sir John Miller, a Chichester luminary. In 1757 as many new hounds as possible were descended from the old Charlton bloodlines. The Duke was very interested in quality and pedigree and became deeply involved in breeding them for the future. His father, the 2^nd Duke would have been so proud of him. But sadly it was to be an uphill struggle. The support of fashionable society had disappeared. Other packs such as the Beaufort and the Quorn were now changing from hunting deer to foxes and this fuelled great competition.

The 3rd Duke of Richmond and the Charlton Hunt by George Stubbs

In 1759 George Stubbs, a little known painter was invited to Goodwood to study the horses and hounds. The 3^rd Duke was intrigued by this artist who preferred to study the movement of animals rather than court London society. At the end of nine months Stubbs had created three paintings of scenes of Goodwood life. These now hang in the Front Hall at the House. This one is somewhat unusual as a hunting scene for it does not represent the moment of triumph in the hunting field, but a scene of disorder and confusion. The hounds have checked and do not know what to do next and the Duke is equally at a loss. No doubt the Duke was involved in the choice of the subject, yet he did not use the opportunity to glorify himself, but rather allowed Stubbs to create individual portraits of his favourite hounds.

 The Duke is the tall figure in the centre turning slightly towards his brother Lord George Lennox. On the left leaping the gate is Captain Jones, Gentleman Groom of the Bedchamber to the 3^rd Duke. The gentleman at the gallop beyond may be Sir John Miller, 4^th Baronet, 1712-1772. The accompanying huntsman wears the Richmond equestrian livery of yellow with scarlet fringing. He may well be one of the Budd family from Charlton who had already been hunt servants for many years and descendants still live in the village today!

The Stables by William Chambers

A short while after the revival of the hunt the 3^rd Duke began to build a magnificent new stable block adjacent to the front of Goodwood House. It was designed by William Chambers with a magnificent triumphal entrance archway. Completed in 1761, it is still very much in use today with both horses and jockeys having the space to relax before an important race at Goodwood.

The Kennels by James Wyatt

In 1787, thirty years after reviving the hunt the Duke decided to move his hounds to Goodwood, at which point they were re-named the Duke of Richmond’s Hounds. He instructed James Wyatt to create the most magnificent kennels ever seen. The cost was £6000 and the hounds finally moved in to the best quarters in the country in 1790. The central square was for accommodation for the huntsman with sleeping rooms upstairs for the hunt servants. The wings on either side were subdivided into hound lodges – with a raised wooden bench on which the hounds slept on straw bedding and a stone floor area for the hounds to run around. Projecting wings provided breeding rooms and a boiler room. But most remarkable was the sophisticated heating system. While the residents of the House froze the dogs were warm and snug!

Kennel Lodges

As well state-of-the-art kennels the hunt whippers-in were provided with handsome houses designed by James Wyatt. Coadestone coats of arms show they were completed in 1789. The 3^rd Duke kept meticulous records about the hounds, which include crayon portraits drawn about 1790 of the five Goodwood ladies at that time: Mary Bruce, Duchess; Lady Louisa, Lord George’s wife; Mary, their daughter; Henriette le Clerc, natural daughter of the 3^rd Duke and Louisa Bunbury, daughter of Sarah, a sister of the 3^rd Duke.

 The 3^rd Duke died in 1806 aged 71 and was succeeded by his nephew, who through financial necessity remained a military man and sadly decided to disband the Duke of Richmond’s hounds in 1813. He gave them to the Prince Regent who installed them with his buckhounds at Windsor and sadly, shortly afterwards they all died of rabies.

Victorian Whelping Kennels

Towards the end of the 19^th Century the 6^th Duke decided to re-create the Goodwood Hunt . The announcement was greeted by locals with great delight. During the winter of 1882-83 the Duke undertook building works in the area of the existing kennels. Brand new kennels were built over the road together with a flinted house for the huntsman and seven individual kennels for whelping. By this time accommodation in the old Wyatt block had been adapted as dormitories for the increasing number of policemen required on horse racing days.

The Kennels, Goodwood

This photo shows enthusiastic bystanders at the hunt on a day during the season in winter 1883. The crowds are gathered on the lawns approaching the Kennels from Goodwood House.

With the agricultural depression of the late 1880s the hunt was finally disbanded in 1895 after 12 years. Owing to low farming revenues and mortgages on all his new properties the 6^th Duke began to feel the pinch. The only member of the family to hunt after this date was the future 8^th Duke whilst still Earl of March until he contracted polio during the First World War after which he was confined to a wheelchair.

The heyday of the Hunt was finally over, replaced by the thrill of horseracing.

 However the spirit of the Charlton Hunt still survives as a dining club under the patronage of the Duke of Richmond, Viscount Cowdray and Lord Egremont. The tradition of the blue and gold livery continues and by kind permission of the Landmark Trust, the annual dinner is still held at Fox Hall in Charlton.