Our country
Our hunting country is varied and extensive. It ranges across West Sussex and Surrey and includes large stretches of downland, heathland and woodland with the ground varying from sand and clay to chalk and flint. Our boundaries extend from Stoughton in the West to Pulborough in the East. The Northern boundary runs along the A29 and the Southern to the coast between Climping and Thorney Island.
Our hunt country around Charlton and Goodwood, near Chichester, is some of England’s oldest and we still meet at Uppark where Hounds were kennelled in the 1600s.
The jumps we encounter are mainly timber with some hedges and ditches. Jumping is always optional.
Our history
The Hunt was formed in 1973 when the Chiddingfold and Leconfield Hunt amalgamated with the Cowdray Hunt.
The Chiddingfold began as a subscription pack in 1863 and merged with the Leconfield during the Second World War, after the 1941-42 season. Each of the three Hunts is steeped in history.
The Leconfield dates from 1773 when it was hunted by Lord Leconfield himself and latterly by successive generations of his family until the 1940s. Today hounds are still kept at the original kennels at Petworth House by kind permission of Lord Egremont.
In the mid-1890s the famous Goodwood hounds vacated the former Charlton country. Lord Leconfield was keen to increase his country and re-annexed the land, enabling the Leconfield to hunt six days a week.
After the Second World War he reduced hunting to four days a week and but still found the country too large. It was then that Lord Cowdray's sons, the Hons. Harold and Clive Pearson approached him, requesting they be allowed to take over the old Charlton country to start a new pack - The Cowdray Hunt. The Cowdray's first meet was held in November 1922.
The Chiddingfold, Leconfield and Cowdray Hunt continues to hunt the original Charlton country today and regularly meets at Uppark. Hunting was first recorded at Charlton some 330 years ago in the 1670s when The Charlton Hunt were reputed to have kept the first pack of hounds dedicated to hunting foxes.
Following the introduction of the hunting ban in 2005 the Hunt switched to trail hunting as allowed. We lay trails throughout the day which mimic the movement of live quarry. We aim to provide our Huntsman and Hounds - and therefore our followers - with an unpredictable and challenging day’s hunting.