Country

The country covers some 19 miles (31 km) north to south and 22 miles (35 km) east to west in the counties of Hertfordshire

Hertfordshire

Hertfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England. The county town is Hertford.The county is one of the Home Counties and lies inland, bordered by Greater London , Buckinghamshire , Bedfordshire , Cambridgeshire and...

, Essex

Essex

Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...

 and Cambridgeshire

Cambridgeshire

Cambridgeshire is a county in England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the northeast, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire to the west...

. The country is one of bank and ditch, arable and grasslands. Adjoining hunts are to the north the Thurlow Hunt, to the east and south-east the Essex Hunt and to the north and south the Cambridgeshire Hunt and Enfield Chase

Enfield Chase

Enfield Chase is an area in the London Borough of Enfield, North London. It was once covered by woodland and used as a royal deer park. While it is no longer officially a 'place', the Church of England Parish of St Mary Magdalene, Enfield Chase, officially holds that title, which was effectively...

.

History

The Hunt dates back to 1725 when hounds were kept at Cheshunt

Cheshunt

Cheshunt is a town in Hertfordshire, England with a population of around 52,000 according to the United Kingdom's 2001 Census. It is a dormitory town and part of the Greater London Urban Area and London commuter belt served by Cheshunt railway station...

 and the country was also that of the Hertfordshire. The country, as now constituted, has existed since 1799. In 1970 the Puckeridge amalgamated with the Newmarket and Thurlow to form the Puckeridge & Thurlow Hunt, but in 1992 this union was dissolved and the re-established Puckeridge reverted to its old boundaries. The Mastership has been in the Barclay family continuously for over a hundred seasons. The breeding of all the hounds can be traced back to 1725 through the Stud Book.