The Southdown and Eridge Hunt is a United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 fox hunt

Fox hunting

Fox hunting is an activity involving the tracking, chase, and sometimes killing of a fox, traditionally a red fox, by trained foxhounds or other scent hounds, and a group of followers led by a master of foxhounds, who follow the hounds on foot or on horseback.Fox hunting originated in its current...

, with hunting country within the counties of Sussex

Sussex

Sussex , from the Old English Sūþsēaxe , is an historic county in South East England corresponding roughly in area to the ancient Kingdom of Sussex. It is bounded on the north by Surrey, east by Kent, south by the English Channel, and west by Hampshire, and is divided for local government into West...

 and Kent

Kent

Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...

.

History

The Southdown and Eridge Hunt was formed on 1 May 1981 by the merger of the previously autonomous hunts, the Southdown Hunt and the Eridge Hunt.

Hunt Country

The hunt covers country with two distinct territories, which is a result of the merger of the two former hunts. The western country is bordered to the north by the A272 road and to the south by the sea, going as far west at the border of Steyning

Steyning

Steyning is a small town and civil parish in the Horsham District of West Sussex, England. It is located at the north end of the River Adur gap in the South Downs, four miles north of Shoreham-by-Sea...

 and including Henfield

Henfield

Henfield is a large village and civil parish in the Horsham District of West Sussex, England. It lies south of London, northwest of Brighton, and east northeast of the county town of Chichester at the road junction of the A281 and A2037. The parish has a land area of . In the 2001 census 5,012...

. At Uckfield, the country extends north, to include Crowborough

Crowborough

The highest point in the town is 242 metres above sea level. This summit is the highest point of the High Weald and second highest point in East Sussex . Its relative height is 159 m, meaning Crowborough qualifies as one of England's Marilyns...

 and Royal Tunbridge Wells

Royal Tunbridge Wells

Royal Tunbridge Wells is a town in west Kent, England, about south-east of central London by road, by rail. The town is close to the border of the county of East Sussex...

 and East to the A21.

The hunt's best centres are Albourne

Albourne

Albourne is a village and civil parish in the Mid Sussex district of West Sussex, England. It lies just off the A23 road three miles east of Henfield. The parish has a land area of 772.9 hectares...

, Chailey

Chailey

Chailey is a village and civil parish in the Lewes District of East Sussex, England. It is located ten miles north of Lewes, on the A272 road from Winchester to Canterbury...

, Hadlow Down

Hadlow Down

Hadlow Down is a village and civil parish in the Wealden District of East Sussex, England. It is located on the A272 road three miles north-east of Heathfield. The parish is within the High Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty...

, Lewes

Lewes

Lewes is the county town of East Sussex, England and historically of all of Sussex. It is a civil parish and is the centre of the Lewes local government district. The settlement has a history as a bridging point and as a market town, and today as a communications hub and tourist-oriented town...

 and Mark Cross

Rotherfield

Rotherfield is a village and civil parish in the Wealden District of East Sussex, England. It is one of the largest parishes in East Sussex. There are three villages in the parish: Rotherfield, Mark Cross, and Eridge.-Etymology:...

. Its terrain consists of wooded

Woodland

Ecologically, a woodland is a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade. Woodlands may support an understory of shrubs and herbaceous plants including grasses. Woodland may form a transition to shrubland under drier conditions or during early stages of...

 weald

Weald

The Weald is the name given to an area in South East England situated between the parallel chalk escarpments of the North and the South Downs. It should be regarded as three separate parts: the sandstone "High Weald" in the centre; the clay "Low Weald" periphery; and the Greensand Ridge which...

, well-fenced vale

River Valley

River Valley is the name of an urban planning area within the Central Area, Singapore's central business district.The River Valley Planning Area is defined by the region bounded by Orchard Boulevard, Devonshire Road and Eber Road to the north, Oxley Rise and Mohamed Sultan Road to the east, Martin...

, and the open downland

Downland

A downland is an area of open chalk hills. This term is especially used to describe the chalk countryside in southern England. Areas of downland are often referred to as Downs....

 of the South Downs

South Downs

The South Downs is a range of chalk hills that extends for about across the south-eastern coastal counties of England from the Itchen Valley of Hampshire in the west to Beachy Head, near Eastbourne, East Sussex, in the east. It is bounded on its northern side by a steep escarpment, from whose...

.

Pony Club

The hunt is linked to three separate branches of The Pony Club

The Pony Club

The Pony Club is a voluntary organisation founded in England in 1929. It has now expanded internationally and Pony Club branches can be found worldwide...

, with the Southdown hunt founding a pony club in 1936, but which split in 1976 to form the Southdown Hunt West and Southdown Hunt East Pony Clubs, and the Eridge Hunt establishing a branch in 1935.

External links

• Southdown and Eridge Hunt Official Website
• Former Southdown and Eridge Hunt web site (to be retained but not updated)