Back to a bygone age

The discovery of a haul of old shooting and country magazines gives David Tomlinson the perfect excuse to take a trip down memory lane

- David Tomlinson

THERE’S SOMETHING about old shooting and country magazines that makes an irresistible browse. My recent move unearthed several ancient copies of both Country Life and Shooting Times, all of which have made a great read during isolation.

A 1930 issue of Country Life included a list of ‘sportings’ on offer from Knight Frank & Rutley. For a mere £200 a year, you could rent 3,500 acres of hill ground, offering an annual bag of 80 brace of grouse and 14 stags. Up your payment to £500 and there was the option of 23,000 acres, 20 stags and 120 brace of grouse, plus an eight-bedroom lodge.

Farmland was cheap in those days, and £12,000 was sufficient to buy 600 acres of Hertfordshire in an “excellent sporting district”. Thrown in with the land was a beautiful 16thcentury house with eight bedrooms and a bathroom, an extensive set of buildings and seven cottages. This was a real bargain: £12,000 in 1930 was a lot of money, but only the equivalent to £780,000 today. We can but dream.

“Erlandson noted that, on shoots, cockers were a rarity, as they were still a minority breed. What a difference 30 years make”

Among the magazine pile was A Shooting Times Guide to Gundogs, a one-off publication produced in 1987 and priced at £1.95. Edited by Wilson Stephens, a former editor of The Field, it had an impressive line-up of writers, ranging from Graham Cox on golden retrievers to Keith Erlandson on cocker spaniels and James Darley on Clumbers. For anyone with even a passing interest in gundogs, each article makes a fascinating historical read.