Gamekeepers of Ecton

Daniel Tassell

William Grey

Andrew Grey

Mr Smith

Cedric Smith 1935-1964

Joe Fountain 1964-1987

Stuart (Lofty) Harrington 1987-date

Stuart (Lofty) Harrington

On the Ecton Estate each year I look after 21 private shoots, usually on a Thursday, with six guns for pheasant and a maximum of eight with partridge. The four-month shooting season starts in late September when the pheasants are 18-20 weeks old and the partridges are around 14 weeks old. Dependent on wet weather the pheasants lose their juvenile feathers at around 13 weeks.

Pheasants have been kept in the wilderness since 1893 so I must keep the pens moving to ensure the ground stays fresh and free from disease. During February and March I am pretty busy tidying and clearing up ready for the new breeding & rearing season.I expect pheasant's eggs to start appearing around the 20th March and the wild ducks are laying now in the local ponds, although the recent snow might have slowed things down a bit.I set traps for stoats, weasels, rats and squirrels. That, and thenever-ending job of keeping the rabbit population under control keeps me busy day and night. I will normally catch around 50-70 stoats and weasels each season and shoot between 1,500 and 2,000 rabbits. Foxes and game birds don't mix either so I keep my eyes open for them too. The crop rotation of local farmland influences how easy it is for me to control the vermin on the estate.

Each season I am responsible for rearing around 3,000 pheasants and 400 ducks. I also rear around 120 English Partridge eggs under bantams - the old fashioned way. I expect around 100 birds to be produced from these eggs, not for the shoot but for the pleasure of seeing them about the estate.As the eggs start to appear I gather them three times a day. When I have 1,000 eggs I load them into the incubator. This holds 3,000 eggs in total and they stay in for 21 days. After the incubation period I load the eggs, 50 at a time, into the hatching trays where they stay for around 3 days.When the chicks arrive they're transferred to the 'Old Kitchen Garden' where they're given high-protein feed for six weeks until they're moved into the pens in the wilderness in preparation for the season.Tidying up involves lighting bonfires to get rid of therubbish, something I usually enjoy - but last week the fire bit back when a flaming leaf flew out and stuck to my left cheek. I was glad that none of the ladies who joined me on the Daffodil Walk were close by, as I used some 'flaming' language whilst attempting to 'put my face out'. I am now carrying the scars of this incident and I reckon it's melted one of my contact lenses too.

Ecton's Gamekeepers

Much of the parish of Ecton is managed for the rearing and shooting of game birds, mostly pheasants and a few partridges. Field sports are an often contentious issue in the countryside but it should be recognised that the management and protection of estates such as Ecton’s for shooting, provides an ideal environment for wildlife. Unfortunately the price to pay for this is the control of the predators that relish the odd egg or chick - stoats, weasels and magpies being the principal culprits.

The gamekeepers who have raised and protected the game on the Ecton estate over the years seem to have been colourful characters, as might be expected from men whose way of life is so independent. Andrew Grey, for instance, was a Scot whose liking for his country’s national beverage was so indulgent that it would sometimes cause him to go missing for several days.

If the length of their employment is any guide, Ecton’s gamekeepers seem to have been very content with their lot, and likewise their employers with them. Cedric Smith, known in the village as ‘Sid’, served 29 years (1935- 64) and his successor, Joe Fountain, filled the position for 23 years (1964-87). ‘Lofty’ Harrington took over ten years ago in 1987. At the age of nine he was caught shooting rabbits by a gamekeeper but a friendship was forged from this inauspicious beginning and he was soon learning to love the life of the keeper.

Earlier gamekeepers mentioned in Kelly's directory are Daniel Tassell in the directory for 1847 and William Grey in the directory for 1914.

It’s a way of life that seems as old as the hills but, as in every other walk of life, there have been many changes over the years. In ‘Sid’ Smith’s time pheasants’ eggs would be hatched by broody hens which were obtained from local farmers for two shillings (10p) - it would be sixpence (2½p) less if the hens were returned afterwards. Poachers then were a big problem and the keeper would always have to be out on moonlit nights patrolling the estate.

Surprisingly perhaps, the shooting at Ecton has not become over-commercialised. Although there are a few corporate days, the rest of the annual shooting is kept by the estate’s shooting tenants. Nowadays, the number of days (seventeen) is probably more than in previous times and ‘bags’ are much bigger - in recent years up to 1900 pheasants, 650 red-legged partridges and a similar number of mallard have been shot annually. As a consequence three thousand pheasants are now reared annually and the keeper’s job is as important as ever.