ver-mounted horn illustrated here bearing the
inscription "Sinnington Hunt 1750" is preserved at Pickering. Until about
twenty-five years ago the pack was "trencher fed," the hounds being
scattered about in twos and threes at the various farms and houses in the
neighbourhood. The kennels are now at Kirby Moorside.

[Illustration: THE OLD HORN OF THE SINNINGTON HUNT. It is dated 1750 on
one of the silver bands.] A curious "Dandy Horse" race was held at
Pickering on June 22, 1813. Calvert describing it in his quaint way says:
"On this day, Tuesday, June 22, 1813, Robert Kitching, Hungate, Pickering
and S. Hutchinson of Helmsley, did bring off the wager they had laid of
ten guineas apiece for their men to race from Pickering to Helmsley
astride each of his master's dandy horse, which is a machine having two
wheels in a line afixed with forks to a support beam upon which there
resteth a saddle so high from the ground that the rider hath a grip on the
ground, for it be by the pressure of the foot upon the ground that this
new horse is shoved along, there be also a handle to hold by with a soft
pad, this is for to rest the chest against as to gain a greater grip with
the feet, the two Gladiators started fair away at ten of the clock, there
been then come together from all parts upwards it was held of two thousand
people, many on horseback arriving for to see this novel race from start
to finish." However, when the opponents had covered about half the
distance, one of them overstrained himself and gave up and the other
admitted that "he was ommaist at the far end" so that the crowd assembled
at Helmsley to see the finish waited in vain for the riders.

Although Pickering is several miles from the sea some of the more
important people of the town were for many years closely interested in the
whaling industry. It was about the year 1775, that Mr Nicholas Piper and
some of his friends made a bold financial venture in the purchase of the
_Henrietta_ which became in time one of the most successful Greenland
whalers sailing from the port of Whitby. Some of the ship's logs and also
an account book are preserved by Mr Loy at Keld Head Hall, and from them I
have been able to obtain some interesting facts. For a year or two the
ship yielded no profits, but in 1777 there was a sum of L640 to be divided
between the partners in the enterprise. Gradually the profits increased
until they produced an annual total of about L2000.

Some of the