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Stag hunts in Kilburn and Kensal Green Cemetery

As suburbs developed and spread into the country round London, rural pastimes could conflict with streets and houses. So far as the late nineteenth century hunts described below were concerned, it appears the object was a chase, ending with the capture not the death of the deer. But pursuing a deer or stag was unpredictable so far as the direction an animal might take.

            Feb 1850, stag hunt in Camden Town

In November 1878, around 1pm on a Saturday afternoon, shoppers in Kilburn were alarmed by the sight of a fine stag, running full tilt down the High Road, followed by a pack of dogs and several huntsmen. The chase began several miles away in Hendon where the stag had been kept on Mount Pleasant Farm. The first run was towards Stanmore, then the stag turned towards Willesden, ending up on Willesden Lane before turning south down the High Road. It got as far as Belsize Road where it ran towards the railway station which then had its entrance opposite the Priory Tavern. The porter slammed the station door but the animal, followed by five hounds, managed to get onto the tracks through a yard besides the station. They raced towards the railway tunnel where the station master and a few helpers secured the dogs. The stag halted but then ran into the railway tunnel. Emerging at Primrose Hill, it had to continue down the tracks as escape was impossible, the tracks being in a cutting with steep sides. The stag ended its run at Chalk Farm, where it was captured when it took refuge in the Round House engine shed.

In 1883 the large Kensal Green Cemetery was the site of another impromptu hunt that started near Uxbridge. The stag ran down the main road where it was chased into a florist shop and after jumping over a horse, bolted into the Cemetery with a hound named Darby at its heels. After being pursued by a group of locals, the animal stopped, seemingly exhausted. A butcher tried to lasso it, but when approached, the stag leapt over the heads of its would-be captors and made off round the graves. Eventually a group of huntsmen arrived and after about an hour’s chase inside the Cemetery, the stag left as it had entered, via the upper gates. After running across a dairy farm, it was finally captured. The local paper said the stag was named Richmond, ‘a well-known favourite celebrated for its splendid running powers.’

The following year, a deer was again chased to Willesden Lane but this time it went towards Christchurch Road, leapt over several gardens before crashing through a glass door into the home of Henry Taylor at No.6 Mowbray Road Brondesbury. It then bolted through another door but got caught in netting in the back yard where it was captured by pursuing huntsmen. The deer was taken to James Crook’s stables on Kilburn High Road and treated for cuts from the broken glass. 

This is the last mention of a hunt we can find so close to Kilburn, but they continued in the outer London suburbs until the spread of streets and houses made them impossible.


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