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Berkeley Hunt
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Berkeley Hunt is a hunt in England. Its country lies in Gloucestershire and South Gloucestershire, between Gloucester and Bristol. The hill country above Dursley and Wotton-under-Edge is hunted mainly in March and early April, and adjoins the Duke of Beaufort's estate. The Vale country comprises largely dairy and stock farms with much grass, although arable is increasing.
Hounds have been kept at Berkeley since the 12th century, at first to hunt the stag and the buck, but since the 18th century to hunt the fox until fox hunting was made illegal.
The Berkeley family still own the hounds and the kennels.
Originally, there were hounds kennelled at Berkeley, Cheltenham, Nettlebed, Gerrards Cross and Cranford Middlesex. In the late 18th century, much of the land was relinquished by the 5th Earl of Berkeley. The parts around Cheltenham and Broadway became Cotswold, North Cotswold and Cotswold Vale Farmer's Hunt.
- The English slang word, "berk", is a contraction of "Berkeley Hunt", which in turn refers to the English vulgarity, "cunt". (The usage is dated to the 1930s)[1] This is an example of Cockney rhyming slang. It should be noted, however, that the "berk" in Berkeley is pronounced to rhyme with "bark", whereas the Cockney pronunciation of the slang term, as with the American English pronunciation, rhymes with "work".
- HMS Berkeley was a Hunt class Mine countermeasure vessel named after the hunt.
- Berkeley Square is named after the Berkeley family's London home, Berkeley House, renamed, Devonshire House.