HUNDREDS turned out to see off the Ross annual Boxing Day trail hunt – despite calls nationally for the Labour Government to act on its pledge to ban the centuries-old practise entirely.

Ross Harriers are the second oldest hunt in the UK and celebrated their 200th anniversary in the town in 2021, with their long history reaching back to a mention in William Cobbett’s ground-breaking Rural Rides travelogue.

The journalist, political reformer and MP recorded staying at the current Bollitree Castle – home of former Top Gear and Grand Tour presenter Richard Hammond – in 1821 before riding out with the hunt next day at Orcop.

This Is Hunting UK even puts the formation of the Harriers by "a Mr Taylor some time prior to 1820".

But while the earliest minutes date from 1877, the "first documented evidence was by William Cobbett during one of his Rural Rides", they add.

"On Thursday, 15th Nov 1821, he travelled from Bollitree Castle, near Weston-under-Penyard, now the home of Richard Hammond, to Old Hall, near Pencoed" and spent "a whole day most delightfully passed" hunting.

Despite calls from some for a total ban on the rural tradition two centuries on, a large crowd turned out on Boxing Day to mix with riders, horses and hounds in Ross-on-Wye's Market Place before the Harriers set off.

Hunt master Harry Mynors later posted: "Thank you to everyone who makes this happen, especially Nick Valentine and Scott Hancock at kennels, our wonderful huntsman Alice Griffin, my Joint Masters Daryl Heathfield, Hannah Matthews and Gordon Miller, those who whip in and help out including Gill March, Spice Mike Phillips, Molly Battersby, Miriam Walkuski, Jesse-James, Tara Boulton, Charlotte Byrnes, Kitty Stainsby, Kerry Hendry; those who support us mounted or on foot and finally and most importantly our farmers and landowners."

While opponents claim that some hunts still kill foxes despite it being outlawed, Herefordshire Hunt Saboteurs posted in 2021 that Harriers "hunt within the law" and had used "four artificial trails" when they had watched them hunting in Broad Oak.

Monmouthshire Hunt are due to meet on New Year’s Day at Monmouth Castle, dependent on the weather.