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Dogs and All about Them
·
Robert Leighton
194
IV.
THE
SUSSEX
SPANIEL.--This
is
one
of
the
oldest
of
the
distinct
breeds
of
Land
Spaniels
now
existing
in
the
British
Islands,
and
probably
also
the
purest
in
point
of
descent,
since
it
has
for
many
years
past
been
confined
to
a
comparatively
small
number
of
kennels,
the
owners
of
which
have
always
been
at
considerable
pains
to
keep
their
strains
free
from
any
admixture
of
foreign
blood.
The
modern
race
of
Sussex
Spaniels,
as
we
know
it,
owes
its
origin
in
the
main
to
the
kennel
kept
by
Mr.
Fuller
at
Rosehill
Park,
Brightling,
near
Hastings.
This
gentleman,
who
died
in
1847,
is
said
to
have
kept
his
strain
for
fifty
years
or
more,
and
to
have
shot
over
them
almost
daily
during
the
season,
but
at
his
death
they
were
dispersed
by
auction,
and
none
of
them
can
be
traced
with
any
accuracy
except
a
dog
and
a
bitch
which
were
given
at
the
time
to
Relf,
the
head
keeper.
Relf
survived
his
master
for
forty
years,
and
kept
up
his
interest
in
the
breed
to
the
last.
He
used
to
say
that
the
golden
tinge
peculiar
to
the
Rosehill
breed
came
from
a
bitch
which
had
been
mated
with
a
dog
belonging
to
Dr.
Watts,
of
Battle,
and
that
every
now
and
then
what
he
termed
a
"sandy"
pup
would
turn
up
in
her
litters.
Owing
to
an
outbreak
of
dumb
madness
in
the
Rosehill
kennels,
a
very
large
number
of
its
occupants
either
died
or
had
to
be
destroyed,
and
this
no
doubt
accounted
for
the
extreme
scarcity
of
the
breed
when
several
enthusiasts
began
to
revive
it
about
the
year
1870.
Mr.
Saxby
and
Mr.
Marchant
are
said
to
have
had
the
same
strain
as
that
at
Rosehill,
and
certainly
one
of
the
most
famous
sires
who
is
to
be
found
in
most
Sussex
pedigrees
was
Buckingham,
by
Marchant's
Rover
out
of
Saxby's
Fan.
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