The red deer of Exmoor have been hunted since Norman times, when Exmoor was declared a Royal Forest. Collyns stated the earliest record of a pack of Staghounds on Exmoor was 1598. In 1803, the "North Devon Staghounds" became a subscription pack. In 1824/5 30 couples of hounds, the last of the true staghounds, were sold to a baron in Germany. Today, the Devon and Somerset is one of three staghounds packs in the UK, the others being the Quantock Staghounds and the Tiverton Staghounds. All packs hunt within Devon and Somerset. The Chairman as of 2016 is Tom Yandle, who was previously High Sheriff of Somerset in 1999.
Sir Thomas Dyke Acland, 7th Baronet (1723–1785) painted in 1767 by Sir Joshua Reynolds. The bloodline of the large staghound with its head on his knee was lost when the pack was sold to Germany in 1824, and later rebuilt from foxhounds. Two identical versions exist, both owned by the National Trust, one at Saltram House, the other at Killerton House, both in Devon
Stalls in stable block built by Sir Thomas Dyke Acland, 9th Baronet (1752–1794) at Holnicote, now owned by the National Trust. The thirty stag heads on the walls date from about 1787 to 1793 and were killed under his mastership of the Devon and Somerset Staghounds. Some of the brow points of the antlers were notoriously sawn-off by a groom because they interfered with the loading of hay into the mangers. A similar collection of stag heads amassed by his father the 7th Baronet, and much beloved by the latter, was destroyed during a fire at Holnicote in 1779
Loose boxes in stable block built by Sir Thomas Dyke Acland, 9th Baronet (1752–1794) at Holnicote, with his stag head trophies
Tetton, Kingston St Mary
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Tetton is an historic estate in the parish of Kingston St Mary in the English county of Somerset. The present grade II* listed Tetton House dates from 1790 and was enlarged and mainly rebuilt in 1924–6 by Hon. Mervyn Herbert (1882–1929) to the design of the architect Harry Stuart Goodhart-Rendel.
Tetton House
Arms of Acland: Chequy argent and sable, a fesse gules