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
Edward II Dyke (d. 1746), portrait circa 1741 attributed to Thomas Hudson (1701–1779), National Trust, Collection of Dunster Castle
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
Holnicote Estate
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Holnicote in the parish of Selworthy, West Somerset, England, is a historic estate consisting of 12,420 acres of land, much situated within the Exmoor National Park.
Holnicote House
Memorial tablet to Charles Staynings (died 1700) in Church of All Saints, Selworthy
Holnicote House in 1785, as rebuilt after the fire of 1779, viewed from the south-west. In the foreground is Sir Thomas Dyke Acland, 9th Baronet, with staghounds. Oil painting, 1785, by Francis Towne, in the National Trust collection at Killerton House.