Earliest meeting: Tuesday 22nd October 1805
Final meeting: Wednesday 10th October 1810
Racing was first recorded at Blickling in 1805 and continued until Wednesday 10th October 1810, although there is no evidence of a meeting taking place in 1809. The course was situated on the Blickling Estate in Norfolk, about a mile and a half north west of Aylsham off the B1354 Aylsham to Saxthorpe Road. The park around Blickling Hall was extended in the 1770’s to provide the room for the racecourse. The viewing tower in the Park at Blickling was built in 1773 as a private grandstand to view the private racecourse which had been installed in the 1750’s by the Duke of Buckingham. It is built on a number of levels and enabled the nobility to use the top section of the tower to see each of the 7 courses laid out on the Blickling Estate. This would have included a course for the 4 and 5 furlong sprint races, as well as the long distance 2, 3 and 4 mile courses. Next to Blickling Hall is St Andrews Church, and inside the church are tombs and plaques in memory of the inhabitants of the Hall during this period of history. One such plaque is in memory of William Assheton Harbord, also known as Lord Suffield, who died on 1st August 1821 aged just 55. He was the owner of Czarina, who won the Norfolk Sweepstakes and Produce 2YO Stakes at Blickling, and of Master Betty who won a race at the first meeting to be recorded in the Racing Calendar in 1805.
Tuesday 22nd to Wednesday 23rd October 1805
Blickling Sweepstakes over 2 miles
1. Master Betty owned by Colonel Harbord
2. Trudge owned by Major Wilson
3. Yorkshire Lad owned by Colonel Wyndham
Norfolk Sweepstakes over a mile
1. Czarina owned by Colonel Harbord
2. Allegranti owned by Mr Gunton
3. Luna owned by Colonel Harbord
Welter Stakes over 2 miles
1. Blickling owned by Colonel Wyndham
2. Smoaker owned by Mr Hussey
Produce 2YO Stakes over a mile
1. Czarina owned by Colonel Harbord
2. Unnamed filly by Wonder owned by Mr Thomlinson
The viewing tower in the Park at Blickling was built in 1773 as a private grandstand to view the private racecourse which had been installed in the 1750’s by the Duke of Buckingham. It is built on a number of levels and enabled the nobility to use the top section of the tower to see each of the 7 courses laid out on the Blickling Estate. This would have included a course for the 4 and 5 furlong sprint races, as well as the long distance 2, 3 and 4 mile courses. Next to Blickling Hall is St Andrews Church, and inside the church are tombs and plaques in memory of the inhabitants of the Hall during this period of history. One such plaque is in memory of William Assheton Harbord, also known as Lord Suffield, who died on 1st August 1821 aged just 55. He was the owner of Czarina, who won the Norfolk Sweepstakes and Produce 2YO Stakes at Blickling, and of Master Betty who won a race at the first meeting to be recorded in the Racing Calendar in 1805. The plaque was given by his wife Caroline, daughter of John Hobart, Earl of Buckingham and of his first wife Mary Anne Hobart, daughter of Sir Thomas Drury. A tomb in the church, near to the plaque, is of William Schomberg Robert, 8th Marquis of Lothian. When he died in 1870 he left behind a widow, Constance Hariet Mahones, daughter of Henry John, 18th Earl of Shrewsbury, and she lived as a widow for a further 31 years at Blickling Hall, and died on 10th October 1901.
The final meeting took place on Wednesday 10th October 1810.
I am grateful to Christopher Weston who writes, ‘The Aylsham Derby was held at Blickling on one day each year, made possible through the kindness of Lord Lothian who lent his facilities to the people of Aylsham on the appointed date. Outside the above arrangement for the Aylsham Derby, race meetings were separately arranged by the Blickling Estate from 1805 to 1810. Between 1811 and 1887 racing continued at Blickling up to six times a year on the same course, albeit between local landowners, with results not widely published in the Racing Calendar. Normal racing then recommenced in 1888 and 1889 (see Aylsham Races)
The viewing tower, on the Blickling Estate, still exists and can be hired as a self-catering cottage with clear views over the open parkland which once contained the racetrack.
I am grateful to Ordnance Survey (© Crown Copyright) for permission to use the map shown below.
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Much of the information about this course has been found using internet research and is in the public domain. However, useful research sources have been:-
London Illustrated News
Racing Illustrated 1895-1899
The Sporting & Dramatic Illustrated
Northern Turf History Volumes 1-4 by J.Fairfax-Blakeborough
The Sporting Magazine
A Long Time Gone by Chris Pitt first published in 1996 ISBN 0 900599 89 8
Racing Calendars which were first published in 1727
