Earliest meeting: Tuesday 4th July 1732
Final meeting: Wednesday 22nd May 1844
The well to do market town of Holt in Norfolk is situated some 37 kilometres north of the city of Norwich and 56 kilometres east of Kings Lynn. It once had its own racecourses, beginning in the early part of the 18th century when a 3-day meeting was held between Tuesday 4th and Thursday 6th July 1732. Twenty years on, in the middle of the 18th century Holt staged a 4-day meeting between the 25th September and 28th September 1753. The feature race, held on Thursday 27th September, was the Norfolk Subscribers and Freeholders Stakes which was won by Dry Gripes for the Honourable Colonel Townsend. The racecourse was located at Red House Farm, built on the land surrounding the farmhouse, although by 1810 the farmhouse had been demolished and racing ceased. A new house, Holt Lodge, was then built on the site, and extended after 1810 when additional land was enclosed. In the middle of the 19th century a walled garden and orchard were added to the Lodge’s grounds, together with mixed plantations, shrubberies and a grand summerhouse. The estate was sold in 1854, and today Holt Lodge is a private house, although the extensive grounds are open to the public and are known as Holt Country Park.
Tuesday 4th July 1732
Holt 20 Guineas Purse
1. SWEETLIPS, brown mare owned by Mr Tuting 1 1 1
2. JILTING PEGGY, grey mare owned by Mr Webster 2 2 dist
3. SMALL HOPES, bay gelding owned by Rev M Burrel dist
3 ran
Wednesday 5th July 1732
Holt 10 Guineas Give & Take for Galloways
1. HOLLOW BACK, grey mare owned by Mr Greenwood 1 1
2. SNAIL, grey horse owned by Mr Leathes 2 2
2 ran
Thursday 6th July 1732
Holt 30 Guineas Purse
1. UNNAMED brown mare owned by Mr Tuting 1 1
2. ESSEX HUNTER, chestnut gelding owned by Mr Paddock 2 2
2 ran
I am grateful to Clare Buxton for providing details about Holt Races, shown below, from her excellent dissertation, '18th and early 19th Century Race Grounds in Norfolk and Suffolk' completed in September 2005.
The 'running horses' at an early-eighteenth century meeting like this July 1732 one at Holt would need to be tough, three heats of four miles each is a true test of stamina. (Galloway is a general term for a small, strong breed of horse usually of great endurance.) The gentry's horses (likely to be running for the Thursday purse of 30 guineas) were probably of greater quality but no less hard working. Cock fighting frequently took place after racing, providing another opportunity for a wager. With a total purse of sixty guineas – the £50 minimum prize had not yet been written in law – the Holt Race meeting obviously had enough contributors to make the meeting viable and to make the evening assemblies worth attending. In a letter dated July 13th, 1732, Patrick St. Clair, writing to Ashe Windham, twice refers to the race week at Holt, clearly seen as a great social event in North Norfolk. His daughter had called on a friend 'but she was gone to the Horse race. The Gentlemen went with Lord Hobart and din'd at Holt, and the Ladies after....There was a great deal of company at Holt this day seven-night.' Six years later, in 1738, 'It has rained all this week, which will spoil Holt Races, at least will keep a great deal of company from going thither.' Eighteenth century Holt was a pleasant, neat town with a weekly market. 'The quarter sessions of the peace are held here and at Walsingham alternately; and the session-house is used as an assembly-room for the monthly assemblies.' The races here do not feature in either Cheney or Heber’s racing records. There is no indication of a grandstand on Faden's map, shown below, although a temporary structure may have been put up, otherwise the gentry would have taken their carriages for the ladies whilst the gentlemen followed on horseback. Holt Races were at their height in the first half of the eighteenth century. Armstrong comments ' There is a race ground near the town for running horses, and in the year 1753 there was a meeting; but the races have since that time been regularly held at Swaffham.' In fact, in that final year Lord Orford, then of Mannington Hall, rode in - and won - the Holt Town Plate.Tuesday 25th - Friday 28th September 1753
Tuesday 25th September 1753 Holt Fifty Pounds Purse over 4 miles
1. Amelia owned by Captain Vernon
2. Gelding owned by Mr Gurdleston
Wednesday 26th September 1753 Holt Fifty Pounds Hunters Purse
1. Dung Cart owned by Mr Harvey
2. Satan owned by Lord Orford
3. Star owned by Mr Blake
4. Juno owned by Mr Long
5. Sourface owned by Mr Croft
6. Small Hopes owned by Mr Libbis
Thursday 27th September 1753 Norfolk Subscribers and Freeholders Stakes
1. Dry Gripes owned by Honourable Colonel Townsend
2. Mare owned by Mr Baines
3. Horse owned by Mr Dawson
4. Horse owned by Mr Carver
5. Mare owned by Mr Burlton
Friday 28th September 1753 Holt Sweepstakes
1. Nimrod owned by Mr Bullock
2. Jove owned by Mr Long
3. Ginger owned by Lord Orford
4. Parrot owned by Mr Henley
5. Forester owned by Honourable Colonel Townsend
A further extract from Clare Buxton's dissertation.
Faden marks the race-ground as lying between the Norwich Road and the lane leading across to the villages of Hempstead and Baconsthorpe. This was an area of common land running north-west of Hempstead Beck from Hempstead Warren towards Hunworth. By the time Bryant was published, the bulk of the old ground has been swallowed up into the demesne of Holt Lodge. Local pony races had perhaps continued at the race-ground, but its fate had been finally sealed with the enclosure of the common ground and its subsequent breaking up under the 'Holt and Letheringsett Inclosure' of 1810. The area Faden noted as the race-ground, referred to as Holt Heath by Bryant, was the 120 acres now known as Holt Lowes or the 'firing ground', allotted for the supply of fuel and pasturage to householders whose yearly rent was under £1081. The southern margin of this land slopes fairly steeply down towards the Beck. The race-ground proper is thought to have been sited on the 40 acres of meadow described in the Holt Lodge sale particulars – an area of flat, level ground and much closer to the town. Soil profiles help define the past land use here: 'The old area of meadowland, once used as the race-ground, shows a well structured deep topsoil very gradually reverting to sand and gravel; unlike the sample taken from the area closest to the heathland (which is known to have been planted with conifers since the mid-1800s) where the ground flora is poor – due to the acidic conditions.'; but undivided heathland would be the more likely setting for the race ground.
In 1788 the Holt Assembly was held on Tuesday 16th September 1788, with tickets sold at the Feathers Inn for 3s 6d. The Stewards were Jacob Henry Astley and George Windham. The next day, Wednesday 17th September 1788, Holt races were staged on Holt Race Ground, beginning with a 100 Guineas Match between two capital hunters. There then followed a saddle and £5 Cup race, after which an ordinary was served at the Feathers Inn.
In 1844 Holt races were held on Wednesday 22nd May with a card comprising the Holt Stakes, a Hunters Stakes, the Yeomanry Sweepstakes and Holt Pony Sweepstakes. All entries, colours and riders names had to be registered at the Feathers Inn on the morning of race day. The inhabitants of Holt were keen to administer as much sport as possible to entertain the locally based Prince Albert's Own Corps of Yeomanry Cavalry, holding a horse and pony race day on Wednesday 22nd May 1844. At an early hour the town presented a scene of considerable activity and bustle, with numerous carriages, horses and pedestrians making their way to Holt Race Ground. A carriage, drawn by 4 horses, held members of the Band of the Corps, and wound its way through the town at 1 o'clock to signal that every shop should close to enable all inhabitants to repair to the scene of the action.
Holt Stakes over 1 1/2 miles
1. HELTER SKELTER chestnut mare owned by Mr Case
2. COCK ROBIN bay horse owned by Mr Francis
3. CRUCIFIX bay mare owned by Mr Bilham
After the first race, 150 gentlemen adjourned to a large booth on the ground to enjoy an excellent cold collation provided by Mr Johnson and Mr Leggatt. The action then continued with three further races.
Hunters Stakes over 1 1/2 miles
1. COCK ROBIN bay horse owned by Mr Francis
2. CONGRESS bay horse owned by Mr Orris
3. TIP-TOP grey mare owned by Mr Banks
Yeomanry Sweepstakes over 1 1/2 miles
1. COCK ROBIN bay horse owned by Mr Francis
2. HELTER SKELTER chestnut mare owned by Mr Case
3. RED ROBIN chestnut horse owned by Mr Hebgin
Holt Pony Sweepstake over 1 1/2 miles
1. FLARE-UP owned by Mr Withers
2. CRAZY JANE owned by Mr Boyd
3. SMUT owned by Mr Hickling
I am grateful to Jon Seddon, and to Ordnance Survey (© Crown Copyright) for permission to use the 1905 map shown below,
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
