Earliest meeting: Monday 18th August 1800
Final meeting: Monday 15th May 1876
The Herefordshire market town of Kington lies on the border with Wales on the western side of Offa's Dyke. It is on the River Arrow, some 19 miles north west of Hereford, which until recently had its own racecourse. Kington also held its own races, initially on the Bradnor Hill course, and later on its Hergest Ridge course, with the first record of a meeting at that racecourse held on Thursday 28th July 1825. Although early meetings were staged on Bradnor Hill, up to half a century prior before the 1825 meeting at Hergest Ridge, they were deemed to be too insignificant to be reported widely. The Worcester Herald included results from the meeting on Thursday 9th July 1829 when the £50 Plate was won by Master Henry for Mr Onion, while the Sweepstake went to Forester for Mr Fuller. Nationwide coverage followed in 1839 when the meeting on Thursday 17th October was included in Baily's Racing Register for the first time, with the Farmers Stakes going to Mr Wadlow's Woodbine, and the Kington Plate captured by Catherina. Further meetings took place on 9th August 1842 and Monday 28th August 1843, after which racing lapsed until a revival meeting on Thursday 24th August 1852. The final card was organised on Monday 15th May 1876.
Kington Sweepstake, Kington Farmers Stakes, Kington Plate
At the start of the 19th century meetings at Kington began being advertised in the local papers, the first of which advertised a meeting on Monday 18th August 1800, with an Ordinary served at the Oxford Arms Inn, and a Ball held after racing at the Assembly Rooms, Swan Inn. A further meeting followed the next year on Monday 17th August 1801, while in 1802 the meeting was extended to a 2-day affair on Monday 23rd and Tuesday 24th August 1802. That meeting was attended by a numerous and genteel crowd which included Sir George Cornwall and the local MP Mr J G Cotte.
Thursday 17th October 1839
Kington Plate over 2 miles and the distance
1. Catherina owned by Mr Barrow
2. Woodbine owned by Mr Wadlow
3. Mary Wood owned by Mr Hughes
Kington Farmers Stakes over a mile and the distance
1. Woodbine owned by Mr Wadlow
I am grateful to Ordnance Survey (© Crown Copyright) for permission to use the 1815 & 1832 maps shown below, which indicate the locations of both the early Bradnor Hill and later Hergest Ridge racecourses.
The final meeting took place on Monday 15th May 1876.
Well after the final races under rules had finished, the town of Kington maintained its links with horseracing, albeit with trotting races and Galloways. In 1980 the Kington Recreation Ground was the scene of races organised by the Kington Vale of Arrows with a racecard from the event 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
