In The Wake Of 1,000 Years Of History

The owners of Courteenhall estate can trace their roots to Hereward the Wake, but when it comes to shooting their outlook is egalitarian

- Janet Menzies

Guns arriving at the Wake family’s Courteenhall Shoot in Northamptonshire are given their coffees in the large, Georgian entrance hall, which is hung from floor to ceiling with portraits of generations of Wakes – about 11 of them, in total.

The baronetcy was created by King James I in 1621 but the Wake family history goes back almost a thousand years. Its links with Hereward the Wake, who led an Anglo-Saxon rebellion against the Norman invaders, are commemorated by family members, many of whom have included Hereward in their names. Throughout English history there’s been a Wake involved in most events that have a date to learn.

The Field’s host, Johnny Wake, charmingly concedes: “We have had a talent for picking the wrong side. In the Wars of the Roses, Roger Wake was with Richard III at the very end at the Battle of Bosworth. We lost our lands after that.”

Redress came centuries later when the present day Wake family was invited to the interment of Richard III’s body after its discovery under a Leicester car park.

Living at the sharp end of history meant the Wakes were not unfamiliar with the inside of the Tower of London, yet somehow they always managed to pick themselves up. The present Courteenhall was built in 1792 by Sir William Wake, the 10th baronet.

As the guns set out for the first drive all these Wakes, in varying dress, from ruffs to periwigs, seemed to have a single expression on their faces: Don’t let the side down.

So it was with some determination that the guns lined out on the unromantically named Pig Field drive, a muddy stubble field planted with beet and little in the way of terrain. Yet the light-coloured pheasants that flashed over managed to be both high and fast, and ducks and an occasional partridge provided distraction and made the drive more challenging.