THE Tipperary Foxhounds (the Gallant Tipps) have been meeting in Fethard to open the season since Henry, Marquess of Waterford took over the pack in 1840. Cromwell described the walls of Fethard as “having a very good wall with round and square bulwarks, after the old manner of fortification”.

Time may have moved on but nothing has changed and, on Bank Holiday Monday, the Tipps met under the shadow of the famed town walls. Not since 1650 when Cromwell laid siege to the town have a finer body of horses and riders assembled between the Clashawney River and the ancient fortifications.