RECORDED Scarteen history only goes back to the early 1700s so we don’t know exactly how long the opening meet has been held in Knocklong but certainly in the recorded centuries, the venue has remained an unbroken tradition.

Part and parcel of that tradition is to have the hounds and followers (both foot and mounted) blessed for the coming season. This ecclesiastical duty falls to the local padre who came to the kennels with bell, book and candle to invoke divine support.