Scarteen
Townland in Country Limerick, Ireland
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Scarteen (Irish: An Scairtín, meaning 'small thicket')[3] is a townland in the civil parish of Ballyscaddan, County Limerick,[3] near the village of Knocklong in Ireland.
Fox hunting
Scarteen is best known for the Scarteen Hunt, a fox hunting pack of Kerry Beagles based at Scarteen House, a big house owned since the 1750s by the Ryan family, one of the few Catholic gentry that existed during the period when Ireland had anti-Catholic Penal Laws.[4] The dogs' coat pattern gave the hunt its nickname, the "Black and Tans", later applied derisively to sections of the Royal Irish Constabulary during the Irish War of Independence.[4] Hunt master Thady Ryan (1923–2005) increased the hunt's cachet among visitors from Great Britain and the United States and, later, Continental Europe.[4] Ryan was chef d'equipe of the Irish eventing team at the 1964 and 1968 Summer Olympics.[4] As of 2016[update] the hunt was mastered by Thady Ryan's son Chris Ryan.[5]
