Editing Gordon Setter (section)

===Gordon Castle and other historically important kennels===
[[Alexander Gordon, 4th Duke of Gordon|Alexander, the 4th Duke of Gordon]] (1743–1827), established his kennel of Black and Tan Setters at [[Gordon Castle]], which was situated near Fochabers, not far from the River Spey and a few miles from the coast of Moray. The exact date when this occurred is not known. A Colonel Thornton visited the place during his tour of the Highlands in 1786. He makes no mention of any kennel of Setters at that time, although he does note that "The Duke of Gordon still keeps up a diversion of falconry….I saw, also, here a true Highland greyhound, which is now become very scarce…."<ref>{{cite book| last= Thornton| first= Thomas|title=A Sporting Tour through the Northern Parts of England and Great Part of the Highlands of Scotland|year=1804|location=London|pages=196}}</ref> The Duke was indeed devoted to country pursuits and was among the last of his day in Scotland to keep hawks and practise [[falconry]]; he was celebrated for his [[Scottish Deerhound]]s as well as his Setters. However all that can be inferred from the Colonel's remarks is that there are unlikely to have been any Setters of note at the Castle in 1786.

There is much on record that seems reliable about the origin or derivation of the Duke of Gordon's Setters, though verification at this late date is of course impossible.  Most of this evidence comes from Samuel Brown, the Veterinary Surgeon of Melton Mowbray, who was a great authority on the breed. In a letter to ''The Field'' in 1864, Samuel Brown stated: 
{{cquote|An old gentleman sportsman, and one too who has shot over the same breed for 50 years and knew them during his boyhood, assures me that the late Duke of Gordon, Marquis of Anglesey, and several other noblemen, had their original stock of setters from the late Mr Coke of Longford, and that the colour was usually black-white-and-tan. Mine are descended from the original breed of Mr Coke, the Gordon ‘’Regent’’ and ‘’Fan’’, and within the last five years from a black-white-and–tan bitch which I got direct from the Beaudesart kennel (i.e. the Marquees of Anglesey's – Ed.).<ref>''The Field'', 12 November 1864</ref>}}
Five years later, in another letter to the same journal, the Rev F. W. Adye wrote: 
{{cquote|Mr Brown was told by Mr Coke himself that he often sent dogs to the Duke of Gordon and received others in exchange, in order now and then to obtain fresh blood.<ref>''The Field'', 8 January 1870</ref>}} 
These facts were well known to J. H. Walsh (‘Stonehenge’), Editor of ''The Field'' and a leading authority on [[sporting dogs]], for it is he who mentions in the first chapter of his book ''The Dogs of the British Islands'' (1867) that a Setter "from Mr Coke of Norfolk and doubtless related to the late Duke of Gordon’s kennel, as Mr Coke and the duke bred together and interchanged setters frequently." Therefore, it does appear to be reasonably established that Mr Coke provided most of the original Setters for the Duke's kennel. The Rev Hutchinson, who wrote under the pseudonym ‘Sixty-one’, insisted that "the original setter taken or sent to Gordon Castle by the first Marquis of Anglesea",<ref name=Field29Jan1870>''The Field'', 29 January 1870</ref> however what has been seen is that, according to Samuel Brown’s ‘old gentleman sportsman’, the Marquees of Anglesey likewise had his original stock of Setters at Beaudesart from Mr Coke – probably, although this cannot be confirmed, some years before the Gordon Castle kennel was founded; for in 1869 the Beaudesart Setters were said to have been maintained ‘for sixty years pure and unmixed with any blood’.<ref>''The Field'', 11 December 1869</ref>  It is most unlikely that the Duke obtained his setters from only one source, we know that he interbreed with other kennels besides Mr Coke’s, notably with Lord Lovat’s.

<gallery widths="200px" heights="250px" perrow="5" caption="Gordon Setters exercising">
File:SeterSzkockiGordon4.jpg|Gordon Setter running in the fields
File:Wet-Gordon-Setter.jpg|Gordon Setter after a bath
File:SeterSzkockiGordon.jpg|Gordon Setter running on the beach
File:SeterSzkockiGordon2.jpg|Gordon Setter retrieving a stick
</gallery>