IT HAS been part of English country life for centuries - and now it is over.

From midnight last night, hunting with dogs became a criminal offence, and as the law became a fact a rural way of life came to an end.

The arguing lasted for decades and finally it was the morally-outraged "antis" who won the day, consigning a pursuit they regard as barbaric to history.

While they celebrated their victory after a long and bitter battle, the hunters and their supporters could muster only tears, regret - and incomprehension.

The Bilsdale hunt, on the edge of the North York Moors, is small compared with the big-name Quorn, but it prides itself on being perhaps the oldest in the country.

Its members have been riding to hounds for almost 350 years, when George Villiers, the philandering Duke of Buckingham, who was immortalised as the Georgy Porgy of nursery rhyme fame, moved north to Helmsley.

He was obsessed with chasing foxes and, as a result, the hunt can trace itself back to 1658.

But that came to an end yesterday when the hunt turned out on a Thursday, a day when it does not usually meet, for one last chase over the rolling countryside in the shadow of Sutton Bank.

About 20 hunters turned up to say goodbye to something that, for many, had been a major part of their lives for decades - and for them the ban caused a real and raw hurt.

Joint master Judith Skilbeck, who has been hunting for as long as she can remember, tried and failed to hold back the tears as she asked: "Just what is this ban going to achieve?

"More foxes are going to die than ever before as the keepers shoot them to protect their birds and farmers act to protect their stock."

For their final traditional meet, the Bilsdale enjoyed a stylish send-off, with champagne and smoked salmon in the landscaped grounds of Ravensthorpe Manor.

Then it was off through the damp and grey air, and into the managed English landscape of woods and fields.

It was late afternoon before they returned, red-faced from the chase, their outfits spattered with mud and their horses bright-eyed and snorting.

Their last hunt was unsuccessful. Although foxes were spotted twice, they managed to give their pursuers the slip and disappeared into the undergrowth. Now they will not have to worry about the hounds again.

But despite the lack of a trophy, the riders were still invigorated by their final old-style chase.

For the hunt's terrier man, Dave Eaton, the ban represents something of a double-whammy.

"I was a miner for 20-odd years and the Tories saw to that," he said in a broad Midlands accent.

"Now I'm getting it from the other side with Blair and Labour."

Joint master Harry Stephenson, sporting a cut to his cheek from a jutting branch, carefully counted the hounds into their trailer.

"The ban won't save any foxes," he said.

"They will be wiped out by keepers and lampers.

"This has been the work of people that know nothing about it.

"It's like the door has been slammed shut on an era. I feel numb and I supposed I may get a bit emotional in the pub tonight.

"Hopefully, common sense will prevail one day, but we'll never return to what we once had."