
N a w o r t h C a s t l e , C u m b e r l a n d .— Mr. Harting tells us that in the ‘ Household
Book’ of Lord William Howard, of Naworth, commenced in 1612, it is stated
that Wild Cattle were introduced into this park in 1629, from Martindale Forest,
where it is presumed they roamed in a wild state. They did not remain long,
and were supposed to have been destroyed in the Civil Wars. They are described
by one Edmund Sandford (1675) as ‘ White Wild Cattel with black ears only’
(Harting).
* S o m e r f o r d P a r k , C h e s h i r e .— An ancient herd of white ‘ polled ’ cattle still
exists in this park. Many of the cattle are more or less speckled, but the pure
type, is white, with the ears, rims of the eyes, muzzle, and hoofs quite black. In
1875, according to Storer, the herd included twenty head. No history attaches to
this herd, although it is undoubtedly a very old one. The cattle may have been
enclosed in the park in early times, like most of the northern herds, or— as the
owner, the late Sir Charles Shakerley, suggested— they may be of the same race as
the old Middleton stock. In 1887 the herd consisted of thirty animals.1 They are
thoroughly domesticated. In a note to me on this herd Mr. Coward says: ‘ In July
1894, when I visited this herd, the numbers were forty. These cattle have large
udders, being regularly milked, and are in this strikingly different from the cows
at Chillingham, Cadzow, Woburn, and Vaynol. In 1894 there was one heifer with a
fine pair of horns, upright and curved inwards like the horns of the Chillingham
strain. She was wilder and more difficult to approach than the others. The
horns were black-tipped. This “ sport” was not due to any cross.’
V a l e R o y a l , C h e s h i r e .— Storer2 mentions a herd of white cattle which
existed at Vale Royal, the seat of Lord Delamere. According to tradition most
of the cattle, which were white with red ears, were driven away by the soldiers
of the Parliament when the hall was plundered, but ‘ one cow wandering back to
its old home supported the starving family with her milk.’ 8 Dugdale (1819) says:
‘ Whatever might be the truth, it is certain that her posterity has been preserved
from feelings of gratitude; as white cows with red ears, of the very same breed,
are still kept at Vale Royal.’ According to Bagshaw’s ‘ Cheshire Directory’
(1850) the herd was kept up so late as the middle of the last century, but it
has now ceased to exist.
These cattle are said to have come from North Wales, but Mr. Coward is of
opinion that they were brought from Abbey Dore, Hereford, by the monks who
1 Zoologist, 1887, p. 407. * Wild White Cattle o f G teat Britain, p. i i i .
8 Coward, Picturesque Cheshire, p 127.