1903 The White Cattle of Chart 'ley 119 



have now dwindled to extinction, and the only surviving 

 ones are believed to be those of Chartley, Chillingham, 

 and Cadzow. These differ considerably in form, colour, 

 general build, and size and curvature of the horns. The 

 cattle of Chillingham have red or brown, while those of 

 Chartley have black points. Again, the Wollerton and 

 Burton Constable herds were polled, as were at one time 

 those of Cadzow. 



Sir Oswald Mosley, 1 after referring to the disappearance 

 of the wild boar and other animals from our forests, says : 

 " The herds of wild cattle, from which our last enclosed 

 forest of Needwood or Neatwood derived its name, would 

 undoubtedly have shared a similar fate had it not been for 

 the provident care of William, Earl of Derby, who in the 

 reign of Henry III. conveyed some of them to his park at 

 Chartley, where the breed has been carefully preserved, and 

 is still kept in its original purity under the vigilant super- 

 intendence of his descendants, the Earls Ferrers." This 

 fortunate rescue took place, no doubt, in consequence of the 

 passing of the Act of Parliament known as the " Charta 

 Forrestae," in the ninth year of Henry III. (1225), which 

 enacted in chapter x. that all land which had been afforested 

 by Kings Henry II., Richard I., and John, except the proper 

 demesnes of the Crown, should be disafforested and freed 

 from the forest laws, so as to remit their rights to the 

 former owners. When this disafforesting took place, the 

 cattle, deer, and other game, being no longer under the 

 protection of the very stringent game laws, soon diminished, 

 and ultimately became exterminated. The extract we have 

 given shows the antiquity of the Chartley herd of cattle ; but 

 as to their origin, and from what stock they were originally 

 derived, there has long been a doubt and considerable con- 

 troversy amongst zoologists. The two theories set up as to 

 the ancestry of these animals were, either that the breed was 

 indigenous and directly descended from the extinct species, 

 Bos primigenius, or that these park cattle are the feral de- 

 scendants of domestic cattle imported from abroad. During 

 recent years the subject has been very exhaustively investi- 

 gated by Mr Hedger Wallace, who gives the result of his 



1 Natural Hist, of Tutlmry, 1S63, p. 16. 



