238 WILD WHITE CATTLE. 



" Gisburne Park is chiefly remarkable for a herd of 

 wild cattle, descendants of that indigenous race 

 which once peopled the great forests of Lancashire. 

 After their extinction in a wild state which we 

 know did not take place till a short time before the 

 age of Leland it is highly probable that the breed 

 was kept up by the Abbots of Whalley in the ' Lords 

 Park/ and fell into the hands of the Asshetons, who 

 acquired possession of that rich domain after the 

 Dissolution. This species differs from those of Lyme 

 in Cheshire, and Chillingham Castle in Northumber- 

 land where alone in South Britain they are now 

 preserved in being without horns. 



" They are white, save the tips of their noses, which 

 are black ;* rather mischievous, especially when guard- 

 ing their young, and approach the object of their 

 resentment in a very insidious manner. They breed 

 with tame cattle ;f but it is to be hoped that respect 

 for so ancient and singular a family will induce the 

 noble owner to preserve them from any foreign 

 admixtures. " 



They became extinct in 1859, having become so 

 delicate from breeding in-and-in, that their owners 

 could no longer keep them. They had become quite 

 tame, and were housed in winter. The last cow and 

 calf were sold to Mr. Legh, of Lyme Park, in October, 



* A copy of the "History of Craven" in the library at Gisburne Park 

 has the following note opposite the statement that the noses were 

 black, in the handwriting of the first Lord Eibblesdale : " the ears 

 and noses of this species of cattle are never black, but most usually 

 red or brown." 



t This attempt to cross the breed failed, as did a similar attempt 

 which was made by bringing a heifer from Lyme to Gisburne. 



