80 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN. 



Nottingham. Here, till recently, was another wild herd 

 of white cattle, mentioned by Bewick near a hundred 

 years since, whose origin is not known ; but the park 

 itself, lying on the verge of Sherwood Forest, is of the 

 date of the Edwards. All these herds will be described 

 fully in their proper places. 



Advancing northwards, some eighteen miles from 

 Lyme Hall, we arrive at Middleton, the ancient seat of 

 the Asshetons, a few miles north of Manchester. Here, 

 the learned Dr. Charles Leigh relates, there were, in the 

 year 1700, "in a park, wild cattle belonging to Sir 

 Ralph Ashton of Middleton." " They have no horns, 

 but are like the wild bulls and cows upon the continent 

 of America, of which Monsieur Hennipin has given us 

 a full account." * And that this county was cele- 

 brated for them centuries before is evident, for Leland, 

 writing previously to the dissolution of the monas- 

 teries, says about Blakeley, which was close to the 

 Assheton's park at Middleton, " wild bores, bulles, and 

 falcons bredde in times paste at Blakele." f The present 

 descendants of these " wild cattel " will be hereafter 

 alluded to. 



Some twenty miles north of Middleton, and, like it, 

 at the foot of the great central range, lies Whalley 

 Abbey, once surrounded by those extensive forests 

 before described. It was granted, in the reign of 

 Edward VI., to another branch of the family of 

 Assheton ; and from the " Lord Abbot's Park " at 

 Whalley ancient tradition says that the wild cattle 

 came, also polled, which belonged to the Listers of 



* " Natural History of Lancashire, Cheshire, and the Peak of Derby- 

 shire : " Oxford, 1700, book ii., p. 3. 



f " Itinerary," vol. vii., p. 47, Hearne's 2nd edition. 



