HISTORICAL NOTICES. 81 



Grisburne Park, a few miles distant among the Yorkshire 

 hills ; a herd which has only recently become extinct. 

 This tradition, which has continued very strong among 

 the old people at Whalley up to the present day, is much 

 confirmed by the close and frequent intermarriages that 

 took place between the Asshetons and the Listers, and 

 by the considerable amount of property the latter in- 

 herited from the former. But in all cases, both at 

 Whalley and at Grisburne, tradition points to the wild 

 bull of Bowland Forest as the ultimate origin of these 

 cattle, only enclosed in the park when he was verging 

 to extinction in his native ranges. 



Little more than ten miles south-west of Whalley, 

 we come to Hoghton Tower, the ancient residence of 

 the De Hoghtons, in whose park, now destroyed, tradi- 

 tion says that the wild bull was kept. This tradition is 

 still believed,* and it is confirmed by two circumstances. 

 When James I. visited Sir Richard Hoghton in 1617, 

 one of the dishes with which the royal banquet was 

 more than once supplied was " wild boar pye ;"f a 

 remarkable instance of the continued existence of that 

 animal, which renders it extremely probable that the 

 wild bull was his companion. This is rendered yet more 

 likely because the De Hoghton crest is the wild bull, 

 and the two supporters of the arms are the same. The 

 crest is thus heraldically described by Burke : — " A bull, 

 passant, argent ; the ears, tip of the horns, mane, hoofs, 

 and point of the tail sable ;"| — a capital description of 



* Sir Henry De Hoghton, in a letter to me, strongly confirms the ex- 

 istence of this tradition, and says it is much corroborated by the numerous 

 " Bulls " and " White Bulls " which are yet the signs of inns and public- 

 houses in the neighbourhood of Hoghton. 



f Nicholls's " Progresses, &c, of James I.," vol. iii., p. 402. 



X " Peerage and Baronetage." 



G 



