282 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN. 



with its surrounding demesnes. He died without issue ; 

 and Whalley Abbey, becoming the property of his 

 nephew, was from that time the principal residence of 

 the Asshetons of Whalley Abbey and of Leaver, created 

 baronets June 28th, 1620. 



It is a curious fact, which shows how strongly the 

 English cling to the memories of the past, and how 

 averse they are to change, that during the above transi- 

 tion period, while the Abbey belonged to the Crown, a 

 few of the old monks still remained in occupation of it. 

 If John Braddyll of Braddyll, acting as the deputy of the 

 king, dared to wink at this, we may feel pretty sure — 

 knowing as we do the strong hunting propensities of the 

 country gentlemen of the period — that he would be a 

 strict conservator of the remains of the Abbey deer and 

 wild cattle, if any such still existed, as they probably 

 did, under his care. 



I think, then, we may adopt the above carefully ex- 

 pressed opinion of that cautious historian, Dr. Whitaker : 

 " that it is highly probable that the breed was kept up 

 by the Abbots of Whalley in the ' Lord's Park,' " and 

 that it finally " fell into the hands of the Asshetons," 

 with which view the local traditions exactly coincide. 



But there was still another source from which the 

 Asshetons of Leaver and Whalley Abbey might have 

 derived the wild cattle. They were descended from a 

 younger son of the family of Assheton of Middleton 

 Hall, near Bury; and Richard Assheton, who bought 

 Whalley Abbey, was great-nephew of Sir Richard 

 Assheton of Middleton. And at Middleton we know 

 well that long after this time the wild bull existed, as I 

 shall subsequently show, and also close to it for a long 

 time previous ; so that even if it cannot be proved that 



