286 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN. 



Assheton, the last Baronet of Whalley Abbey, part of 

 the wild cattle in the " Lord's Park " at that place went 

 to Gisburne, part to be added to the previously existing 

 herd of his heirs, the Asshetons, Baronets of Middleton. 



Nor is this all; for Thomas Lister — son of the 

 Thomas Lister to whom Sir John Assheton bequeathed 

 the " Lower Hall," afterwards Gisburne Park, and a part 

 of the Whalley wild cattle — married, in 1716, Catherine, 

 daughter and co-heiress of Sir Ralph Assheton of Mid- 

 dleton, nephew (through his mother) of the same Sir 

 John Assheton, and as such inheritor of Whalley Abbey 

 also. This gave the Listers an interest in the Middle- 

 ton herd too, and from it the GKsburue cattle probably 

 received a cross. The grandson of Thomas Lister and 

 Catherine Assheton of Middleton was created Baron 

 Eibblesdale, October 26th, 1797. 



I proceed to consider the Grisburne Park herd. These 

 cattle were unquestionably wild at first, though they 

 gradually became to a considerable extent domesticated, 

 owing very much to their small number — for many 

 years, not more than seven or eight — and to their being 

 latterly kept, not in the park, but on a farm, where their 

 range of pasture was much circumscribed. So lately as 

 1805, when Dr. Whitaker wrote, they were " rather 

 mischievous," and " approached the object of their re- 

 sentment in a very insidious manner." In the last days 

 of their declining state, though they had become com- 

 pletely tame, a touch of their old savage nature still 

 remained, and they were " more quarrelsome amongst 

 themselves than cattle usually are, and would fight, off 

 and on, for days." In the year 1859 they became 

 finally extinct ; the following pages will show us how 

 and why. 



