Welsh Journals

WELSH CATTLE DROVERS IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY I THE export of store cattle from Wales to the rich pasturelands of England has always played a vital part in the Welsh economy. Recent research has indicated the existence of a flourishing cattle trade since the mid-thirteenth century, and there seems little reason to doubt that the origins of the trade go back far into antiquity. By the mid-seventeenth century store cattle exports were one of the primary sources of Welsh revenue. Thus we find Archbishop John Williams of Bangor imploring Prince Rupert to permit the passage of the Welsh drovers into England during the Civil War, for they are the Spanish fleet of Wales which brings us what little gold and silver we have'.1 In spite of the Archbishop's plea the Civil War disrupted the cattle trade to the extent that the drovers were eventually paid a subsidy of £ 3,000 as compensation for loss of revenue during hostilities. The industrial developments of the late eighteenth century and the growth of urban populations stimulated an increased demand for beef from the grazing lands of the Midlands and the mixed farming regions of Eastern England. In spite of the growing importance of the Scots cattle trade, the early years of the nineteenth century witnessed the arrival of thousands of Welsh store cattle into England, for subsequent pasture and stall fattening. The extent of the demand for Welsh cattle may be judged from the fact that it is difficult to find a Midland grazier's account book which does not refer to the purchase of Welsh cattle at some time of the year. It is virtually impossible to estimate the volume of the trade during the nineteenth century due to the lack of statistical evidence. A few toll gate returns provide a fleeting glimpse of cattle movements but these, of course, do not take into account the fact that many drovers avoided the Turnpike roads, preferring the more hazardous but less expensive journey across open mountain and unmade road. Nevertheless the several accounts of journeys through Wales made by such astute observers as Walter Davies and George Kay, leave one with little doubt that the volume of exports was considerable. Kay2 maintained that in 1794, 10,000 cattle were exported from Anglesey while Davies noted that by 1810 some 14,000 'Welsh runts' were being sent annually to the Midlands from Anglesey and the Lleyn Peninsula alone. Aikin's lyrical description of the droves of black cattle swimming the Menai Straights is well known,4 perhaps rather more so than Richard Llwyd's lines written on Porthaethwy Fair. While this poem can hardly be described as the work of a genius, it does succeed in conveying the sense of confusion which accompanied the ferrying of large numbers of beasts across the stormy waters of the Straights: