The Cadzow White Park Cattle at Chatelherault Country Park
Wild white cattle once roamed freely in the northern forests of Britain. They are easily recognised with their white coats and distinctive black muzzles, ears, feet and horn tips. These cattle are without doubt of ancient descent but their history is unclear.
It is now thought that the white cattle descend from a very early group of the native European wild ox called the Aurochs. They are not thought to have any descent from the long extinct, British race of the aurochs but may possibly have been brought to Britain for religious purposes, or perhaps used in the Roman and Phoenician trade. Their size and white colour would have made them stand out from the small, dark native breeds and they may have been prized as sacrificial animals.
At some point in time, probably as Christianity took over from the native, Celtic religions, these impressive, snow white beasts appear to have established wild populations in the extensive forests that then covered southern Scotland. Their fearsome reputation and value as a spectacular hunting quarry appear to have saved them from extinction and by the fifteenth century, they had become enclosed in a number of aristocratic hunting parks across southern Scotland and northern England. Several of these semi-wild, parkland herds survived well into the nineteenth century but now only two remain: the Cadzow herd and that at Chillingam in Northumberland, which still roam in a semi-wild condition.
The Cadzow cattle used to roam freely beneath the magnificent Cadzow oaks in the Hamilton High parks. In the late 1960's the herd was moved to the Duke of Hamilton's estate in East Lothian but, in 1987, a small group of Cadzow bullocks were returned to the new Chatelherault Country Park and this small herd remains. They can usually be seen grazing around the "grand avenue" to the front of Chatelherault.
Charles Kirk of Glasgow shot and stuffed two of the white cadzow cattle and these animals are now on display in the Chatelherault Visitor Centre. The animals were originally donated to Hamilton in 1914 and were kept in the Town Library until 2000. They were then transferred back to Chatelherault.
It is hoped that one day a breeding herd of these magnificent white cattle might once again be established at Chatelherault. Meanwhile, the Duke of Hamilton's Cadzow herd remains the only such herd in Scotland.
For further information on the Cadzow cattle, please contact the Countryside Rangers.
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