Now! Then! 2024! - Yorkshire On This Day

Excerpt

The copper and lead mines here destroyed most of the fish in the Tees in these parts, and they have had a suit to hinder the water running into the Tees that comes from the washing of the ore, but have been cast. In Richmondshire they are great breeders of horses, every farmer is a courser, which I believe has greatly corrupted the morals of that rank of people. They have also here, and in the Bishopric of Durham, a very fine race of black cattle. They have short horns like the Alderney kind, but are the largest cattle in Britain, and beautifully marked, most commonly with spots of either red, black, or liver colour on a white ground, and some only mixed with white. They say it was a cross with the Dutch breed. They are far beyond any cattle I ever saw in any part of the world. The Hungarian come the nearest to them.

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To facilitate reading, the spelling and punctuation of elderly excerpts have generally been modernised, and distracting excision scars concealed. My selections, translations, and editions are copyright.

Abbreviations:

• ER: East Riding
• GM: Greater Manchester
• NR: North Riding
• NY: North Yorkshire
• SY: South Yorkshire
• WR: West Riding
• WY: West Yorkshire

Comment

Comment

The note says they’re Kirklevington shorthorns, but I haven’t seen the book cited (Bates 1897).

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Original

The copper and lead mines here destroyed most of the fish in the Tees in these parts, and they have had a sute to hinder the water running into the Tees that comes from the washing of the ore, but have been cast.

In Richmondshire they are great breeders of horses, every farmer is a courser, which I believe has greatly corrupted the morals of that rank of people. They have also here, and in the Bishoprick, a very fine race of black cattle. They have short horns like the Alderney kind, but are the largest cattle in Britain, and beautifully marked, most commonly with spots of either red, black, or liver colour on a white ground, and some only mixed with white. They say it was a cross with the Dutch breed. They are far beyond any cattle I ever saw in any part of the world; the Hungarian come the nearest to them.

159 words.

Tags

Tags are assigned inclusively on the basis of an entry’s original text and any comment. You may find this confusing if you only read an entry excerpt.

• Alderney cattle (1) ·
• Cattle (26) ·
• Copper extraction (1) ·
• Copper (1) ·
• County Durham (8) ·
• Horse racing (9) ·
• Horse (71) ·
• Lead (2) ·
• Mining (3) ·
• North Riding of Yorkshire (51) ·
• Pococke, Richard (1704-65) (4), churchman, inveterate traveller and travel writer ·
• Pollution (10) ·
• Richmondshire (5) ·
• River Tees (5) ·

All tags.

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