AS SEEN ON ROBSON GREEN'S WEEKEND ESCAPES. EPISODE 15 AVAILABLE ON BBC iPLAYER

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Other white cattle

A mysterious survival from the Middle Ages are the fierce shy white cattle of a few very grand parks … Oliver Rackham’s words.

Only the herds of Cadzow, Chartley (later transferred to Woburn), Dynevor and Vaynol persisted into the 20th century, and the forerunner of today’s White Park Cattle Society was founded in 1918. Lord Tankerville was the Patron, but the Chillingham cattle were never registered and the connection with the Society was severed in 1932.

Today’s White Park is a pedigreed breed (the Vaynol cattle have a distinct status) and includes genetic endowments from Longhorn and other cattle, probably including a white variant of today’s Welsh Black. Chillingham cattle did contribute to the White Park, but the trade was exclusively one way.

White Park cattle are much larger than Chillingham animals and have the beef conformation of a classic traditional British breed.