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3. Testimonials - don't know anybody that has bought a Drovers Road? Wrong! If the Drovers Road is good the internet will let you know. Use the Internet as a friend and get testimonials before you buy.
4. Questions - Got a question about Drovers Road then search the Forums, FAQ's, Blogs etc. Don't be afraid to ask .....
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6. Returns - still worried that even after all of the above your Drovers Road wont be what you want? Check out the returns policy. There is so much competition now that someone, somewhere is bound to offer the terms that you are comfortable with.
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8. Security - check for the yellow padlock on the Drovers Road site before you buy, and the s after http:/ /i.e. https:// = a secure site
9. Contact - got a question about Drovers Road, or want to leave a comment then check out the sites contact page. Reputable companies have them and respond.
10. Payment - ready to pay for your Drovers Road, then use your credit card or PayPal! Be aware of companies that don't accept them, there may be genuine reasons but given the huge amount of choice you have when buying online there is no reason at all not to buy via credit card or PayPal.
Drovers' road, or
drove, or
droveway, is the term used for an ancient route for the long distance driving of livestock on the hoof to
marketplace in the
British IslesK.J. Bonser, "The Drovers", London, 1970 and some other world regions. In parts of Britain, especially near to bigger towns and cities, Drovers' roads are often wider than other roads in a particular locality. In the United Kingdom, where many original drovers' roads have been converted into single carriageway
metalled roads, unusually wide verges are often left on either side of the road. Thus wide verges are often an indicator that a particular road may have once been used as route for moving livestock. In Wales, where animals often started out on their journeys, drovers roads are often recognisable by being deeply set into the countryside with high earth walls or hedges. The most characteristic feature of these roads is the occasional dog-leg turn in the road which provided cover for animals and men in severe rain or snow. Some drovers road had to cross mountains and it is likely that the so-called
Roman steps in the Rhinogydd is an example of an early drove road.
The people using such routes were called
drovers. They accompanied their livestock either on foot or on horseback, travelling substantial distances. Rural
England,
Wales and
Scotland are crossed by numerous
drove roads that were used for this trade, many of which are now no more than tracks, and some lost altogether. The word "drovers" is used for those engaged in long distance trade - distances which could cover much of the length of Britain or other world regions where droving was used - while "drivers" was used for those taking cattle to local markets.
Early history
Some form of Drovers' roads existed in Romano-British times and certainly throughout the
Early Middle Ages. For example, the old Drovers' road consisting of the main east/west trail that connects the Dorset/Exeter region with London and thence Suffolk is along a similar alignment as the original Roman road of the same route. C. Michael Hogan and Amy Gregory,
History and Architecture of Calcot Manor, Lumina Technologies Inc., prepared for Calcot Manor, July 5, 2006
Drove as a
placename can be traced to the early 1200s, and there are records of
cattle driven from Wales to
London and sheep from Lincolnshire to
York in the early 1300s. Drovers from Scotland were licensed in 1359 to drive stock through England. These may be simply the earliest records of a more ancient trade. There is increasing evidence for large-scale cattle rearing in Bronze Age and
Iron Age Britain. Cattle and sheep were part of the
Romano-British economy. By the Anglo-Saxon England period there was long distance movement of cattle, including stolen stock.
What is certain is that during the
medieval period there was a substantial trade in
cattle out of
Wales into England, to which cattle from
Ireland were added. These were driven across
Somerset, WiltshireK.G. Watts,
Droving in Wiltshire, Trowbridge Publishing (1990) and Berkshire to feed the growing population of
London.
Seventeenth century onward
By the seventeenth century Daniel Defoe described
Smithfield, London as the greatest meat market in the world. In 1855 it was moved out of the city to avoid the problems of large numbers of stock being driven through the streets. Cattle were also driven to other major cities, to areas of intermediate grazing to be fattened for market, and to markets and fairs. Many of the greatest stock fairs, such as Tan Hill, Yarnbury and White Sheet in Wiltshire, were held on ancient sites to which cattle were driven for centuries, perhaps since prehistoric times.
In addition domesticated goose, domesticated turkeys, domestic pigs, and
horses were also driven to markets, and in large quantities to London. Cattle were fitted with iron shoes--and geese with boots--to protect their feet after roads were "improved". There is a record of a wager in 1740 on whether geese or turkeys would travel faster – the winner being the geese which could graze as they moved, while the turkeys had to stop to be fed.
The task of controlling herds of three or four hundred animals on narrow droves, keeping them healthy, and feeding them
en route over several weeks required expertise and authority. There was licensing under the legislation intended to control Badger (person), although it seems to have been less rigorously applied to drovers. They were also exempted from the Disarming Acts of 1716 and 1748, which were passed after Jacobitism uprisings. They were not necessarily literate but were respected as experts in their trade. The regularity of the Welsh trade across Wiltshire is proved by an inscription in Welsh on a cottage at Stockbridge, still visible in the twentieth century; "Satisfactory hay, sweet pasture, good ale and a comfortable bed".
Much of the trade in cattle from Wales to London was done on
letters of credit. In 1706 the law was changed specifically to prevent drovers escaping their debts by declaring themselves bankrupt. The trade promoted the development of banking systems in both London and Wales. One drover set up his own Black Ox Bank in Llandovery in 1799, which survived until 1909 when it was taken over by Lloyds.
Droving declined during the nineteenth century, through a combination of agricultural change, rail transport, cattle disease and more intensive use of the countryside through which the stock had passed for hundreds of years. The last recorded large-scale cattle drove out of Wales was in 1870, and of sheep in 1900, although it briefly revived during the rail strike of 1912.
Cattle drives in North America by American cowboys and South American cattle drivers are similar in nature; however, these routes generally did not follow an exact roadway, but rather a general geographic route.
See also
- Cattle drives in the United States
- Drover (Australian)
Line note references
General references
- Bettey, J.H. "Livestock Trade in the West Country during the Seventeenth Century", Proceedings of the Somerset Archaeological and Natural History Society, vol.127, 1983, p.123.
External links
- Droving at the Border Collie Museum
- Cattle drovers
- The Telford Drove Story, oral history of a 40 mile (63.4km) cattle drove in 1943
Drovers' road, or
drove, or
droveway, is the term used for an ancient route for the long distance driving of livestock on the hoof to
marketplace in the
British IslesK.J. Bonser, "The Drovers", London, 1970 and some other world regions. In parts of Britain, especially near to bigger towns and cities, Drovers' roads are often wider than other roads in a particular locality. In the
United Kingdom, where many original drovers' roads have been converted into single carriageway
metalled roads, unusually wide verges are often left on either side of the road. Thus wide verges are often an indicator that a particular road may have once been used as route for moving
livestock. In Wales, where animals often started out on their journeys, drovers roads are often recognisable by being deeply set into the countryside with high earth walls or hedges. The most characteristic feature of these roads is the occasional dog-leg turn in the road which provided cover for animals and men in severe rain or snow. Some drovers road had to cross mountains and it is likely that the so-called
Roman steps in the
Rhinogydd is an example of an early drove road.
The people using such routes were called
drovers. They accompanied their livestock either on foot or on horseback, travelling substantial distances. Rural England,
Wales and Scotland are crossed by numerous drove roads that were used for this trade, many of which are now no more than tracks, and some lost altogether. The word "drovers" is used for those engaged in long distance trade - distances which could cover much of the length of Britain or other world regions where droving was used - while "drivers" was used for those taking cattle to local markets.
Early history
Some form of Drovers' roads existed in Romano-British times and certainly throughout the Early Middle Ages. For example, the old Drovers' road consisting of the main east/west trail that connects the Dorset/Exeter region with London and thence Suffolk is along a similar alignment as the original Roman road of the same route. C. Michael Hogan and Amy Gregory,
History and Architecture of Calcot Manor, Lumina Technologies Inc., prepared for Calcot Manor, July 5, 2006
Drove as a placename can be traced to the early
1200s, and there are records of
cattle driven from Wales to London and sheep from Lincolnshire to York in the early
1300s. Drovers from Scotland were licensed in
1359 to drive stock through England. These may be simply the earliest records of a more ancient trade. There is increasing evidence for large-scale cattle rearing in Bronze Age and
Iron Age Britain. Cattle and
sheep were part of the Romano-British economy. By the
Anglo-Saxon England period there was long distance movement of cattle, including stolen stock.
What is certain is that during the medieval period there was a substantial trade in cattle out of Wales into England, to which cattle from Ireland were added. These were driven across
Somerset,
WiltshireK.G. Watts,
Droving in Wiltshire, Trowbridge Publishing (1990) and
Berkshire to feed the growing population of
London.
Seventeenth century onward
By the seventeenth century Daniel Defoe described Smithfield, London as the greatest meat market in the world. In 1855 it was moved out of the city to avoid the problems of large numbers of stock being driven through the streets. Cattle were also driven to other major cities, to areas of intermediate grazing to be fattened for market, and to markets and fairs. Many of the greatest stock fairs, such as Tan Hill, Yarnbury and White Sheet in
Wiltshire, were held on ancient sites to which cattle were driven for centuries, perhaps since prehistoric times.
In addition
domesticated goose, domesticated turkeys, domestic pigs, and
horses were also driven to markets, and in large quantities to London. Cattle were fitted with iron shoes--and geese with boots--to protect their feet after roads were "improved". There is a record of a wager in 1740 on whether geese or turkeys would travel faster – the winner being the geese which could graze as they moved, while the turkeys had to stop to be fed.
The task of controlling herds of three or four hundred animals on narrow droves, keeping them healthy, and feeding them
en route over several weeks required expertise and authority. There was licensing under the legislation intended to control
Badger (person), although it seems to have been less rigorously applied to drovers. They were also exempted from the Disarming Acts of 1716 and 1748, which were passed after
Jacobitism uprisings. They were not necessarily literate but were respected as experts in their trade. The regularity of the Welsh trade across Wiltshire is proved by an inscription in Welsh on a cottage at Stockbridge, still visible in the twentieth century; "Satisfactory hay, sweet pasture, good ale and a comfortable bed".
Much of the trade in cattle from Wales to London was done on letters of credit. In 1706 the law was changed specifically to prevent drovers escaping their debts by declaring themselves bankrupt. The trade promoted the development of banking systems in both London and Wales. One drover set up his own Black Ox Bank in Llandovery in 1799, which survived until 1909 when it was taken over by Lloyds.
Droving declined during the nineteenth century, through a combination of agricultural change, rail transport, cattle disease and more intensive use of the countryside through which the stock had passed for hundreds of years. The last recorded large-scale cattle drove out of Wales was in 1870, and of sheep in 1900, although it briefly revived during the rail strike of 1912.
Cattle drives in North America by American cowboys and South American cattle drivers are similar in nature; however, these routes generally did not follow an exact roadway, but rather a general geographic route.
See also
- Cattle drives in the United States
- Drover (Australian)
Line note references
General references
- Bettey, J.H. "Livestock Trade in the West Country during the Seventeenth Century", Proceedings of the Somerset Archaeological and Natural History Society, vol.127, 1983, p.123.
External links
- Droving at the Border Collie Museum
- Cattle drovers
- The Telford Drove Story, oral history of a 40 mile (63.4km) cattle drove in 1943