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The Droving Industry

For hundreds of years, until the arrival of the railways, large numbers of cattle, sheep, pigs and poultry were driven across the Welsh Borders to the English markets and fairs. A lucrative industry grew up as dealers and drovers bought and sold Welsh livestock. Droving probably existed before the Middle Ages but records of tollgate charges show that it definitely did exist from that time onwards.

The English had always regarded beef as a staple part of their diet and in the Middle Ages it was said to have played an important part in the domestic economy of the great houses of England.

In the 14th century the Royal Household and the grand houses of the nobility were supplied with cattle from Wales. During 1467 Archbishop Neville of York provided a feast at which 104 oxen were eaten.

Livestock that had been reared in Wales would be driven to the many markets and fairs, where they would be purchased by Graziers. The livestock would then be allowed to graze on the lush English pastures, meadows and fields until they were suitably fattened.

In the 18th century Leicestershire and Northamptonshire farmers realised that cattle fattening and sheep farming were very profitable and this caused a big demand for Welsh cattle. Once fattened the livestock would be taken to and sold at the city or town ‘shambles’ which were butchers’ market stalls, or flesh markets. The word shamble also means a place of carnage from which the word slaughterhouse is derived.

The main English fairs were held at Barnet and Smithfield and cattle from the Carmarthen area were usually sold at Barnet Fair. Occasionally, English drovers would visit local fairs and the dealers who came to buy local cattle would engage local drovers to take the herds back to England.

Few Welsh cattle went directly to London, they were taken to the Midlands first and then to Essex and Kent for finishing. When they had been sufficiently fattened they made the final stage of their journey to become meat for the English tables.

The City Exchequer received a toll for each head of cattle.

Before the cattle set out on their long journey they had to be shod to protect their hoofs from the hard roads and after being purchased at local fairs, they would be assembled at the smithy to be shod. The normal rate of progress of a drove was about two miles an hour and they travelled on average 14 to 16 miles a day.

Local cattle would travel in herds of 500 or 600 to England, crossing the River Severn at Aust (where the old Severn Bridge is today). Many would be sold at Bristol and other towns in Somerset, Gloucester and Wiltshire. One source gives the St David’s to London route in the 17th century as passing through Haverfordwest, Llanelli, Swansea, Aberavon, Cardiff, Newport, Monmouth, and Michael Dean in Coleford.

Some people thought that the drovers were corrupt scoundrels, but most of them were honest, hardworking businessmen who earned the trust and confidence of gentlemen and merchants. Very often drovers were trusted with important financial transactions and many acted as Government agents taking Ship Money that had been collected by local Crown Officials to London. Also, many stewards of the Welsh estates trusted the drovers to take rents collected from the tenants to the landlords in London. Because of the danger of highway robbery, cash was very rarely carried and the commissions were paid from the proceeds of the cattle sale at the markets and fairs. These transactions became a feature of droving life and led to the establishment of drovers’ banks and was the basis of the modern day banking system.

Many of the drovers who were commissioned to deliver bills and cash to the London banking houses, were also trusted to carry letters and packages all over the country. Also, each spring they escorted young girls who were employed as ‘weeders’ in some of the gardens of the great houses in the main cities, especially the gardens of London.

The drovers contributed to the economic and social life of the rural community by selling homemade gloves and stockings to the wealthy English. On their return journey home to Wales they related tales of their exploits, brought news from over the borders and could be described as the newsvendors of their time.

Drovers did not have an easy life, they worked long hours, travelling hundreds of miles and had to contend with the irritation of tollgates, highwaymen and footpads (a highwayman on foot). They also had to cope with the constant threat of storms, floods and had to secure overnight accommodation for the animals. One major concern for the drovers during the long dry summer months was finding adequate grazing and there was also the possibility of the livestock contracting foot-and-mouth disease or rinderpest (cattle plague). A stampede through open country or a market town could cause havoc and it took great skill, intelligence and experience to avoid such disasters.

Along the droving routes overnight accommodation for the livestock was indicated by a copse of trees that could be seen from a few miles away.

By the 17th century trade was flourishing and up to the end of the 19th century Welsh cattle breeders provided one of the main sources of beef for the English markets and fairs. For economic reasons most livestock was taken overland but a small proportion was exported from the Bristol Channel ports. As Adam Smith observed: ‘Live cattle are perhaps the only commodity of which transportation is more expensive by sea than by land. By land, they carry themselves to market. By sea, not only the cattle but their food and their water must be carried at no small expense and inconvenience.’

Coastal towns such as Milford Haven, Tenby, Haverfordwest, Laugharne, Llanstephan, Kidwelly and Swansea are known to have exported livestock to Bristol and Ireland. Animal hides were exported in large quantities and they provided raw material for tanners, whitamers, pouchmakers, pointmakers, girdlers, glovers, corvistors and curriers, who all had thriving businesses.

While the English gentry feasted on beef, the poor Welsh farm workers had scanty larders and rarely tasted beef. It is recorded that when a poor Pembrokeshire farm labourer was asked to say grace before the meal he said: ‘Good Lord! What a spread – Sour broth and mouldy bread!’

The poor could rarely afford meat and their main meal was ‘Potes maip’ which was a thin soup made mainly of turnips.

It has been estimated that 600 million pounds of beef were consumed in England in 1798.

Droving flourished until the railways arrived when the long distance drover disappeared from the roads.

The New Drovers Public House in Thomas Street, Llanelli (formerly known as The Drovers) is a reminder of the times when livestock was bought and sold at the local markets and fairs, some of them being taken to the fattening pastures of England.