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and, although
there is no evidence of where he purchased his cattle in 1745/6, there are
two records of him buying cattle in the Hebrides
in the 1760s. In 1764 George Gillenders, the factor of the Isle of Harris,
brought an action against John Birtwhistle who had travelled to the island to
purchase black cattle in the previous year, the bond given in payment having failed … “John Birtwhistle in the month of June last
came to the north of Scotland to purchase black cattle and in the course of his dealing
came to the Island of Harris and applied for credit to purchase the cattle of
the island that is annually sold for paying the proprietors rents…. In
consequence of this credit Mr Birtwhistle made a tour of the island and
purchased cattle to the value of £500”.
John
Birtwhistle was again in a dispute over the purchase of Hebridean cattle in
1767, when the factor for Mackensie of Seaforth (Lewis) commented in
court that “of late years it had been usual for dealers in black cattle in our
neighbouring country to come or send to the remotest part of Scotland
to purchase cattle”.
It is
interesting to speculate why John Birtwhistle should need to travel hundreds
of miles from Craven to the Hebrides,
through a land full of cattle to make his purchases. A plausible explanation
comes from an interview by Bill Mitchell
with Craven farmer Eric Foster, who was still travelling to the Hebrides to buy his cattle in the 1960s .. “the visitors from the Yorkshire Dales worked
on the principle that if they took cattle from hard localities, such as the Hebrides, they were almost certain to have beasts that
would “do” back at home”. To prosper in places such as the Hebrides, cattle needed to be particularly hardy, a
characteristic essential on the high limestone pastures of Craven. It is
interesting that Highland cattle have been
successfully re-introduced onto Craven pastures in recent years, two above
Malham Cove being shown on the front cover.
John
Birtwhistle (1714-1787): later years and business interests in Galloway
By the 1760s
John Birtwhistle had accumulated significant wealth, and was no longer
described in records as a yeoman or drover, but as a gentleman - a man of
independent means. He may have been motivated to develop his business further
by having a family of eight children, three of whom would follow him into the
cattle business. However, it was not possible simply to expand his early
business, for much of Craven’s arable land had now been enclosed, and a new
generation of Craven farmers was beginning to travel
to Scotland
themselves, rather than relying on drovers to supply them with animals.
Although he continued to hire Malham’s Great Close from the Listers, John
Birtwhistle now bought substantial estates which enabled him to take Scottish
animals to the south of England,
rather than just auctioning them in
Craven. Before buying land however, he purchased a substantial freehold
property at the south end of Skipton High Street in 1762 which included a
malt kiln; the yard on the east side of the property is still called Birtwhistle
Yard. The purchase of the Skipton High Street property was followed by the
purchase of extensive lands in Craven in 1764, and lands and a rectory at
Skirbeck in Lincolnshire
in 1769, his eldest son, Thomas, being installed as rector. Since Lincolnshire never established a deeds registry, its
land transactions are more difficult to trace than those in the West Riding
of Yorkshire, but it was undoubtedly through their Lincolnshire
holding that the Birtwhistles transferred their animals to Norfolk,
Suffolk and Essex.
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