A lady from Elstree involved in a community project on farming just asked me for a lookup from "The Welsh Cattle Drovers" by Richard Colyer, 1976. She was curious as to what the "Welsh connection " with Elstree could be, she'd spotted the name in the online index. The subject turned out to be so topical that I thought I would share my response with you . ########## The Elstree reference arises in a fairly long section of the book headed "Cattle disease and its effects upon the cattle trade", which is about as topical as you can get for a year 2001 project on farming ! He says with feeling as someone who lives within the Dartmoor National Park :-( I will extract enough quotes to give you the general picture. The actual lines below are in a section relating to the 1865 cattle plague; "The outbreak of cattle plague in 1865, which was eventually to wreak such havoc among herds throughout the length and breadth of the country, prompted Robert Curtis to write to the Plague Commissioners of Tenterden in Kent, suggesting that the droving of cattle be banned for the duration of the epidemic. He considered ' that the case of the Welshmen that lost nearly all their cattle.....will be sufficient to prove how hazardous the droving of cattle must be '. The case to which he referred was that of Simon Williams and John Jones, two North Wales drovers who had driven diseased animals to Barnet fair..." "...........John Jones had 'secretly' driven a number of diseased cattle from Barnet to Elstree, thereby further facilitating the spread of the plague..." "As Dale [a Veterinary inspector from Barnet] complained to the Privy Council ;-'this part of my district, Elstree, was entirely free from the plague, but in consequence of this drove, every herd of cattle belonging to gentlemen and farmers adjoining have been affected by the disease.' " " Prohibition of the movement of cattle by a series of Orders in Council of 1866, and by the Cattle Diseases Prevention Act of the same year, substantially reduced the activities of drovers and dealers at the markets and fairs in England." ############## Gareth List Administrator for Dyfed, CGN & PEM. Lookup Exchange http://www.johngareth.freeserve.co.uk/lookup.html Help Page http://www.johngareth.freeserve.co.uk/hicks.html