On The Hoof

Discover the ancient routes of Britain’s cowboys in Wales’ wild west.

- Jenny Walters

THE NOISE WOULD hit you first. A yodel of heiptro ho drifting on the breeze, and the barking of dogs. Cattle lowing and sheep bleating, maybe the grunting of pigs and the honking of geese. The gurgle of turkeys and the braying of donkeys. Then the herd of livestock – a cavalcade up to half a mile long – would heave into view, a jostling mass on its way to market, corralled by a handful of drovers.

These stockmen – ancestors of America’s famed cowboys – whittled a web of routes across Britain. Most originated in the uplands of the north and west where the animals were bred, and ended in the hustle of market towns or livestock fairs at Falkirk, Birmingham, Norwich, Smithfield or Cheapside. Each journey involved weeks of walking or riding across wild country. Those travelling from the Outer Hebrides faced 700 miles of land – and water – to reach England’s capital.

I’m up in the Snowdonian hills above Barmouth, on the trail of the porthmon – drover – of north Wales. Livestock reared on the coastal plains around Harlech would cross these wild moorland contours en route to Shrewsbury or Wrexham – and beyond. I’m linking two drove roads to form a 10-mile loop: it’s about the distance the herd would cover in a single day of their long trek. The animals had to arrive in top condition – not walked to the bone – so there was no rushing.

Droving’s roots twist back through millennia. Romans herded flocks after their armies to fuel the soldiers’ hunger for fresh meat. By 1800, Britain’s farmers were sending 1.5 million sheep and 200,000 cattle through Smithfield Market alone. But then the railways arrived, covering the same distance in hours rather than weeks. The drovers’ profession died out; their paths faded from use.