Modelling oxen for the Cotswolds

[Jason Pape]

I’m hoping to model some oxen teams for my layout but I’m not sure about how much bigger than a regular cow or bull they are, I saw a feature in Continental Modeller a few years ago but I forgot to buy the magazine at the time. Does anyone know the Continental Modeller issue number the oxen were featured in or any features or photographs of oxen from magazines as oxen were used quite a lot in the Cotswolds until the 1960s. Also any photographs of white park and Gloucester cows and bulls would be helpful too.

[Jeremy Cumberland]

I think Herefords were used in the Cotswolds (Devons were more common elsewhere - but perhaps not as late as the mid-20th century where most areas used horses). They are big animals, certainly, but I don't think there is any difference in size between a Hereford ox and a Hereford bull. Just chop the balls off. 

 

1960s sounds very late for draught oxen though; I thought they had pretty much all died out in England before the Second World War.

 

Edit: I've just seen that it was Earl Bathurst at Cirencester Park who kept a team of oxen into the 1960s. There's a colour video of the team at work in the 1920s on YouTube, but my attempt at adding a link failed. They look like horned Herefords to me.

Edited July 27, 2020 by Jeremy C

[figworthy]

8 hours ago, Jason Pape said:

I’m hoping to model some oxen teams for my layout but I’m not sure about how much bigger than a regular cow or bull they are, I saw a feature in Continental Modeller a few years ago but I forgot to buy the magazine at the time. Does anyone know the Continental Modeller issue number the oxen were featured in or any features or photographs of oxen from magazines as oxen were used quite a lot in the Cotswolds until the 1960s. Also any photographs of white park and Gloucester cows and bulls would be helpful too.

 

There was a series of documentaries on the BBC a few years back on how landscapes evolved in various parts of the country.  The Vale of Evesham is adjacent to the Cotswolds.  I think this shows a team of Oxen being worked.

 

 

 

 

Adrian

[Il Grifone]

The oxen are from about 11:30 in.

 

Preiser may have something suitable, but they would likely be a German breed and to H0 scale.

Edited July 29, 2020 by Il Grifone

[corneliuslundie]

There are real White Park cattle at Dinefwr Castle:

https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/dinefwr

There is also a breed society. Perhaps they may have information about sizes.

Note the handlebars

Jonathan

[Jason Pape]

On 27/07/2020 at 13:25, Jeremy C said:

I think Herefords were used in the Cotswolds (Devons were more common elsewhere - but perhaps not as late as the mid-20th century where most areas used horses). They are big animals, certainly, but I don't think there is any difference in size between a Hereford ox and a Hereford bull. Just chop the balls off. 

 

1960s sounds very late for draught oxen though; I thought they had pretty much all died out in England before the Second World War.

 

Edit: I've just seen that it was Earl Bathurst at Cirencester Park who kept a team of oxen into the 1960s. There's a colour video of the team at work in the 1920s on YouTube, but my attempt at adding a link failed. They look like horned Herefords to me.

I think this may be a photograph of Earl Bathurst’s oxen, they seem to be Devon reds and a dairy shorthorn.

[Jason Pape]

On 27/07/2020 at 13:25, Jeremy C said:

I think Herefords were used in the Cotswolds (Devons were more common elsewhere - but perhaps not as late as the mid-20th century where most areas used horses). They are big animals, certainly, but I don't think there is any difference in size between a Hereford ox and a Hereford bull. Just chop the balls off. 

 

1960s sounds very late for draught oxen though; I thought they had pretty much all died out in England before the Second World War.

 

Edit: I've just seen that it was Earl Bathurst at Cirencester Park who kept a team of oxen into the 1960s. There's a colour video of the team at work in the 1920s on YouTube, but my attempt at adding a link failed. They look like horned Herefords to me.

I’ve found another interesting photograph of an oxen team with a hay wagon from the same book.

[Worsdell forever]

 

[DCB]

The Bathurst Oxen were an anachronism back in the 1960s.  The Royal Agricultural College adjoins Bathurst's land at Cirencester which may explain the Oxen's retention. Cirencester is the edge of the Cotswolds. the AONB boundary runs around the edge of the town.     There is a collection of relics from the pre mechanisation farming era at Northleach including the Lloyd Baker collection of horse drawn wagons etc. Might be worth googling Lloydd Baker.

Otherwise the real cotswolds are thin soils and most were mechanised well before WW2 and the rest shortly after. 

[DCB]

Actually all the info on the Lloydd Baker collection seems to have been removed from the Web.  The collection of rotting wagons and rusting artefacts was palmed off on HM Treasury by the Lloydd Baker family in lieu of death duties.  Now I would have valued the lot at about £250, that's scrap value less cost of delivery to scrappy but HMG believed it was worth about 1000 times that. 

Anyway it seems to have vanished off the face of the Web.