
As London grew, so did the cattle trade. It prospered under the Tudors and expanded with the city in the eighteenth century - tens of thousands of cattle made the journey every year. Often, blacksmiths travelled with them as the cows wore horseshoe-like shoes. The drovers also carried money, messages and news in both directions. Because their trustworthiness was so important, they were licensed and had to be married householders over 30 years old.
This lively trade eventually died away in the 1850s, when the railways replaced drovers travelling on foot. However, all those trading contacts didn't go to waste. The cattle drovers would be replaced by the famous Welsh dairies of Victorian London.
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