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{{Short description|Motif in English folklore}}
{{EngvarB|date=September 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2019}}

The '''Dun Cow''' is a common [[Motif (folkloristics)|motif]] in [[English folklore]]. "Dun" is a dull shade of brownish grey.

==Dunsmore Heath==
The '''Dun Cow''' was said to be a savage beast roaming Dunsmore Heath, an area west of [[Dunchurch]], near [[Rugby, Warwickshire|Rugby]] in [[Warwickshire]], which was reputedly slain by [[Guy of Warwick]]. A large [[narwhal]] tusk is still exhibited at [[Warwick Castle]] as one of the ribs of the Dun Cow.<ref>[http://www.fotolibra.com/gallery/1273341/narwhal-tusk-warwick-castle/ Narwhal Tusk Warwick Castle] fotolibra.com {{dead link|date=June 2023}}</ref> The fable held that the cow belonged to a [[giant (mythology)|giant]], and was kept on [[Mitchell's Fold]] (middle fold), [[Shropshire]]. Its milk was inexhaustible; but one day an old witch who had filled her pail, wanted to fill her [[Riddle (tool)|riddle (sieve)]] as well. This so enraged the animal that she broke loose from the fold and wandered to Dunsmore Heath, where she was slain by Guy of Warwick.

[[Isaac Taylor (canon)|Isaac Taylor]], in his ''Words and Places'' (p.&nbsp;269), says the dun cow is a corruption of the ''Dena Gau'' ([[Denmark|Danish]] region) in the neighbourhood of [[Warwick]], with ''[[Gau (administrative division)|Gau]]'' in [[German language|German]] meaning "region or country". If this explanation is correct, the great achievement of Guy of Warwick may have been a victory over the [[Danes (tribe)|Danes]], and taking from them their settlement near Warwick.<ref>From the 1898 edition of ''[[Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable]]''</ref>

==Whittingham==
A similar legend applies to Dun Cow Rib Farm in Halfpenny Lane, [[Whittingham, Lancashire]], just outside the town of [[Longridge]]. Embedded in its wall is a large rib, supposedly from a giant dun cow that gave milk freely to all comers, but died of shock when an old witch asked it to fill a [[Riddle (tool)|riddle]] instead of a pail.<ref name="Townships: Whittingham">[http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=53220 ‘Townships: Whittingham’], ''A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 7'' (1912), pp.207–13, Retrieved 15 June 2007</ref> An alternative legend claims that the giant cow's milk saved the local inhabitants from [[Black Death|the Plague]] and that it was buried at nearby Cow Hill, near [[Grimsargh]].<ref name="Roth102">Rothwell, C (1995) ''Around Garstang'', Alan Sutton Publishing, Stroud, {{ISBN|0-7509-0870-X}}, p.102</ref><ref>Dewhurst, A (1985) ''Times Past in Goosnargh'', Countryside Publications, Chorley, {{ISBN|0-86157-183-5}}, p.22</ref> It was also claimed that the cow would quench its thirst at "Nick's Water-Pot", a well on the summit of [[Parlick]] hill.<ref>Harkand, J. and Wilkinson, T.T. (1837), [https://archive.org/details/lancashirelegen00wilkgoog ''Lancashire Legends: Traditions, Pageants, Sports, Etc.''], {{ISBN|1-437-1144-07}}, pp.17–18</ref> In reality, the rib is probably from a whale or [[Bronze Age]] [[aurochs]].<ref name="Roth102"/>

==Durham==
[[File:UK Durham Dun-Cow.jpg|thumb|Legend of founding of Durham]]

Local legend states that the city of [[Durham, England|Durham]] was founded in 995 AD by divine intervention. The 12th-century chronicler [[Symeon of Durham]] recounts in his ''[[Libellus de exordio atque procurso istius, hoc est Dunhelmensis]]'' that, after wandering in the north, [[Saint Cuthbert]]'s [[bier]] came to a miraculous halt at the hill of [[Warden Law]] and, despite the effort of the congregation, would not move.<ref name="Symeonof">Symeon of Durham (C12), Tract on the origins and progress of this the church of Durham</ref> [[Aldhun]], Bishop of [[Chester-le-Street]] and leader of the order, decreed a holy [[Fasting|fast]] of three days, accompanied by prayers to the saint.<ref name="BedeThe">Bede, ''[[The Ecclesiastical History of the English People]]''</ref> [[Bede]] recounts that during this fast Saint Cuthbert appeared to the monk Eadmer with instructions that the coffin should be taken to Dun Holm.<ref name="BedeThe" />

After Eadmer’s revelation, Aldhun found that he was able to move the bier, but did not know where Dun Holm was. By chance later that day, the monks came across a [[milkmaid]] at [[Mount Joy, Durham|Mount Joy]] who stated that she was seeking her lost dun cow which she had last seen at Dun Holm. The monks, realising that this was a sign from the saint, followed her.<ref name="BedeThe" /> They settled at a "wooded hill-island formed by a tight gorge-like meander of the River Wear".<ref name="BedeThe" /> When they arrived at the destination, they erected the vestiges of Durham Cathedral, a "modest building"<ref name="BedeThe" /> none of which survives today, having been supplanted by the [[Norman architecture|Norman]] structure. Symeon states that this was the first building in the city.<ref name="Symeonof" />

==Bristol==
A tourist guide from 1923 states that:

<blockquote>In the glorious church of [[St Mary Redcliffe]] ... may still be seen the "Dun Cow" bone, the rib of a cow whale, now the only remaining trophy of [[Sebastian Cabot (explorer)|Cabot]]'s expedition of 1497, but for a considerable period regarded as part of the body of George of Warwick.<ref name = gwr>''Wonderful Wessex'', published by the Great Western Railway, London, third edition, 1923</ref></blockquote>

== Anne Boleyn ==
[[George Cavendish (writer)|George Cavendish]], the biographer of [[Cardinal Wolsey]], described carved and painted [[King's Beasts, Hampton Court Palace|royal heraldic beasts]] in a garden at [[Richmond Palace]].<ref>Richard S. Sylvester & Davis P. Harding, ''Two Early Tudor Lives'' (Yale, 1962), p. 131.</ref> Wolsey said a dun cow (referring to a badge of the [[Earl of Richmond|Earldom of Richmond]] or [[Earl of Warwick|Warwick]]) was also found in the heraldry of [[Thomas Boleyn, 1st Earl of Wiltshire|Thomas Boleyn]] and was a portent of the relationship of [[Anne Boleyn]] and Henry VIII.<ref>Gavin E. Schwartz-Leeper, ''From Princes to Pages: The Literary Lives of Cardinal Wolsey'' (Brill, 2016), p. 111.</ref>

==Public houses==
There are many [[public house]]s in the United Kingdom called The Dun Cow, including one on High Street West in [[Sunderland]], beside the [[Sunderland Empire Theatre]].

A pub called The Dun Cow in [[Sedgefield]], County Durham, was visited jointly by British Prime Minister [[Tony Blair]] and American President [[George W. Bush]] in 2003.

The Dun Cow, [[Shrewsbury]], is one of the oldest pubs in the UK, built by [[Roger de Montgomery|Rodger De Montgomery, first Earl of Shrewsbury]] circa 1085{{dub|date=October 2022}} as a hostel for the skilled masons and master builders brought in to oversee the construction of [[Shrewsbury Abbey|St Peter and St Paul's]] (later known as Shrewsbury Abbey).

==Songs==
A British music hall song, "When the Old Dun Cow Caught Fire" (also known as "The Old Dun Cow"), refers to a pub named the Dun Cow, which catches on fire in the beginning of the song. The singer's friends, most notably a man named Brown, decide to raid the Dun Cow's cellar for alcohol and end up heavily intoxicated, partaking in shenanigans such as trying to prevent the firefighters (implied to also be seeking alcohol) from entering the cellar, washing their clothing in a tub of [[port wine]] (or stale [[beer]] in some versions), and using their [[slacks]] to nail up a makeshift roof after the pub partially collapses.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=14936 |title=Lyr Add: The Old Dun Cow Caught Fire (H Champion) |last=Owlcat |display-authors=etal |date=1999–2018 |website=Mudcat Cafe |access-date=2020-08-07}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Akabeko]]
* [[Auðumbla]]
* ''[[The Book of the Dun Cow (novel)|The Book of the Dun Cow]]''
* [[Buwch Frech]]
* [[Glas Gaibhnenn]]
* ''[[Lebor na hUidre]]'', ''The Book of the Dun Cow''
* [[Quinotaur]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
* {{Commons category inline|Dun Cow}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dun Cow}}
[[Category:English folklore]]
[[Category:History of Durham, England]]
[[Category:Legendary bovines]]
[[Category:Northumbrian folklore]]
[[Category:Northumbrian folkloric beings]]
[[Category:Lancashire folklore]]
[[Category:Warwickshire folklore]]
[[Category:Shropshire folklore]]