The Chadd Bear!

Some years ago Grahame collected loam for our garden from the side of the road at the top of Mount Lane going out of Chaddleworth. After emptying the contents of several wheelbarrows onto our garden I started to rake through it and that’s when I came upon “the tooth”. As you can see from the photo’s it is quite large and we wondered what type of animal it came from.

I volunteer at the West Berks Museum in Newbury and asked the then Curator, Victoria, for advice. She offered to contact the Natural History Museum in London and her contact there came back with some interesting information.  From the photo sent and measurements shown they said it looks sufficiently like a carnivore canine. It is too big for any current UK terrestrial mammal. There is a very small tooth behind the canine which is not a consistent feature of carnivore dentition so will help in excluding some species.  Neither of the common British seal species have this tooth so they can be excluded.  The large cats, tiger, lion, leopard and jaguar do not have a small tooth behind the lower canine (they have a gap) but they do behind the upper canine.  So if this is a lower then it is not from a cat. Their best guess is a large bear possibly a grizzly. Our Chadd Bear has travelled far as grizzlies come from North America but read on…

Bears in Britain: A brief history

Before the Ice Age: The brown bear (Ursus arctos) was once widespread across Britain, found in the wild from Devon in southern England to Sutherland in northern Scotland. However, by the end of the last Ice Age, populations had dwindled and it had become rare.

After the Ice Age: From the Ice Age onwards, there is evidence found of bears (alive or dead) at 85 places in England and Scotland, from the Stone Age to post-Medieval times. Bears were scarce in Scotland, Wales and the East Midlands, but more frequently found in Yorkshire, the east, the south and London. There is little data from Wales, possibly because specimens have not yet been analysed. Numbers started to decline further during the Stone Age, falling to very low numbers in the Iron Age.

Bears in Roman Britain (AD 43-410): There appear to have been more bears in Roman Britain - suggesting live animals were imported from continental Europe. The fact that museum specimens from Roman times contain lots of body parts suggests live bears were probably present and used in entertainment, including bear dancing and baiting.

Early medieval times (AD 410-1066): During Anglo-Saxon times, bear claws were found in cremation urns. And in the Viking Age, large carved stones called hogbacks, used to mark graves, have been found carved with bears. People may have associated the bear with certain traits, such as power. The discovery of tiny bear figurines at children's graves suggests they might have been put there to guard and protect the occupants.

AD1066 onwards: After the end of medieval times, the only evidence for bears was found in London - because of bear-baiting arenas on the south bank of the Thames - and in Edinburgh, where specimens were kept at a medical school, possibly for teaching students. Bears were present in the Tower of London and continued to be imported into Britain until well into the 20th century. Dancing bears were a common form of entertainment. Bears were also widely used for their body parts, with bear grease still being sold in Britain in the early 20th century as a putative treatment for hair loss.

Heather Murphy