The sub-fossilised skull of an auroch (Bos primigenius), was found in 1877 during the major work on the foot of Basford Bank, Stoke-on-Trent, during which there was filling and levelling work done around the adjacent banks of the Fowlea Brook and the Etruria train station. Aurochs were giant wild cattle, which survived in Britain into the Roman period but which are now extinct. The skull was found… “buried 16 feet down in black clay, whilst making alterations to the course of the Foulhay [Fowlea] Brook near Etruria in Stoke-on-Trent.” Currently in the care of the Potteries Museum & Art Gallery.

The original environment would be the often-flooded water-valley of the Fowlea, wide and damp, but offering a rich flowery cud for cattle in the summertime. The original appearance of the beast would have been akin to this…

If anyone was thinking of a statue for the entrance to the final bit of development on Festival Park, bringing the auroch back all life-sized and hairy would be a suitable nod to the history of the valley.