It's believed that Romanys arrived in England around the 13th century, but I'm sure there would have been lurchers in use before then, I think the real reason for the original collie lurcher was to try to disguise a running dog as a herding Dog. In those days any long legged herding dogs owned by peasants were docked by law in the belief that it would stop them from catching game. Any dogs owned by peasants that lived within the royal hunting grounds, other than herding dogs, had to fit through a dog gauge. If they didn't they had a front foot cut off!
Fair play