By Porter Lang
Some wool is made for next to the skin. Herdwick is not that wool. It is coarse, grey and stubborn, and the sheep that grow it live on Lake District fells where the rain, in the words of one breed page, can reach 160 inches a year. Before you pay extra for a “Herdwick” label, it helps to know what the fleece is for.
We read three sources: Wikipedia, the Herdwick Sheep Breeders’ Association’s history page and a heritage knowledge bank run by an Ullswater heritage group. They agree on the animal and disagree on its age, its name and some numbers.
The sheep
Wikipedia says the breed is native to the Lake District in North West England, with about 50,000 today. It says 95 per cent live within 14 miles (23 km) of Coniston in Cumbria. Before the 2001 foot-and-mouth outbreak there were about 100,000, and, according to Wikipedia, 25 per cent were lost.
The breeders’ page describes a white face on both sexes, horns on males only, and a coat in two parts: a woolly undercoat and a hairy outer coat that does not part in wind. The heritage bank agrees on the white face and the horns, and says the fleece has two layers.
Why the fleece is coarse
The breeders’ page says hollow, kempy white fibres shed water, which suits rainfall of up to 160 inches and fells rising to 3,000 feet. The heritage bank says the outer fibres are hollow and repel water, so the fleece dries quickly. Wikipedia says the wool is coarse and grey and not easily dyed, with thick bristle-like fibres that protrude from garments, which may help protect the sheep in blizzards.
Our reading: the properties that keep a sheep alive on a fell are the same properties that make the wool awkward for fashion. That is an inference, not a claim from any source.
What is it used for? Wikipedia says it is best suited to carpet wool, and that it is used as an insulator, with fireproofed wool sheets sold as loft insulation. The breeders’ page says Herdwick wool was low in value but considerable in volume.
Black lambs, grey sheep
Wikipedia says lambs are born black, lighten to dark brown after a year, and turn grey after the first shearing. The heritage bank says the black fades in sunlight, that a one-year-old hogg is brown, and that the coat fades further to grey or white with age.
Hefting
Lambs learn from their mothers to stay within a defined area of unenclosed fell, called a heaf, according to the heritage bank. Wikipedia gives the local term as “heafing” and says ewes teach the behaviour to their lambs. After the 2001 outbreak, it says, shepherds had to re-teach heafing to new sheep, which meant much rounding up.
The breeders’ page says Herdwicks are especially strongly hefted, so they stay with the farm when it is sold or changes tenant. The heritage bank says some female sheep are sold with a farm for the same reason. This is why hefting matters to anyone writing about the fells: the flock belongs to the ground as much as to the farmer.
How old are they, and what is the name?
Here the sources part company. Wikipedia says the origin is unknown, that the most common theory has Norse settlers bringing the ancestors between the 10th and 11th centuries, and that a story about a Spanish Armada wreck is folklore. It says the name comes from Old Norse herdvyck, meaning sheep pasture, recorded in documents from the 12th century.
The heritage bank mentions a legend of sheep swimming ashore from a wrecked Scandinavian boat around the 10th century, which it calls far-fetched. It says Norse people settled Cumbria from 900 AD, that research by The Sheep Trust in 2014 found primitive genes not present in other mainland UK sheep, and that the name likely comes from herdvyck, meaning sheep farm, becoming a breed name by the 18th century.
The breeders’ page goes much further back. It says Herdwick ancestry goes back about 10,000 years, that genetic analysis links the breed to the Northern Pin Tail group, probably introduced to Britain about 5,500 years ago, and that the name “Herdwyck” appears in documents from the sixth century. We show all three and choose none.
Beatrix Potter and the National Trust
Wikipedia says Potter bred Herdwicks in her later years and won prizes for ewes at Cumbrian shows between 1930 and 1938. On her death in 1943 she left 15 farms, about 4,000 acres (1,600 hectares), to the National Trust, where they still graze Herdwick flocks. The breeders’ page says she attended every annual meeting from 1926, was voted president-elect for 1944 but died before taking office, and left about 4,000 acres, 21 farms and numerous cottages, requiring Herdwicks to remain on the farms. The farm count differs: 15 in Wikipedia, 21 in the breeders’ page. We show both.
The flock book
The breeders’ page says breeders formed their own association on 4 November 1916, and that the first flock book, published in 1920, registered nearly 1,200 rams from 130 farms. By 1927 there were 245 Herdwick flocks. It says Flock No. 1, from Seathwaite in Borrowdale, is still farmed by the founder’s descendants.
The heritage bank mentions a different kind of record: lug marks, ear clippings to identify ownership, which it describes as a Scandinavian tradition. It says a Martindale farmer produced the first The Shepherd’s Guide, publishing lug marks, in 1817.
Dates in order
- 1817: the first Shepherd’s Guide, according to the heritage bank.
- 1844: the West Cumberland Fell Dales Sheep Association is formed, according to the breeders’ page.
- 1899: the Herdwick Sheep Breed Society is established, according to the breeders’ page.
- 4 November 1916: the breeders’ association is formed, according to the breeders’ page.
- 1920: the first flock book, according to the breeders’ page.
- 1943: Potter dies, according to Wikipedia.
- 2001: foot-and-mouth outbreak, according to Wikipedia.
Side by side
Snow survival is told two ways. Wikipedia says Herdwicks have survived three days under snow while eating their own wool. The heritage bank says they can survive snow drifts by drinking melted snow. Both can be true. Neither is a measurement.
What kind of sources these are
The breeders’ page is the breed association’s own history. The heritage bank is a local heritage group’s knowledge base. Wikipedia can be edited by anyone. We loaded no scientific paper, and we did not check The Sheep Trust’s study.
Questions a buyer would ask
What is the product made of: pure Herdwick, or a blend? Is it meant for a floor, a wall or a body? Coarse wool feels different from the soft wool most jumpers use, and the sources say the fleece is best suited to carpet. We give no care advice and name no product, because none of our sources covers either.
What we left out
Prices, shearing dates, named farms still trading, the living people in the breed, and any product we could not source.
Quick answers
What are Herdwick sheep? According to Wikipedia, a breed native to the Lake District, with about 50,000 today, 95 per cent living within 14 miles of Coniston.
What is Herdwick wool used for? Wikipedia says it is best suited to carpet wool and is used as an insulator, with fireproofed wool sheets sold as loft insulation.
What does hefting mean? The Ullswater heritage bank says lambs learn from their mothers to stay within a defined area of fell, called a heaf, on unenclosed land.
Related on this site: portmeirion-gwynedd-folly-village, pillar-box-history-trollope-jersey, bramley-apple-southwell-seedling
Roam first. Shop later.