Leicester Longwool are large-framed, dual-purpose sheep which grow a heavy, lustrous and even-textured fleece, with weights up to 15 kg being recorded! Practically every British longwool sheep owes some of its properties to the Leicester Longwool and it is still crossed with many of the mountain breeds. Most of the sheep have a white fleece, but some are coloured. The Black Leicester Longwool sheep have silver grey sides with darker wool around the edges; these sheep, very popular with smaller breeders, were admitted to flock registration in 1986.

Leicester Longwool is now classed as 'endangered' by the Rare Breeds Survival Trust, with fewer than 500 breeding ewes in the UK. Only around a third of these are registered as black.

Black Leicester Longwool is available in our wool shop.

Photo: This sheep, called Zebra, grew the wool used in our Edale and Starburst bag kits!

The only completely black breed found in the UK, the Black Welsh Mountain sheep produces a fine wool suitable for cloth and knitting yarn. In the summer, the wool tips bleach to a reddish brown colour. It is a small sheep with a fleece of 1-1.5 kg. Only the rams have horns. It is kept in small flocks, thriving on short upland grasses, throughout the UK.

Black Welsh Mountain is used in our Rosetta Bag kit and Sampler Bag kit. This wool can also be bought in 100g skeins from Sheepfold's wool shop. Additionally, this wool can be bought as scoured and carded fleece from our wool shop.

Having evolved during the 19th century, these longwool sheep were bred in east Cumbria and Tyne and Wear, combining hardy hill breeds with cross-bred ewes. They have a broad muzzle and distinctive Roman nose! The name is due to the colour of the skin on the head showing through the short white hair.

The lustrous fleece typically weighs 1-2 kg and all the sheep are hornless.

This wool is available in our wool shop in three natural shades.

Spun with Herdwick, this wool is also available in our Retro Bag kit and in our wool shop.

Photo: Reproduced by kind permission of Richard Miller.
See www.blueleicester.co.uk

This Swedish breed was developed by the Vikings on the island of Gotland over 1000 years ago. 110 sheep were imported to the UK in 1972 and now there are around 1500 of these medium size, fun and friendly sheep in the UK. However, with the Vikings being great seafarers, ancestors of these sheep were imported many years before and developed into the related popular British breeds such as North Ronaldsay and Manx Loaghtan, so earning their place on this website!

Gotland sheep have long, lustrous, curly and fine fleece in a range of shades of grey, from silver to charcoal. The wool felts very readily; the DK wool sold by Sheepfold felts as thickly as the aran weight wools more commonly available.

Photo: With thanks to Sue Blacker

Vikings brought sheep to the Western Isles of Scotland more than 1000 years ago. The Hebridean sheep, also known as St Kilda sheep, evolved from these. This rare breed of small primitive sheep has lustrous black wool with tips sometimes becoming sunbleached and some of the sheep going grey with age! Both ewes and rams have two or more horns. Thankfully, numbers have increased greatly over recent years and they can now be found again on the Hebridean islands. This breed forages well and can thrive on poor pasture, making it unrivalled where control of brush and weeds is needed while maintaining delicate ecosystems.

This wool can be bought as scoured and carded fleece from our wool shop.

Herdwick sheep are native to the Lake District and are thought to be the hardiest of the British breeds. The lambs are born with black wool, but this fades to different shades of grey with age. The head and legs are pale grey and the rams have horns. The coarse fleece typically weighs 1.5-2kg and is mostly used for carpets. It is now also being used in loft insulation.

This wool is used in our Retro Bag kit and Rosetta bag kits. Herdwick wool can also be bought in 100g balls either as pure Herdwick or blended with Bluefaced Leicester from Sheepfold’s wool shop. Additionally, this wool can be bought as scoured and carded fleece from our wool shop.

Photo: Herdwick sheep in north Cumbria

This is the sheep with a coat of many colours, namely black or brown, grey and white. Both ewes and rams have horns, usually two or four, but sometimes even six. The fleece weighs 2-2.5kg and is popular with handspinners as several colours are possible from a single fleece. The breed is thought to have originated in the Middle East which then spread throughout Europe, reaching Britain by the 18th Century.

This wool is used in our Rosetta bag kit and is available as 100g balls of grey in Sheepfold's wool shop.

Photo: Jacob lambs at Chatsworth

This small sheep originates from the Isle of Man; the breed is sadly now classified as "at risk". The wool is chocolate brown; loaghtan is the manx word for the mouse brown colour. Spinners and weavers love this fleece, which weighs 1.5-2kg. It is commonly used in the making of the Manx tartans. The sheep usually have two or four horns, with the rams horns being longer and stronger than those of the ewes.

This wool is used in our Edale Fara and Rosetta bag kits. Manx Loaghtan wool can also be bought in 100g skeins. Additionally, this wool can be bought as scoured and carded fleece from our wool shop.

This small primitive sheep originates from the tiny island of North Ronaldsay in the Orkneys, with wool in many shades of white, grey, brown and black. Nearly 200 years ago a wall was constructed on the island confining the sheep to the seashore. The sheep survived on a diet of seaweed, a characteristic they have retained. The North Ronaldsay sheep has been classified as an "endangered" breed by the Rare Breeds Survival Trust, with fewer than 300 breeding ewes registered on mainland UK. These sheep also still roam on the island of their origin.

This wool is used in our Seashore bag kit. North Ronaldsay wool, in a variety of natural colours, can also be bought from Sheepfold’s wool shop.

Photo: Reproduced by kind permission of Nick Lovick

This small sheep was once common in Dorset, but is now very rare. Most adults have creamy white fleeces, but when the lambs are first born they are a beautiful foxy red colour. This colouring fades over subsequent months, although the adults retain tan colouring on their legs and face. Both rams and ewes are horned, with the horns on the rams being heavily spiralled.

There is much debate as to whether the origins of this breed are from the 'primitive' or 'Mediterranean' groups of sheep. Tan-faced horned primitive sheep were found throughout the south west of England before the Roman Conquest. A further characteristic of more primitive sheep is that their lambs are born with their original colouring, as evident with the Portland. However, the sheep are long-tailed and can breed out of season, both being features of Mediterranean breeds. Cross-breeding of indigenous stock with sheep brought over during the Roman Conquest probably led to the inclusion of the Mediterranean characteristics in this breed.

The Portland breed is now classified as 'at risk' by the Rare Breeds Survival Trust, but this is a huge improvement as there were only 86 breeding ewes in the UK back in 1974.

You can buy Portland wool in 100g skeins for your own projects from Sheepfold's wool shop.

This is the smallest of the primitive British sheep breed and is thought to originate from Scandinavia. Their fleece comes in 11 different shades including greys, browns and oatmeal; the sheep also have distinctive markings with 30 of these being recognised. Shetland rams also have attractive rounded horns. Wool from Shetland sheep is renowned for its fineness and softness, being the finest of all the British breeds and so popular in knitwear worldwide. These small sheep produce fleeces weighing 1–1.5kg. In the 1970s this sheep breed was classified as “endangered” by the Rare Breeds Survival Trust, but numbers have risen so well that they are no longer an ‘at risk’ breed. However, pure Shetland wool is still a rarity due to the small size of the sheep and inevitably low weight of fleece. Most is used by the inhabitants of the Shetland Islands in knitwear and tweeds.

Shetland wool is used in our Sampler Bag kit. Shetland wool can also be bought in 100g skeins, in brown or steel grey, from Sheepfold’s wool shop.

The origins of this small primitive breed of sheep are uncertain. They originate from the small island of Soay which is part of the St Kilda archipelago, some 50 miles from mainland Scotland. Until the early 1930s pure-bred Soays could be found only on this island when the entire flock of 107 sheep was then transferred to the larger island of Hirta. The Soay breed has been classified as ‘at risk’ by the Rare Breeds Survival Trust.

The fleece is usually brown with lighter markings. Instead of shearing, fleece is collected by ‘rueing’ (plucking). Ewes may then shed their fleece once they have been in lamb. These sheep are very feisty characters; we have even heard of one small flock successfully climbing apple trees to reach the ripe fruit!

This wool is used in our Treasure bag kit and you can also buy Soay wool in 100g skeins for your own projects from Sheepfold’s wool shop.

Having once been mostly limited to Swaledale in North Yorkshire, this mountain sheep is now also found commonly in the Pennines, being well suited to life on high lying moorland. It has a black face with grey muzzle and both ewes and rams have horns. The long, white fleece is coarse and hairy making it suitable for carpets, though some of the finer quality fibre is used for tweeds and rugs and knitting yarn. The fleece weighs 1.5-3kg.

This wool is used in our Zipped Purse kit. Swaledale wool can also be bought in 50g balls from Sheepfold’s wool shop.

Torddu is Welsh for ‘black belly’, a characteristic of these badger-faced Welsh mountain sheep. A black stripe runs from chin, along the belly to the tail. Additionally, they have partly black legs, ears and stripes on their faces. The main fleece varies from pure white and grey to light brown. The reverse colourway is known as Torwen, which is Welsh for ‘white belly’. The rams of this medium-sized badger-faced Welsh mountain sheep have dark spiral horns.

This ancient Welsh breed was once very common, but became less so during the Middle Ages when pure white wool was in high demand. Numbers are now increasing with naturally coloured wool being loved by handspinners and knitters alike.

This wool can be bought in 100g skeins from Sheepfold’s wool shop.

These large hornless sheep also have long white wool with a high lustre, and are classified as "at risk" by the Rare Breeds Survival Trust. They are mostly found on the hills in the north of England and produce fleeces weighing up to 7kg. This wonderful fleece is used for knitting and upholstery fabrics and has a lovely knobbly texture when felted.

Natural black Wensleydale wool is used in our Eden Bag kit. This wool can be bought in 100g balls, in cream or natural black, from Sheepfold’s wool shop.

Photo: Photo reproduced by kind permission of Wensleydale Longwool Sheepshop

The Whitefaced Woodland sheep originate from the South Pennines and are still found in the Peak District. They are also known as Penistone sheep, after the market town just north of Sheffield, where sales of these sheep have taken place since 1699. These are just some of the largest hill sheep, thriving in lowland areas, and have a white fleece which dyes well. Both sexes are horned with the rams' horns spiralling decoratively outwards. The Whitefaced Woodland sheep has been classified as a "vulnerable" breed by the Rare Breeds Survival Trust.

This wool is currently unavailable.

Photo: Reproduced by kind permission of K Goodchap

Zwartbles sheep originate from the Freisland region of Holland. With the number of Zwartbles in Holland becoming severely reduced, the breed was adopted by the Dutch Rare Breed Survival trust in the mid-1970s. In the 1980s Zwartbles started to be imported to the UK and have become increasingly popular over here being well able to cope with the lowland and mid-altitude conditions in England, Wales and Scotland.

These tall and handsome black sheep have a striking white blaze; also white tips to their tails and two to four white socks. They have erect ears and are hornless. The thick, fine, naturally black fleece has a wonderful crimp and is ideal for spinning and knitting.

Zwartbles wool is used in our Eden Bag kit and in a Limited Edition version of our large Jester Bag kit. You can also buy Zwartbles wool in 100g skeins for your own projects from Sheepfold's wool shop.

"In Sheep's Clothing"

A 10 minute film produced in 1932 showing Shetland crofters gathering and then "rooing" sheep, and carding and spinning the wool to make jumpers.

Image reproduced with permission of the Scottish Screen Archive, National Library of Scotland.