Romney Sheep

Carrying on with my British Breeds project my next breed is the Romney, named after the Romney Marshes in Kent in southeast England, on which the ancestors of this breed were introduced in Roman times.  The Romney belongs to the English Longwool category of sheep.  According to the British Wool Marketing Board the breed was established in the UK during the 13th century.

The Romney sheep, at the time of writing, is in the "Other UK Native Breeds" category, according to the Rare Breeds Survival Trust.  This means that there are over 3000 sheep of this breed registered with the relevant breed society and a quick search reveals when it comes to the numbers of Romney sheep worldwide we are talking in millions, not thousands, and probably hundreds of millions as there are at least 25 million in New Zealand alone, having being introduced there in 1853 with Coopworth and Perendale breeds being developed in New Zealand by crossing other breeds with the Romneys.  These new breeds will obviously not be included in my British Breeds project.

Historically, Romney Marsh is a coastal plain in southeast England that is about a hundred square miles and much of it lies below sea level and is kept habitable by a Roman era system of drainage ditches and sea walls which were expanded in Medieval times.  The Romans bought sheep to the marshes but they suffered health problems and poor quality fleece due to the wet conditions but over centuries the sheep did slowly start to adapt.  In the 1800's Shepherds of the Marshes improved on these native sheep by introducing Leicester Longwool sheep from Robert Bakewell's flock and this then led to the Romney that we know today that grows high quality fleece even in wet conditions.

The Romney is a large sheep with a open white face and wool that grows over the legs.  The breed standard varies from country to country but here in the UK rams should have a wide broad head that is masculine in appearance and ewes should have a full face.  The back is long, wide and strong, the chest wide and the neck short and strong too. So kind of a stocky solid build, certainly not gangly.  Neither sex have horns and there should be no dark hair or kemp in an otherwise white fleece, although some coloured varieties do exist.

They produce a large dense fleece with well defined crimp and ranges from moderately coarse to fairly fine and is finer than most of the other Longwool breeds.  The finest wool can be worn next to skin but for the most part this breed it probably best being worn one layer away from the skin.  Coarser fleece are best used for outwear such as jackets and hats or household items that need durability such as rugs, chair seat pads and other soft furnishings.  Depending on the source of information, the staple length is between 4 and 8 inches long (10-20.5 cm long) and can be anything from 3.6 to over 10 kilos in weight. 

This fleece can be spun from picked or flicked locks, it can be carded or combed, made into drum-carded batts or carded rolags, its very versatile, very lustrous and takes dye really well.  This breed can be prone to "canary staining" which is a yellow colouring of the fleece caused by bacteria due to the damp or wet conditions that these sheep often survive in.  Sometimes it can affect the entire fleece, other times it will just be a section of it.  It may wash out, to an extent, but can't be washed out entirely but washing the fleece will kill the bacteria and prevent it getting any worse until you decide to either embrace the yellowing, try to overdye it or throw it away.  

Yarns spun from Romney fleece have a wide range of uses with the finer yarns being used for shawls, mittens and other clothing and the coarser yarns are more suited to household items and upholstery.  

I have bought this breed in as pre-prepared fibre in a box containing 50g each of four British Breeds but I forgot to get decent photos of it before I spun it.  It was a pleasure to spin with no rubbish in it, just as well prepared spinning fibre should be.

Spun to Sport Weight I got 142m out of my 50g

My finished yarn is quite nice with some lustre.  My knitted piece for the project only took 12g/34m so I have some left to play with in the future.