Beulah Speckled Face Sheep

The Beulah Speckled Face sheep is also known as the Eppynt Hill and Beulah Speckled Face sheep and is named after the hilly area in south-central Wales where these sheep originate and are still kept today.  They are fairly common in Wales but not very well known outside of Wales.  The actual origins of the breed are a mystery.  It might be a true native breed as there is no mention of cross breeding in any literature.  According to the British Wool Marketing Board the breed was established in the UK during the 20th century.

There are not many decent detailed photos of these sheep available on the Internet without having to pay extortionate amounts of money for them, but that is not an argument I want to get into here.

The Beulah Speckled Face 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.

The Beulah Speckled Face is bigger than a true mountain sheep.  It has long head, speckled face and legs, which are free from wool. Ewes and most rams don't have horns.  The ewes are good mothers and produce good milk and are often crossed with downland rams to produce early prime lambs.

They produce a medium size fleece of 1.5 to 2.5 kg that can vary greatly from fine to coarse.  Finer fleece are great for knitwear and coarse fleece are best left for carpets and household textiles that need to withstand a lot of wear.  The larger, heavier fleece tend to the be at the coarse end of the range.  The staple length is generally 3-5 inches (7.5-12.5cm).  The fleece is white and shouldn't have any dark fibres. 

This fleece can be carded and spun woollen style or combed and spun worsted style.  It is generally quite a white wool, certainly brighter and less creamy than others that I have tried so far.  I've not dyed any myself but information available tells me that you get clean colours when you dye it.  

Yarns spun from fine fleece are perfect for everyday items and if you are spinning a coarse fleece then those yarns are best for household textiles.  

I bought this breed in as 530g of pre-washed fleece, which was the only option available to me at the time.  When it arrived I could see it was full of dark coloured kemp and fine dark hairs, non of which should be there, but seeing as I would be combing it I hoped that the majority would be removed during the preparation process.

After I had combed it I was left with 339g of hand combed top, most of the dark kemp and very short hairs had been removed but there was still a fair amount of long dark hairs that were ruining it so armed with a pair of tweezers and good light I sat and picked out as many as I could and this left with me 318g of top to spin.  There are still some hairs in there and some dirt and grease too, it's not been washed to my standard.

My finished yarn is quite soft to the touch of the hand and a nice clean white.  I lost a number of grams of weight during the washing process when the rest of the dirt and grease came out.  I have a total of 299g/795m.  My knitted piece for the project took 33g/94m so I have some left to do whatever with.

Llanwenog Sheep

The next breed of sheep is the Llanwenog, a welsh breed of sheep belonging to the Welsh Hill and Mountain family.  Developed in the late 1800's from the now-extinct Llanllwni (the local black-faced sheep of the western coastal counties of Wales and named for the mountain they lived on), Shropshires, Welsh Mountain and Clun Forest breeds.  According to the British Wool Marketing Board the breed was established in the UK during the 19th century.

The Llanwenog sheep, at the time of writing, is in the Rare Breeds Survival Trust Category 5: Minority (1500-3000) registered breeding ewes. They are a prolific breed raised primarily for meat and are usually found in mid-west Wales but there are specialist flocks around the UK and the breed association was formed in 1957. 

The Llanwenog is a medium build sheep with a blackface and black legs and a distinctive tuft of wool on its forehead between its short thin ears.  Neither sexes have horns

They produce a medium size white fleece of around 2 - 2.5kg and the staple length is 2 to 4.5 inches (5 to 11.5cm).  The shorter fibres in the fleece can be carded but this is a fleece that is best combed and spun worsted to show off its lustre, shine and sleek qualities.  It can be spun from opened locks.  This fleece takes dye well.

Yarns spun from Llanwenog fleece are quite soft with good stitch definition and can be used for whatever you want to make.  

I bought this breed in as a full fleece back in July 2018 from a farmer in Wales, long before I decided to create a British Breeds Project or write about every British Breed.  At the time, I washed the fleece and split it into four, dyeing three parts different colours and, luckily for me, I left one part white and this is what I will use for my Breed Project. My skirted fleece arrived weighing 1.7kg and after I had removed any other undesirable bits and second cuts, washed and dried it, it weighed 1.33kg

I had 262g of washed white fleece which, once combed, became 150g of hand combed top

I lost 10g somewhere because my skeins total 140g/418m of sport weight yarn

My finished yarn is fairly soft to the touch of the hand is a nice warm white.  My knitted piece for the project only took 16g/48m so I have plenty left to do whatever with.

The "w" in the middle looks a bit weird but it is there and is perfectly formed

Lonk Sheep

The origin of the sheep's name is a bit of a mystery.  Some believe it derives from the words long or lanky, the sheep are quite tall, whilst others believe it derives from the word Lancashire, the county from which this breed hails.  According to the British Wool Marketing Board the breed was established in the UK during the 12th century.

The Lonk sheep, at the time of writing, is in the Rare Breeds Survival Trust Category 5: Minority (1500-3000) breeding ewes and it has a minus sign next to it which means it has seen more than a 5% decrease in numbers since the previous report. 

Lonk are concentrated to the Pennines in Lancashire with one flock being able to be traced by to 1740, but there are some flocks of these sheep now in Yorkshire and Derbyshire.  They are one of the largest native British Hill breeds and can survive on poor grazing and in bleak conditions so are usually found on the moors and uplands of the Pennines.  

Similar in looks to the Derbyshire Gritstone but Lonks are larger and both sexes have horns whereas the Derbyshire Gritstones have no horns. Their faces and legs are black and white and free of wool, which is white.

They produce a good sized fleece of 2-3kg with blocky staples with well developed but disorganised crimp. There may be some black hairs in the fleece and sometimes there can be a small amount of kemp but is generally kemp free.  The books that I have describe the fleece as rough and robust but not harsh and that its main use is for carpets but my finished yarn is really nice.

This fleece can be prepared and spun however you want to work it and combing and spinning worsted style will minimise any prickle factor.  It is a warm white, not a brilliant white, but definitely not a creamy or yellow white like some other breeds.  I've not dyed mine but apparently it takes dye clearly but with a soft effect.

I have bought this breed in as pre-prepared roving and my sample had quite a few black hairs in it along with varying amounts of white kemp, which fell out easily during spinning, plying, snapping and shaking to leave me with a lovely soft yarn.

My finished yarn is of medium to soft quality to the touch of the hand and is fairly white with a warm glow, although it has a matte finish and is 100g/338m.  My knitted piece for the project only took 5g/17m so I have plenty left to do whatever with.