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.