Devon Closewool Sheep

The next breed for my British Breeds Project is the Devon Closewool. The breed was developed in the mid 1800's by crossing Devon & Cornwall Longwools with Exmoor Horns and were bred for local terrain and weather conditions.  I haven't written about either of those two breeds yet but they are on my very long list of breeds to write about.

The Devon Closewool is a hardy sheep with a docile temperament and survives and thrives on a pure grass based diet.  They are a medium sized white faced sheep and neither sex have horns.  It has stout legs and a short thick neck, short ears and black nostrils.  It's head and legs are well covered with wool and it's dense medium stapled fleece gives good protection against cold and wet weather.  They were once extremely popular and in 1950 there were around 229,000 Devon Closewools populating the Devonshire countryside, making them the most numerous breed in the county at that time and they were, and still are, raised primarily for meat.  At the time of writing they are in the Rare Breeds Survival Trust category 5: Minority (1500-3000) registered breeding ewes.  That is one hell of downward shift in numbers in 70 years and it has taken a lot of digging on the internet to find out why.  The obvious go-to sites like the Breed Association and the RBST and Wikipedia all quote the 229,000 figure in 1950 but no mention of why there was such a decline.  However, thanks to a news media site and an article written by Devon Live, we now know that the decline was due to intense farming practices of the 60's and 70's and the preference to breed mule crosses because they carried less wool and produced more lambs than the purebreed.  Thankfully, now, there has been an about-turn and farming is more about restorative practices than intense practices and the Devon Closewool numbers are back on the increase, slowly but surely.

They produce a medium size white fleece that can be up to 6kg in rams and 2.5-4kg in ewes.  The staple length is 7.5-12cm (3-4.5 inches). The locks are dense and blocky and have a tendency to separate from the mass of the fleece in clumps rather than in individual locks.  There may be a small amount of kemp, which is easily removed and there shouldn't be any black fibres.

This fleece can be spun from picked and teased locks if you want a lot of texture or it can be combed or carded.  There may be a slight touch of lustre in the fleece and it takes dye well. 

Yarns spun from Devon Closewool fleece are sturdy but not harsh and make wonderful blankets and such like and finer softer yarns can be used for things like sweaters, hats and mittens.  

I have bought this breed in as a bump of 108g of pre-prepared fibre that is ready to spin.  It would have been really nice to have been able to undertake this project using nothing but raw sheep fleece but that is not always possible due to a whole range of factors that include rarity of the sheep and so scarcity of whole or part fleece, cost to me although some of small amounts that I've been able to get my hands on have cost as much or more than a whole fleece of an abundant breed.  There is also the lack of room in my house as fleece take up a lot of storage space, amount of work involved in preparing everything from fleece and I dare say many other factors.

My finished yarn is of medium quality to the touch of the hand with a sturdiness about it. It is also a creamy white, not a bright white and is 104g/218m.  My knitted piece for the project took 36g/76m so I have some left to do whatever with.