North Country Cheviot

There are three distinct Cheviot sheep breeds here in the UK.  The South Country Cheviot, The North Country Cheviot and the Brecknock Hill Cheviot.  All three varieties share distinctive looks: they have wool-free white faces, upright and perky ears, Roman noses, dark nostrils, and their eyes are ringed dark which makes them look like they are wearing eye-liner. All three then have their own distinguishing features and characteristics and they are different in size and whether they have horns or not.  Each have their own blog post so be sure to click on links within the posts to navigate between the three.

The North Country Cheviot sheep is a breed in its own right but was originally developed from the smaller South Country Cheviot sheep.

In 1791, Sir John Sinclair was tasked with improving the national stock and he selected the native long woolled hill sheep found in the Border's Cheviot Hills from all other breeds he had seen and he gave them the name of Cheviot (now known as the South Country Cheviot or Border Cheviot), the first time they had been named as a breed.  He believed they were the perfect mountain sheep in both form and fleece and so he took 500 of these Cheviots more than 300 miles north to his Langwell Estate in Ulbester, Caithness which is almost the most northern part of mainland Scotland.  It was a success and they flourished as they suited the terrain and so many more thousands were transported north over the following years.  They were crossed with Leicester Longwool and other rams and the breed developed into the bigger and slightly different North Country Cheviot.

Cheviot and Leicester sheep were exhibited at the Highland Show in 1831 and this was the "shop window" to a wider audience. Classes at the Royal, Paris and Smithfield Shows soon followed.  Due to many breeders improving further on this breed there are now three "types" within this breed: the Hill or Lairg, the Caithness and the Border, which I find really confusing given the fact the South Country Cheviot is also sometimes referred to as "The Border Cheviot".  My head hurts!  The wide variety types within the breed ensures that crossing rams are available to meet most conditions.

The North Country Cheviot is big, long, robust white sheep that is prolific with strong maternal qualities that are very alert and active and weighing in at 55-80kg for a ewe and 100-120kg for ram they are considerably larger than the South Country Cheviot .  They have wool-free white faces, upright and perky ears, Roman noses, dark nostrils and their eye are ringed dark which makes them look like they are wearing eye-liner. Both sexes are polled.  At the time of writing, the North Country Cheviot is in the Rare Breeds Survival Trust category 6: "Other UK Native Breeds" (over 3000) registered breeding ewes.  

The fleece is white, crisp and lustrous and generally weighs 2-3kg with a staple length of 3.5-6 inches (9-15cm).  The locks have rectangular staples with slightly pointed tips and a three dimensional crimp.  Breed associations specify no hair, kemp or coloured fibres should be in the ideal fleece.

This fleece can be carded if you have a shorter fleece or if you have a longer fleece it can be flicked or combed.  Takes dyes well and clearly.  The resulting yarns can be used for socks, sweaters and the like.  

I had a bit of trouble locating this breed as many clump all three Cheviot breeds under the umbrella name of "Cheviot" but I did finally manage to get a fleece or at least a part fleece from a lady who has them on her farm just outside of Halifax, West Yorkshire.

When it arrived it weighed 889g (which is why I think it is just a part fleece) and after sorting it, washing it and drying it weighed 659g.

I decided to comb all of this fleece and I got 398g of hand combed top from it that contained both long and short fibres.

I picked out about 100g and started spinning.  The rest can be blended with other fibres in the future perhaps.

My finished yarn is of medium quality to the touch of the hand and is 98g/176m.  It doesn't feel as soft as the South Country Cheviot, which technically I haven't spun yet, I spin that in about 3 weeks time but I'm a Dr Who fan and I've done some wibbly-wobbly timey-whimey stuff to come and update this post with information and add links to the other Cheviot breeds cos they don't just appear magically all by themselves you know.  My knitted piece for the project took 44g/80m so I have some left to do whatever with.