Principal Christine Shaw
In reply to an enquiry from Patrick Stubbe, the following background was supplied from the Chairman's principal source book.
Dr Peter Reynold's mentor on sheep was the British expert of the day, Dr Michael Ryder, who, although now retired, is still regarded as the foremost authority in this area, for archaeologists. He was a long-standing expert scientist at the Wool Research Association in Edinburgh, Scotland. He wrote the encyclopaedic "Sheep and Man" ... nearly 850 pages long .... and published by Duckworth in 1983. Ryder gave acknowledgement for some help from a Dr J P Wild, then of Manchester University.
I quote some passages that have some bearing on the origins of primitive breeds. An important point of note is the considerable age of much of the material.
In relation to Hebridean Sheep, Ryder quotes briefly from his own paper : Ryder M L "The evolution of Scottish breeds of sheep" Scot. Studies 12 pp 127 - 167 1968. The following extracts suggest there is only somewhat tenuous evidence on this matter and it is open to interpretation.
p510 "Soay is a Norse word for sheep island but whether this indicates that the Vikings found sheep on the Isle of Soay in St Kilda or whether they put sheep there is unclear. However, a 1527 reference [ !!! ] clearly shows that by then they were feral. "
p511 "The brown Soay with a white belly like that of the wild Mouflon can be regarded as a survival from the Bronze Age ... sheep a of a similar general type remained on the Western seaboard of Europe from Faroe to Ushant .... and those of the northern isles of Scotland are dealt with under Scandinavia .... "
p512 "The now extinct sheep of the Hebrides was similar to that of Orkney and Shetland ..... Traces of the Old Hebridean sheep persist today in the Lewis type of black face .... "
In general, I would interpret these passages as showing a strong link between Denmark and Scandinavia and all lines of sheep in the north of the UK. However, what it does not reveal is the European mainland continental links with Denmark and how relevant this is to the Celtic elements of the culture of Denmark.
Patrick Stubbe then gave a mix of information and interpretation from his own readings and contacts. These are given, essentially unedited, so that readers may explore the ideas put forward and reach their own conclusions.
There are arguments to link the Hebridian sheep to the old Celtic breeds. The comparison with Ouessant (Ushant) sheep is quite interesting, except for the multi-horn aspect which is very typical of Scandinavian breeds. But its general build looks very equal. The fact that Ouessant is a much smaller (dwarf-) breed may have to do with the fact that this breed survived on an island and that inbreeding and survival of the fittest had their effects on the development of the breed. [Chairman's comment : the Soay breed is also small and developed, as far as is known, on small islands.]
Xalda sheep in Asturia, Spain seem to be very close to Ouessant sheep too.
There may be links with regions where Celtic culture remained, such as Wales. Welsh Mountain Sheep are a smaller, though tough breed in its own way... I have a personal hypothesis that the Hebridean and the Manx Loghtan derive from the meeting between Nordsmen (Viking) settlers and local Celtic people that must have lived at that time in the Northern Scottish region. This, in its turn, might relate to comparisons and differences between these breeds and sheep such as Icelandic Sheep, Faroes, or the old Norwegian sheep like Spielsau.
The history of Manx Loghtan sheep has been discussed in WADE-MARTINS, P., The Manx Loghtan Story. The Decline and Revival of a Primitive Breed. Geerings of Ashord Ltd. (publ. in association with the RBST.), 1990.110 pp. THe author is (was at the time of publishing) Assistant Director of the Norfolk Museums Service and County Field Archaeologist in charge of the Norfolk Archaeological Unit. This archaeologist, and also a Manx Loghtan breeder, sees Manx, Hebrideans, Ronaldsay, Shetlands and Icelandic sheep all as modern survivors of "a primitive breed of sheep common in the later prehistoric period over much of Britain. In modern times it has survived only in the remoter parts of the British Isles, ...".
This was until now the only (scientific) quote I have come across, about the origins of these sheep, that refers to old Celtic-British origins. I do not know why the Hebridean Sheep Society refer to the old Nordsmen as the origin of the breed (and selection for wool quality and colour afterwards that made the Hebridean black and the Manx typically tan). As far as I understand history, if the Hebrideans and other sheep should derive from a Viking sheep (for example, compared to the Gutesheep, as a single survivor of medieval Swedish sheep), it is historically wrong to make them "culturally similar" to old Celtic breeds, for the Nordsmen were not strictly Celts but of North German origin.
Soay sheep is possibly even a completely different kind of breed, deriving from the Bronze Ages. The fact that it makes wool, even if shed spontanously, suggests that it has been a 'human made breed' and not a legacy of the old Atlanticum times. Although it has many striking similarities with the Mouflon, the latter is a hairy breed, while the Soay is a wool breed that sheds spontanously. (Incidentally, Mouflon in its turn is explained to be a breed from the very first European shepherd cultures that has returned to the life-style of wild breeds. Their Asian wild forefathers, living along the whole length of north Asian mountains are quite a bit larger)
It seems that British researchers make a DNA-catalogue of all British breeds. I have not yet found any source about this (my informant is a fish biological researcher in Louvain-Belgium, where I live). But maybe, in future, there will be more scientific evidence about the relations between all these ancient but still fascinating breeds of sheep. It is clear that we need many more sources to find out about the history of these pretty special breeds of sheep. This does not exclude the interesting archaeological analysis that researches the relations between humans and their animals
The "Hebridean Sheep Society" has its own website http://www.hebrideansheep.org.uk
Patrick draws attention to a possible very interesting read in a recent publication about Hebridean sheep : KINSMAN, David, "Black Sheep of Windermere. A History of the St Kilda or Hebridean sheep" Windy Hall Publications, Windermere (Cumbria), 2001, X-259pp. ISBN, 0-9540283-0-9 From the introduction, I understand this author sees the origins of the sheep in the earliest settlements, long before the arrivals of Viking settlers all over the Brittish Islands...
David Kinsman is a geologist and hobby farmer who owns a very well established flock of Hebridean sheep. This book can be obtained from The Hebridean Woolhouse whose e-mail address is khowman@ashgame.com .
Those interested in the sustainability of these and many other breeds may wish to look at the Website of The Sheep Trust [Charity No.1094514] based at the University of York.
To offer sources of factual material please contact the Friends Chairman
Created 17 February 2005 Updated 3rd April 2008