What do Vikings, a base-20 counting system, and Beatrix Potter have in common? Herdwick sheep! These adorable gray sheep with white faces are native to the Lake District in Cumbria, one of the northernmost counties in England. Their history is inextricably intertwined with the story of the region.

Cumbria has been inhabited by humans since the Neolithic era. Evidence shows that the first sheep arrived around 3000 BCE, likely brought by the first Neolithic settlers. Celts began to arrive in the British Isles around 1000 BCE and continued to migrate over the next several hundred years. They introduced their base-20 counting system, which eventually evolved into Yan Tan Tethra, a sheep counting system traditionally used by shepherds in the Lake District of Cumbria and other parts of Northern England. Yan Tan Tethra gets its name from the first three numbers of the system. Shepherds would count their sheep up to twenty, placing a stone in their pocket for each group of twenty counted. Interestingly, Yan Tan Tethra was also used by knitters in the region to count their stitches, at least until around the Industrial Revolution. It even appeared in a mid-1800s knitting song that starts by singing the first five numbers of Yan Tan Tethra.

According to Lake District lore, the ancestors of Herdwick sheep came from a wrecked Spanish Armada ship. Further versions suggest these sheep were Merinos, which seems doubtful given the coarse wool of Herdwick sheep. In fact, this particular story seems to be repeated for several different breeds throughout England – it was a popular way to boast about the quality of your county’s sheep by giving them illustrious ancestors. The true ancestry of Herdwick sheep is unknown, but a more plausible theory making modern rounds  is that the ancestors of Herdwick sheep were brought over by Vikings during their invasions in the 10th and 11th centuries. This is because their name is derived from the Norse word herdvyck, meaning "sheep pasture," hinting at their introduction by Norse settlers who likely interbred them with native sheep. Regardless of their ancestry, Herdwick sheep have been known since at least the 1100s, as mentioned in records from that time. Today, 95% of Herdwick sheep are within the Lake District area of Cumbria.

Herdwick sheep are interesting for many reasons, but one of the most remarkable traits for shepherds is their ability to know where they are supposed to stay and graze. This knowledge, called heafing, is especially notable in this breed. Essentially, Herdwick sheep learn to stay on a specific fell (a high hill or mountaintop) from their mothers, and they will not stray from it. This knowledge is passed down from ewe to lamb, generation after generation. As a result, no fencing is required for Herdwicks. While they may wander miles within their fell, they will not leave it. The heafing instinct is so strong that Herdwick sheep cannot be moved to other farms, as they are already heafed to their specific land. When a Herdwick farm is sold, the sheep are sold with it.

Herdwick sheep were raised for both their meat and wool, with the undyed woolen fabric known as hodden-grey. This coarse fabric was popular for outerwear as the mix of Herdwick wool and kemp shed both rain and snow effectively. By the early 1900s, however, the popularity of Herdwick sheep in the Lake District began to decline as softer-wool breeds became more available and less expensive. Enter Beatrix Potter—artist, author, and all-around amazing woman. With the publication of The Tale of Peter Rabbit, Potter became an almost overnight success in the world of children's books. She published several more books and used some of the proceeds to purchase Hill Top Farm in the Lake District, an area where she and her family had vacationed when she was a child. Charmed by the breed and interested in saving them, she acquired her first flock of Herdwicks by 1907. She became an award-winning Herdwick breeder and began purchasing additional farms in the area to raise even more Herdwicks. In 1943, she became the first woman elected as the President of the Herdwick Sheep Breeders’ Association, although she sadly passed away before she could take up the position. By the time of her death, she had become a powerhouse sheep farmer and bequeathed fifteen of her farms to the National Trust, on the condition that Herdwick sheep continue to be bred on them. While she was not the only one working to save the Herdwick breed, she was undoubtedly one of the key figures in preventing their extinction.

There was another Herdwick extinction scare in modern times. In 2001, a hoof-and-mouth outbreak in England resulted in the loss of around 25% of the Herdwick sheep due to the disease and subsequent culling. Without ewes passing their heafing knowledge down to their lambs, some farms had to re-heaf their entire Herdwick flocks using fences—a practice practically unheard of in the Lake District. Fortunately, the process seems to have worked, and today’s Herdwicks are passing down the renewed knowledge to their young. Herdwicks have proven to be a very hardy sheep in all aspects. In addition to bouncing back from the 2001 scare, they have been known to survive for days under deep snow drifts until their humans can find and dig them out. How, you ask, is this possible? Apparently, their coarse, thick wool coats are so good at keeping them warm and shedding moisture that all they need to do is maintain a breathing hole created by their breath, eat snow for hydration, and perhaps nibble a bit on their own lanolin-laden wool to stave off hunger pangs.

Today, Herdwick sheep are a popular attraction for people visiting Cumbria and the Lake District. They are raised more for their distinctively flavored meat than for their wool, as modern clothing trends favor soft wool over coarse. However, their wool has seen increased interest from fiber artists, crafters, and manufacturers in recent years. Previously considered suitable only for fire resistant insulation, some manufacturers have begun using it as wool mattress filling—its springy nature and texture are well-suited for this application. Cumbrian artists and crafters have also started using it once again to weave carpets and fabric for outerwear, a trend that has slowly begun to spread to makers in other parts of the world.

There is no getting around it—at a diameter of 40 microns and with the inclusion of kemp, Herdwick wool is quite coarse. The inclusion of some of the kemp is a feature that helps anything made from Herdwick wool retain its weather-resistant properties. Herdwick wool is gray and is typically used in its natural color, as it can be difficult to dye. If you do dye Herdwick wool, expect it to take on pale shades of your dye, with the kemp taking on even less dye, to create a heathered or tweedy look. If you happen to know a Herdwick shepherd, you may have other natural color options – the lambs have a black coat for a little less than a year, after which their coats turn brown and then finally gray as adults. If you can acquire some of this wool from the younger sheep, you would have quite a lovely natural color palette to work with.

Interested in trying out some Herdwick wool for your next project? Check our wall of wool in the shop or online to add some to your stash!