Our Sheep

The Wiltshire Horn

As with all domesticated sheep, the exact origins of the Wiltshire Horn breed is obscure, although skeletons found at the excavations of a Romano-British farm at Rockbourne Down in Wiltshire and other stone age sites, indicate the presence of similar sheep which stood a mere 2 inches shorter than the modern Wiltshire.

Many consider the origins to lie with the European Moulflour or wild sheep which still flourish in Corsica and Sardinia and that these were introduced to Britain by the Romans. Others say that the Phoenicians bartered them for copper and tin from the mines of South West England, although there is no mention of this in any contemporary documents.

The truth of the breeds' introduction is never likely to be known and it is not until the 18th Century that hard documentary evidence emerges that indicates the dominance of the Wiltshire, or Western, Horn in the downland sheep walks of Wiltshire. The land there varies from being rich in the valleys and poor on the hilltops and was populated by Olde Wiltshire Horned Sheep.

Common grazings were tended by the village shepherd and the sheep returned each night to be penned on arable land. The Wiltshire of today is a wool-less breed and sheds its wool naturally without the need for shearing.

(Information taken from The Wiltshire Horn Society website)

Wiltshire Horn lamb	Wiltshire Horn ewe and lambs