CHAPTER LI 



THE SHROPSHIRE] 



The native home of Shropshire sheep was in the counties of 

 Shropshire and Stafford, England. The former is in central- 

 western England, being bounded on the west by Wales, while 

 Stafford lies just to the east of Shropshire. The country is 

 pleasantly rolling, with some hilly features also, but furnishes 

 excellent grass and pasture. The climate is moderate, is fairly 

 free from heavy snow in winter, and is well suited to sheep. 



The origin of the Shrop- 

 shire sheep is from several 

 types of native sheep, on 

 which Southdown, Leices- 

 ter, and Cotswold blood 

 was used. In 1803 Plym- 

 ley, writing on the agri- 

 culture of Shropshire, 

 wrote of a breed on the 

 Longmynd with horns and 

 black faces, that seemed 

 indigenous and hardy. A 

 century ago in southern 

 Shropshire, near Bridgnorth, on Morfe Common, as many as 

 10,000 sheep were pastured in summer. It was a native breed, 

 black faced, brown, or spotted faced, with horns, the ewes 

 dressed weighing from nine to ten pounds per quarter, and 

 wethers eleven to fourteen pounds after feeding, and clipping 

 a fleece of about two pounds. On Cannock Chase in Stafford- 

 shire was found a similar but somewhat larger, slow-maturing 

 sheep, from which are descended some of the best Shropshire 

 flocks of to-day. On Whittington Heath in Shropshire a type 

 similar to that of Cannock Chase also existed and became 



387 



FIG. 175. A type of Shropshire ram of years 

 ago. This illustration is reproduced from a 

 photograph of a painting owned in England 



