SHEEP 



143 



here being of a different kind." The theory that they came with the 

 Armada may be dismissed, and Marshall's claim for Yorkshire as the 

 origin of the breed in 1788 is refuted by himself in 1794. A commonly 

 accepted theory is that the breed had its origin in the mountains of 

 Cumberland, Westmorland, and Lancashire, and travelled north at 

 a very early date ; this theory is supported by Lowe, in 1842 he writes : 



A R.4iM of the Heath Bjreed 



" This race has been termed the Black-faced Heath Breed. It 

 extends across the vales of Kendal and Eden to the higher mountains 

 of Cumberland and Westmorland on the west, and by the Carter Fell 

 into Scotland. . . . This breed may be supposed to have found 

 its way into Scotland by the mountains of the north of England. . . . 

 \\Tiatever their origin may have been, so far as Scotland is concerned, 

 they appeared first in the south, and gradually found their way north." 

 The most probable supposition is that they were the common sheep 

 of the district from Derbyshire, through Lancashire, Yorkshire, West- 

 morland, Cumberland, and parts of Northumberland to far across 



