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The Sheep Stock of Gloucestershire. 
II.— OXFORD DOWNS. 
History of the Breed. 
About the year 1827 Messrs. Druce of Eynsham, Gillett of 
Southleigh, Blake of Stanton Harcourt, and Twynham of 
Hampshire, undertook the raising of a new breed of sheep that 
should, in a great measure, possess the weight of the “ Long 
Wool ” with the quality of the Down. Some slight admixture 
of the Sussex Down may have been introduced by those early 
breeders, but the Cots wold grey -faced ram and the Hampshire 
Down ewe were the chief materials, which, by judicious blend- 
ing and careful selection have resulted in a class of sheep 
difficult to equal — on account of size, weight of wool, aptitude 
to fatten and excellence of quality of mutton. 
In the year 1857 they were given the name of the “Oxford- 
shire Down,” now for the sake of convenience shortened to 
Oxford Down, the county of Oxford being then their strong- 
hold. 
It is more than gratifying to Oxford Down breeders to find 
that their breed is to a large extent being adopted on the hill- 
country of Gloucestershire. When the breed was first intro- 
duced in the year 1849, some ten to fifteen rams were sold 
annually at ridiculously low prices ; now at Cirencester, the 
capital of the Cots wolds, there are hundreds sold annually at 
remunerative rates, and of the thousands of mutton sheep 
monthly bought out of the hill-country, to be sent to the 
more densely populated districts, nearly the whole are Oxford 
Downs. 
The Royal Agricultural Society gave the breed a separate 
class in the year 1862, at Battersea, when they numbered sixty 
entries and were much admired. In the years 1872, 1875 and 
1887, Oxford Downs gained the Champion prize over all breeds 
at the Smithfield show. Mr. Rush and others have many times 
won first and champion prizes at Smithfield with the produce 
of the Oxford mated with the Hampshire Down ewe. 
In 1889 the first flock book connected with the breed was 
published in England, although in North America an Association 
for the publication of an Oxford Down record had been 
established in 1881, and the breed has flourished there from 
that date. In the 1889 edition of the English Oxford flock 
book there are 87, and in the 1908 edition 200 members’ names, 
and the annual demand for sires has increased in the same 
proportion. 
