Hampshire Down

Hampshire
An ewe
A ram
Conservation status
  • International:
  •     FAO (2007): not at risk[1]: 147 
  •     DAD-IS (2025): not at risk[2]
  • United Kingdom:
  •     FAO (2007): not listed[1]: 120 
  •     DAD-IS (2025): at risk/vulnerable[3]
  •     RBST (2025): other native breeds[4]
Other namesHampshire
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Distribution21 countries world-wide[2]
StandardHampshire Down Sheep Breeders Association
Traits
Weight
  • Male:
    average 120 kg (260 lb)[5]: 820 
  • Female:
    average 80 kg (180 lb)[5]: 820 
Height
  • Male:
    average 80 cm[3]
  • Female:
    average 70 cm[3]
Wool colourwhite
Horn statuspolled (hornless) in both sexes

The Hampshire Down or Hampshire is a British breed of sheep. It originated in the early nineteenth century from cross-breeding of the new Southdown breed with the traditional tall, horned, white-faced sheep native to the open, untilled, chalk downland of the Hampshire Downs – the Wiltshire Horn, the Berkshire Nott and the old local Hampshire sheep.[5]: 820  It is much used as a terminal sire.

History

The Hampshire Down originated in the first half of the nineteenth century from cross-breeding of the new Southdown breed with the traditional tall, horned, white-faced sheep native to the open, untilled, chalk downland of the Hampshire Downs.[5]: 820  From 1839 the breeder William Humphrey, of Newbury in Berkshire, used a ram from the Southdown flock of Jonas Webb, of Babraham in Cambridgeshire, on local Berkshire ewes;[6]: 492 [5]: 820  The resulting stock was later crossed with the Wiltshire Horn and with the old local Hampshire sheep.[5]: 820 

The new breed received the recognition of the Royal Agricultural Society of England in either 1859[7]: 319  or 1861;[5]: 820  a breed society was formed in 1890,[5]: 820 [8] and a flock-book was started in the same year.[7]: 319 

In the twenty-first century it is distributed principally in Berkshire, in Hampshire and in Wiltshire, with some stock elsewhere in southern England.[9]: 75  Its conservation status world-wide is "not at risk".[3] In the United Kingdom, where the total population for 2024 is reported at 4430 head, its status is "at risk/vulnerable";[3] the Rare Breeds Survival Trust listed it on its watchlist for 2025–2026 among the "other native breeds", the lowest level of concern of the trust.[4]

The sheep have been exported to many countries on all five inhabited continents; populations of over 10000 head are reported by Argentina and Brazil.[2] The Hampshire Down has contributed to the development of many other breeds, among them the other Down breeds of the United Kingdom – including the Oxford Down and Dorset Down – and also the German Schwarzköpfiges Fleischschaf, the Black-Headed Polish of Poland and the Gorki of the Russian Federation.[6]: 494 [5]: 820 

Characteristics

It is a large sheep: average weights are 80 kg for ewes and 120 kg for rams;[5]: 820  heights at the withers are usually in the ranges 55 to 70 cm and 95 to 115 cm respectively.[10]: 15  The fleece is thick and white, extending over the upper part of the face; the face, ears and legs are brown or black, the skin fine and unpigmented.[5]: 820 [11]

Use

The Hampshire Down is reared principally for meat. Rams are much used as terminal sires in the three-generation cross-breeding system commonly used by commercial breeding operations.[9]: 75 

Ewe fleeces usually weigh some 2.5–4 kg greasy, with a staple length of 60–100 mm and a fibre diameter of 25–33 μm, equivalent to a Bradford Count of 56/60s.[10]: 15 [5]: 820  The wool may be used to make knitting wools or in the manufacture of hosiery, felts and flannel, or for blending with wools of other types.[5]: 820 [9]: 75 

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Hampshire Down.
  1. ^ a b Barbara Rischkowsky, Dafydd Pilling (editors) (2007). List of breeds documented in the Global Databank for Animal Genetic Resources, annex to: The State of the World's Animal Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. Rome: Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. ISBN 9789251057629. Archived 23 June 2020.
  2. ^ a b c Transboundary breed: Hampshire Down. Domestic Animal Diversity Information System of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Accessed September 2025.
  3. ^ a b c d e Breed data sheet: Hampshire Down / United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (Sheep). Domestic Animal Diversity Information System of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Accessed September 2025.
  4. ^ a b Watchlist 2025–26. Kenilworth, Warwickshire: Rare Breeds Survival Trust. Archived 21 August 2025.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Valerie Porter, Lawrence Alderson, Stephen J.G. Hall, D. Phillip Sponenberg (2016). Mason's World Encyclopedia of Livestock Breeds and Breeding (sixth edition). Wallingford: CABI. ISBN 9781780647944.
  6. ^ a b Michael Lawson Ryder (2007 [1983]). Sheep and Man. London: Gerald Duckworth & Company. ISBN 9780715636473.
  7. ^ a b Valerie Porter, Ian Lauder Mason (2020). Mason's World Dictionary of Livestock Breeds, Types and Varieties (sixth edition). Wallingford; Boston: CABI. ISBN 9781789241532.
  8. ^ The Hampshire Down Sheep Breeders Association: Charity number: 1058398. Register of Charities. London: Charity Commission for England and Wales. Accessed February 2026.
  9. ^ a b c Susannah Robin Parkin (2015). British Sheep Breeds. Oxford: Shire Publications. ISBN 9780747814481.
  10. ^ a b David Cottle (2010). International Sheep and Wool Handbook. Nottigham: Nottingham University Press. ISBN 9781904761860.
  11. ^ Breed standard. Looe, Cornwall: Hampshire Down Sheep Breeders Association. Archived 15 September 2025.

This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain: Scientific American Supplement, No. 623, 10 December 1887.

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