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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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sheep
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The British climate and the profusion of grass make the country well suited to the cultivation of sheep, which were introduced by the *Romans. By the late Middle Ages *wool was a source of great prosperity in many areas. Out of almost 300 breeds of sheep in existence today, many of the most widely known were developed in Britain; indeed almost every county of southern England has a variety named after it. The oldest English breed is the Southdown (dark-faced, hornless), raised on the Sussex *Downs and known for excellent meat production and for a very fine but light fleece. The broad term 'Down sheep' is also applied to the medium-wool and dark-faced Hampshire, Oxford, Shropshire and Suffolk sheep, all bred in similar conditions.
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The Cheviot, from the border district of the *Cheviots between England and Scotland, is a hardy white-faced breed; like the Border Leicester (originally a cross between Cheviot and Leicester), it has no wool on its head or legs, giving it the neat picture-book image of the essential sheep. Also white-faced and hornless, but with longer and coarser wool, are the Leicester, Cotswold, Lincoln and Wensleydale. The best-known horned English sheep is the white-faced Dorset or Dorset Horn. Two hardy mountain breeds have become well established: the horned Scottish Blackface (or Blackface Highland), and the Welsh Mountain sheep, white-faced and with only the rams growing horns. The island of Soay, part of *St Kilda, has its own distinctive breed.
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