Shropshire Magazine

Pippa Geddes with some of the breeding ewes and new arrivals to the Alderton Flock.

A Shropshire couple are working to revive the fortunes of one of Shropshire’s most neglected assets – wool from its very own sheep breed. Neil Thomas finds out more

The natural dying process can create the full spectrum of colours.

Pippa and Peter Geddes’s 50 acres at Alderton, near Montford Bridge, has been at the forefront of a revival of Shropshire sheep, which, until recently, was generally regarded as a rare breed.

Sheep from Shropshire have long been famed for the quality of their wool, which was widely acknowledged as ‘choicest and dearest in England’, according to The History of Wool and Woollen Manufacturers, published in 1641.

In the Middle Ages, when wool was the mainstay of our economy, wool traders amassed large fortunes and often invested their wealth in substantial houses: Stokesay Castle, built by the wool merchant Lawrence of Ludlow, is a prime example in this region [see Shirley Tart’s feature on Stokesay in the print version of May’s Magazine].

British wool remained a valuable commodity for at least the next 250 years, so breeds with high-quality fleeces were in great demand. The Shropshire Down, developed in the mid 19th century, produced fine wool as well as excellent meat. Shropshires quickly became popular throughout Britain and were also exported in their thousands to many corners of the British Empire. 

The number of Shropshire sheep declined, however, after two World Wars and sporadic outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease put paid to live exports. A few committed farmers kept the breed going, but from the 1970s until recently the Shropshire Down was classified as a “rare breed”. 

Pippa and Peter established their Alderton Flock of pedigree Shropshire sheep in 1999. They now keep a total of 50 breeding ewes plus youngstock on their farm, alongside a herd of Ruby Red Devon cattle. Pippa is vice president of the Shropshire Sheep Breeders’ Association, having been secretary from 1994 to 1998, thus helping to promote Shropshires throughout the UK and overseas.

When setting up their own flock, Pippa and Peter were interested simply in the local heritage of the sheep and their ability to produce good quality butchers’ lambs. But gradually the couple became determined to revive the fortunes of Shropshire wool.

“Countries such as Australia and New Zealand can produce high-quality wool at a relatively low cost, so the British wool industry struggles to compete on the world market,” explains Pippa. “As sheep farmers in Britain know only too well, most of our wool is now of very little value. Sometimes the price paid for raw wool barely covers the cost of the shearer.

“We could see that wool from our Shropshires was of fine quality and good enough for knitting yarn, so we decided to have some processed by a small woollen mill. Although natural Shropshire wool is a lovely creamy white colour, we thought it would be interesting to have some coloured wool, too. 

Pippa’s sister Lyn creating one of the natural wool dyes.

“My sister, Lyn, who lives in Oxfordshire, had recently learned about hand-dying with natural plant substances. So we asked her to experiment with some of our double knitting and Aran yarn.”

The results have been very successful and a beautiful range of vivid colours has been produced, some from surprising sources. Dyes can be obtained from a huge variety of plants, including weeds, garden flowers, shrubs, trees (bark and leaves), fruits, berries, lichen and fungi. These produce a complete spectrum of colour. Greater variation still can be obtained by using different mordants, the substances which help to bond the colour pigment to the material that is to be dyed. A few mordants are common household items such as salt, vinegar, lemon juice and tannin found in tea.

Some of the plants used to dye the Shropshire wool have been popular since medieval times. These include weld, which produces a startlingly intense yellow green; madder, which produces a range of reds from russet to clear cherry; woad (or indigo), producing a range of blues from pale to very deep; and walnut, which produces a range of rich and subtle browns. Pippa is now growing most of these plants in her garden, as a ready source of dye pigments.

After conducting more research into dyes of the Middle Ages, the sisters found that additional colours can be produced by over-dyeing. For example, ‘Welsh’ or ‘Shrewsbury’ scarlet can be produced by over-dyeing madder with weld, while ‘Lincoln Green’ is the result of over-dyeing weld with woad. The colours produced are the textile equivalent of stained glass windows, jewel-like in their intensity.

Some wonderful colours have been produced from more commonplace plants: carrot tops produce pale yellows and fresh greens; beetroot a surprising pale apricot; buddleia an eye-catching and very strong gold; and eucalyptus a range of bright yellows and reds.

“We always intended to use the Shropshire wool to make a range of hand-knitted gifts, because the market for yarn, produced in small batches, is rather limited,” adds Pippa. Inspired by an old knitting pattern for a rabbit that had been in the family for years, they decided to produce a range of knitted animals. 

“The animal patterns we use have been designed by my sister, who is a very experienced knitter and possesses a real flair for putting colours together. She first re-created the rabbit, and we have since added mice, Shropshire lambs, teddy bears, polar bears, penguins, and little dogs to the range. We also produce animal tea-cosies and some special dolls were knitted for the Ludlow Medieval Fayre and the Clun Green Man Festival.

Hand finished

“Although each animal or doll is knitted to the same basic pattern, they all end up looking slightly different because they are handmade and hand finished.”

While Lyn focuses on the pattern designs and the management of a team of five hand-knitters, Peter and Pippa look after the production and processing of the wool. The quality of Shropshire wool is strongly influenced by sheep genetics, so it is important to breed only from animals that have good quality fleeces themselves. The couple’s efforts in this department have really paid off, with sheep from the Alderton Flock having won ‘Wool on the Hoof’ classes at the West Mid Show in 2006, 2007 and 2008, and at the Staffordshire County Show in 2007. At the Three Counties Show in 2007, they received a special prize for the wool quality of their flock from two German judges of Shropshire sheep.

A basket of the toys made from the sheeps’ fleeces.

All this is the realisation of a dream for Pippa, who grew up a ‘townie’ in Wimbledon, south-west London, yearning for the country life. The first step was to study agriculture at Hay College and she arrived in Shropshire 16 years ago.

She and her sister started their business two years ago and it has grown into something of a cottage industry. The knitted Shropshire wool gifts and 100g balls of pure Shropshire knitting yarn are marketed under the brand name ‘Flock Of Ages’, which reflects the fact that Shropshires are the oldest pedigree breed of sheep in the UK, says Pippa. 

Due to the year-round time commitment of running a livestock farm, she and Peter market the products mainly by mail order, via their website (www.FlockofAges.co.uk). 

The gifts are also available from Ippikin, the specialist textile and wool shop in Much Wenlock, while Flock of Ages also attends a number of gift fairs.

However,the business now looks set to reach greater heights, for last month Pippa sealed a deal with The National Trust to sell Flock of Ages gifts at some of its historic properties.

All baa none.