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. 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. 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; The resulting stock was later crossed with the Wiltshire Horn and with the old local Hampshire sheep.
The new breed received the recognition of the Royal Agricultural Society of England in either 1859 or 1861; a breed society was formed in 1890, and a flock-book was started in the same year.
In the twenty-first century it is distributed principally in Berkshire, in Hampshire and in Wiltshire, with some stock elsewhere in southern England. Its conservation status world-wide is "not at risk". In the United Kingdom, where the total population for 2024 is reported at head, its status is "at risk/vulnerable"; 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.
The sheep have been exported to many countries on all five inhabited continents; populations of over head are reported by Argentina and Brazil. 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 , the Black-Headed Polish of Poland and the Gorki of the Russian Federation.
Characteristics
It is a large sheep: average weights are for ewes and for rams; heights at the withers are usually in the ranges and respectively. 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.
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.
Ewe fleeces usually weigh some greasy, with a staple length of and a fibre diameter of , equivalent to a Bradford Count of 56/60s. 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.
Gallery
References
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. . Archived 23 June 2020.
Breed standard. Looe, Cornwall: Hampshire Down Sheep Breeders Association. Archived 15 September 2025.
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. .
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.
Transboundary breed: Hampshire Down. Domestic Animal Diversity Information System of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Accessed September 2025.
David Cottle (2010). International Sheep and Wool Handbook. Nottingham: Nottingham University Press. .
Susannah Robin Parkin (2015). British Sheep Breeds. Oxford: Shire Publications. .
Watchlist 2025–26. Kenilworth, Warwickshire: Rare Breeds Survival Trust. Archived 21 August 2025.
The Hampshire Down Sheep Breeders Association: Charity number: 1058398. Register of Charities. London: Charity Commission for England and Wales. Accessed February 2026.
Michael Lawson Ryder (2007 ). Sheep and Man. London: Gerald Duckworth & Company. .
Valerie Porter, Ian Lauder Mason (2020). Mason's World Dictionary of Livestock Breeds, Types and Varieties (sixth edition). Wallingford; Boston: CABI. .