Wensleydale sheep in photographic exhibition in Bishop Auckland

The breed, noted for its strong, long, lustrous wool, was first named in 1876, although its story goes back much further than that, but is now on the ‘at risk’ register.

A Wensleydale (Image: Elaine Vizor)

The exhibition, Following Ewe, is by local photographic artist Elaine Vizor, who spent much time in all seasons on the farm of Jodi Shadforth, the secretary of the Wensleydale Longwool Sheep Breeders’ Association, near Hartlepool.

“I’ve avoided the cute bit about lambs so I can get to the heart of the farming process,” says Elaine, “and the central part of the exhibition is about the led up to the shows: dagging, clipping and washing.”

Judging the Wensleydales at Ryedale Show (Image: Elaine Vizor)

Unlike many breeds, the Wensleydale has a documented foundation story. In 1839, at William Outhwaite’s East Appleton farm, between Catterick and Bedale, a ram called Bluecap was born.

This was a time of great innovation in agriculture, with farmers applying new feeding regimes and new genetic approaches to improving their animals.

Bluecap’s mother was a “Mug”, a Teeswater ewe of a type common in the dales of North Yorkshire and Durham.

But his father – or, more correctly, “sire” – was a Dishley Leicester ram, and so Bluecap turned out to be a ram of exceptional size, with dark skin and long, lustrous white fleece. As a two shear – in other words, after his second shearing, so he was between two and three years old – he weighed around 203kg (448lb or 32 stone). Today, a Wensleydale ram weighs up to 150kg, so Bluecap was clearly an impressive fellow.

Wensleydales by Elaine Vizor (Image: Elaine Vizor)

Bluecap, and his descendants, were then applied to other ewes across the north.

1839 wasn’t just see the founding of the Wensleydale breed of sheep – it also saw the birth of photography. That January, Louis‑Jacques‑Mandé Daguerre astounded Paris by producing images on polished sheets of copper – “daguerreotype” – and Henry Fox Talbot told London about his negative paper images. That August, these advancements led scientist Sir John Herschel to coin the word “photography”, made from Greek meaning “drawing with light”.

A Wensleydale at Ryedale Show (Image: Elaine Vizor)

“What a great coincidence that this is also the date Wensleydales can trace back to Bluecap,” says Elaine, who was commissioned by Durham County Council to do the project. “This gave me creative licence and inspiration to tackle my commission with an element of vintage photography alongside digital.”

Photographer Elaine Vizor, from Bishop Auckland (Image: Elaine Vizor)

However, while photography developed apace, it wasn’t for nearly 40 years that the breed of sheep was officially named. Farmers had been exhibiting at shows among the generic local sheep but wanted classes specifically for their long, lustrous woolled animals and in 1876, the Great Yorkshire Show ran its first “Wensleydale” classes.

Judging Wensleydale Sheep at the Great Yorkshire Show (Image: Elaine Vizor)

But this then sparked rancorous rivalry over what was a true Wensleydale and what were its essential characteristics. Two rival societies, with fantastically long names, emerged – the Incorporated Wensleydale Blue‑faced Sheep Breeders’ Association and Flock Book Society, and the Wensleydale Long‑wool Sheep Breeders’ Association and Flock Book Society – and promoted the same sheep from slightly different standpoints with parallel, competing pedigrees.

At Ryedale Show (Image: Elaine Vizor)

The hardships caused by the First World War brought the feuding farmers to their senses and on November 27, 1920, they officially amalgamated to form the present Wensleydale Longwool Sheep Breeders’ Association.

A previous generation exhibiting their Wensleydales (Image: Elaine Vizor)

However, there are still two types of Wensleydale sheep: there’s the white, which has blue skin, and the black, which has black skin and produces darker fleeces which range in colour from silvery grey to jet black.

Wensleydale fleece in the British Wool Tent at the Great Yorkshire Show (Image: Elaine Vizor)

In the early decades of the 20th Century, the Wensleydale was known both for its wool and for being a “crossing sheep” – its rams importantly injected its characteristics into other types of sheep. Most notably when the ewe was a Dalesbred, it created the Masham, and the Masham’s “Ripon wool” fetched high prices on the Bradford wool markets, and it was known as a “butcher’s sheep” because it produced plenty of lean meat.

However, over the course of the 20th Century, quicker fattening continental breeds became more popular, and so now the Wensleydale is a rare breed which is “at risk”, meaning there are only an estimated 900 to 1,500 breeding ewes in the UK, with the black Wensleydale now having a limited genepool.

“Wensleydale farmers are extremely hard working, dedicated, and committed to producing high quality sheep for their meat and, importantly, their lustrous longwool fleeces which are highly sought after for spinning, knitting, weaving, rug making and other artisan crafts,” says Elaine.

Spinning Wensleydale wool (Image: Elaine Vizor)

Wensleydale longwool (Image: Elaine Vizor)

A Wensleydale rug (Image: Elaine Vizor)

Two rugs, one white and one black, which were handmade by Jodi’s mother, Diane Shadforth, also feature in the exhibition, along with an installation on hand clipping.

“It dates back more than 2,000 years and is mentioned in the Old Testament,” says Elaine. “I have a series of photos showing a farmer clip modern Wensleydales using the age old method which is said to create a cleaner, smoother clip than electric shears.

A freshly washed Wensleydale gets a natural blow dry (Image: Elaine Vizor)

“I hope I’ve shown the sheep as the showstoppers they are with their wonderful fleeces and exhibited the pictures in a way that encompasses the whole history of the Wensleydale sheep.”

• Following Ewe opens at Bishop Auckland Town Hall on Monday, June 8, and runs until August 29. It is open Monday to Saturday, 10am to 4pm

Wensleydale Sheep 150th anniversary. Pictures by Elaine Vizor (Image: Elaine Vizor)