Early history The
root word of the breed's name,
herdvyck, "sheep pasture", is recorded in documents dating back to the 12th century. The origin of the breed itself is unknown, but the most common theory is that the ancestors of Herdwick sheep were introduced by early
Norse settlers. it appears that the Herdwick was an important breed in the Lake District by the end of the 12th century. For centuries, the husbandry of Herdwick sheep has been a large factor in shaping the culture and terrain of the Lake District. Topographically, grazing by sheep continues to keep the hillsides of fells largely treeless, and the ubiquitous
dry stone walls of the valleys were built to protect grazing land and to confine livestock. Linguistically, many words of Lakeland speech relate to sheep husbandry. The ancient
Yan Tan Tethera counting system for sheep is a survival of
Brittonic counting systems.
Beatrix Potter In the later years of her life (over 50), the children's author
Beatrix Potter was involved with keeping and breeding Herdwicks, even acting as president of the breed association for a time. Between 1930 and 1938 she won a number of prizes for Herdwick ewes at shows across Cumbria. Upon her death in 1943, she bequeathed fifteen farms—a total of approximately to the National Trust and, as per her instruction, all continue to graze Herdwick flocks. The Trust now acts as a wool merchant itself, thus being able to bargain for better prices directly with the
British Wool Marketing Board and operate a Herdwick wool
trademark. and this makes them particularly vulnerable to outbreaks of disease. The outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in 2001 led to the destruction of many flocks, and to fears for the survival both of the breed and of the typical Lakeland sheep farming industry. Of the estimated 100,000 Herdwick sheep present before the outbreak, a full 25% were lost. They were not easily replaceable because long-standing herds are
hefted so the introduction of new stock to the
fells would have required extensive fencing. The call for
vaccination rather than culling to preserve what is considered a part of the traditional identity of the fells and
moors was led by parties such as the
Duke of Westminster,
Earl Peel,
Lord Barnard and
Lord Lonsdale, who wished to save the hill sheep on their lands. Many Lake District residents saw the breed as an indispensable icon of the region. Longtime resident and writer for
The Guardian A. Harry Griffin expressed this feeling: There are other mountain sheep on the Lakeland fells, notably
Swaledales and
Rough-Fells, but the hardy Herdwick is the sheep most likely to be seen in and around the Duddon valley, the Coniston fells, the Buttermere fells and, through Borrowdale or Wasdale, up to the highest land in England, the
Scafells. More than the old drystone walls that quarter the fells, the packhorse bridges or the whitewashed farmsteads, the little grey Herdwick sheep typify the Lakeland. If they and their shepherds go, that is the end of the Lakeland where I have climbed, walked, skied and skated for nearly 80 years; of the Lakeland I have written about nearly all my life. The destruction of entire flocks meant that the shepherds were forced to undergo the process of again
heafing (the local term for
hefting) their new sheep to the hills. Normally, ewes teach this behaviour to their lambs, but with no more ewes left acquainted with a particular heaf the behaviour had to be taught all over again to new ewes, inevitably involving much rounding up of flocks that had strayed over the often inaccessible fells. Unheafed sheep might also cause
overgrazing by wandering if they replaced the original Herdwicks. The Cumbria Hill Sheep Initiative was set up to "reassess the position and circumstances" in the aftermath of the disease; tough government restrictions in order to prevent another outbreak are still in place. In 2008, an
Oregon sheep farmer began importing
semen from Herdwick rams into the United States to begin a breeding programme using
artificial insemination and designed to bring the breed to the country for the first time. In 2025, a farm in Connecticut continued the effort to establish the Herdwick breed in the United States by importing embryos from registered Herdwick Sheep Breeders Association parents. The embryo transfers were coordinated and performed by the Reproductive Team at Tufts University’s
Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine. The first purebred Herdwick lambs born in the United States arrived the following June. In 2013, Lakeland Herdwick meat received a
Protected Designation of Origin from the
European Union. ==Characteristics==