Hampshire Down

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 4430 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 10000 head are reported by Argentina and Brazil.