A DEVOTION TO SHEEP

For one weekend in autumn, the Yorkshire market town of Masham plays host to show breeds and their owners for a long-standing traditional fair

THE AUTUMN MORNING air is damp and filled with the scent of straw and sawdust, alongside the strong, distinctive lanolin smell of sheep. In Masham’s market square, there are queues of trucks; trailers full of sheep; the waiting portable stock pens beginning to fill up as the owners unload their animals. Looking across the pens, some makeshift tarpaulin shelters have been put up to help keep the sheep dry, as the forecast is for rain later. There is surprisingly little noise from the sheep, with convivial chatter and a low hum of human conversation being the order of the day.

Masham is a small, pretty market town nestled in the picturesque Yorkshire Dales, in Lower Wensleydale, and has a population of approximately 1,400. Pronounced ‘Massam’, the town has the largest market square in the Yorkshire Dales, and possibly one of the finest in the country, and it hosts a lively twice-weekly market.

While Masham is famous for being home to the family-run Theakston and Black Sheep breweries, it also holds an annual sheep fair in the autumn. This two-day event sees the town’s population increase dramatically; not just with visitors, but also with sheep. More than 1,000 sheep come to Masham over the course of the Saturday and Sunday. Today is the second of the two days, and is rare breed day. More than 400 sheep will be shown today, with 26 trophies to be won and 83 classes, which is only one less than yesterday, including three for young handlers.

This town has a long history of sheep sales, and historically, more than 80,000 sheep were sold in Masham each year, including those from the large flocks of nearby Fountains and Jervaulx abbeys, which dominated this area for centuries. Wool production had become an important industry in England by the end of the 12th century, and Masham had its first Royal Charter granted in 1251 to hold a market in the square. There have been three additional Royal Charters issued since then, including one in 1393 giving the then Baron of Masham,

Stephen Le Scrope, permission for a market on Wednesdays as well as two yearly fairs. Sheep were driven from across the county to be sold at Masham; its importance as a major sheep market is evident in that large square and the beautiful Georgian houses that surround it. Hooks, used to hold the temporary livestock pens, can still be spotted embedded at waist height in some of the town’s buildings. Photographs show that a sheep market was still being held in Masham in the early 1900s.

A welcome return

The town’s sheep fair was reintroduced in 1984, thanks to local town stalwart Susan Cunliffe-Lister, the Dowager Countess of Swinton. It was originally intended to be a one-off event to raise money for farmers in Africa, coinciding with the famous Live Aid music concert of that year. The fair was a huge success, raising almost £8,000, so it was decided to make it an annual event to raise funds for local charities. Masham Sheep Fair has taken place every year since then, with the exception of 2001, when it had to be cancelled due to the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in the UK. But even in that year, the pens were erected and scarecrows put on display instead of livestock, so money was still raised for charity.

The sheep fair committee is made up of 18 volunteers, ably assisted by the local Young Farmers and many townspeople.

Susan has lived in the town since 1966, when she married and lived on the Swinton estate.

“I was very interested in the history of the town and wrote The History of Masham in 1970,” she says. “I found out a lot about the sheep fairs and what big events they were for the town, so thought it would be ideal to hold one again in 1984. I was president of the WI at the time, which got right behind it: the town was enthusiastic, and it sort of grew from there.”

Visitors to the show are able to wander around the pens and

get close to the sheep while the owners mill about, chatting to one other, grooming their sheep and making final preparations. Those who are showing livestock are dressed in white coats, while officials and judges can be recognised by their ubiquitous high-visibility vests and the clipboards they carry. The judging is quite a low-key affair, and there is no show ring as such. Instead, the sheep are brought out of their pens and lined up in front of the judge, who then walks along them, inspecting each animal. A steward records the outcome and hands out rosettes, and then the sheep are returned to their pens. The winner of each class will compete later in the day for the trophies and the ultimate accolade of ‘Best in Show’.

Molly Cook is here with her family and is showing her Ryeland sheep. This is 15-year-old Molly’s first year of showing, and she has had great success so far, being placed fourth in her first show and receiving ‘reserve champion’ at the North Yorkshire show earlier in the year. Her family farms at Scotch Corner, and Molly has bred the sheep herself.

The Ryeland is an ancient breed, originating from Herefordshire, and is highly prized for its fleece, as well as its meat. Ryeland wool is popular with hand spinners and weavers for its texture and quality, and Queen Elizabeth I is claimed to have been particularly fond of it, declaring that she would wear clothing made from no other wool after being given a pair of Ryeland stockings as a gift. While it is quite a large sheep, with a strong broad chest, dark nose and rounded face, the Ryeland is a docile breed and a good choice for people new to keeping sheep.

Molly has a flock of eight ewes. All sheep are classed as lambs until they are shorn for the first time, when they become known as shearlings. A male lamb is called a tup; the female a gimmer.

“I halter-train the lambs, starting them off in the garden until they get used to it,” explains Molly. “To prepare for the show, I start working on them 10 days beforehand, clipping the

“The gentle Lady married to the Moor, And heavenly Una with her milk-white lamb”

William Wordsworth, ‘Personal Talk’

The hub of Masham is the 18th century market place, with its Georgian houses, where thatched cottages would once have been, and the spire of St Mary’s rising above. Once a year, it becomes the site of the North Yorkshire town’s renowned sheep fair, when pens appear and visitors flock to show rare breeds.

Susan CunliffeLister, who, with a band of volunteers, reintroduced the fair, initially to raise money for Sheep Aid, in the 1980s.

Molly Cook with her Ryeland sheep, so named because monks grazed them on rye pastures in Leominster.