The Story of Romney Marsh Wools

OUR WOOL

The Romney Sheep have been in the family for at least six generations, possibly more. Our current numbers are 1,000 ewes lambing in the traditional season of March and April. Our British wool is considered to be one of the most adaptable fleeces, its cream semi-lustrous and thanks to its versatility is a popular choice for knitting wool, knitting yarn, and cloth. We take our fleeces to traditional weavers who hand process, then spin and weave our yarn into beautiful wool rugs and wool throws, which have a unique quality attributable to the Romney sheep wool. With some of our cream wool we have mixed other naturally coloured native yarn to allow for varied design, colour and texture. The Romney or the Kent sheep is a "long wool" sheep and was recognised as a breed in England by 1800. Today wool represents only 3% of the World's fibre production, however it is becoming a more popular choice, as it is a renewable resource and a natural product.

Since the stone age wool has been appreciated as one of the most effective forms of all-weather protection known to man, and science is yet to produce a fibre which matches its unique properties. Wool fibres are crimped, and when tightly packed together they form millions of tiny pockets of air. This unique structure allows it to absorb and release moisture.

Knitting wool is both renewable and biodegradable. Each year sheep will produce a new fleece and at the end of its life wool can be returned to the soil, where it decomposes releasing valuable nutrients into the ground.

Wool fibres resist tearing and are able to be bent back on themselves over 20,000 times without breaking. Lamb's wool and Sheep wool is also naturally elastic and therefore maintains its appearance in the longer term, adding value to the product and its lifespan. In fact, our range of wool products are lovely heirlooms, which can be passed on from generation to generation.

The protective waxy coating on knitting wool fibres makes wool products resistant to staining and they also pick up less dust, as knitting wool is naturally anti-static. Recent innovations mean wool products are no longer hand-wash only and easy to care for.

Our British knitting wool is naturally hypoallergenic. It’s resistant to mould growth, and it inhibits dust mites which cause most of the allergic reactions. Knitting wool is ideal if you suffer from asthma or allergies.

The softness of wool is measured in microns looking at a single fibre strand. On average a human hair is about 100 microns, a highland sheep is around 50 microns (so quite rough and not soft to wear against the skin). However, Romney fleeces are considered to be one of the finer British Breeds at around 32 microns. Merino knitting wool, which is world famous for being super fine, has been developed down to as fine as 9 microns which means that it is more than five times finer than a human hair, and in fact most people who are allergic or cannot wear wool because it irritates their sensitive skin, would be able to wear Merino wool.