Sheep Street, aptly named, meanders past flower-speckled Cotswolds fields and centuries-old buildings made of local stone. It ends in the village of Chipping Campden, so picture-perfect it hardly seems real. In the village center, the 14th-century stone Town Hall and 17th-century Market Hall stand as a testament to an era when sheep's wool upheld England's economy.
The British Isles boast more breeds of sheep than anywhere else in the world. In England, the historic wool industry has left its mark everywhere, from old trading halls like those at Chipping Campden, to stately medieval manor houses and magnificent "wool churches" funded by merchants made wealthy by the trade. For centuries, English craftspeople have fashioned wool into garments, bed linens, and countless other useful items. The value of the fleece itself prompted its export to European textile centers like Bruges, Lille, and Arras, where English wool was considered the highest quality to be found.
Woolen garments are perfectly suited to the climate of the British Isles. They wick moisture away from the body, repel stains, keep the wearer warm and dry in the wind and rain, retain their shape, and resist wrinkling. Wool connoisseurs appreciate the distinct qualities of wool from different breeds: the prized long fleeces of the so-called Cotswold Lions, the natural taupe and spotted coloration of the Jacob breed, and the curly tendrils of Cornwall Longwools. Turned into scarves, blankets, mittens, coats, sweaters, hats and other garments, wool from each animal boasts its own particular textures and colors.
Today wool remains an important industry in Britain. As in centuries past, sheep shearing takes place on farms during warm months. Farmers have their fleece graded by the British Wool Marketing Board, a national organization which pays farmers according to the grade of the wool, then markets and auctions the fleece to the trade.
The basic steps for processing wool involve scouring it to remove impurities, carding or combing the strands to separate them, then spinning them into continuous fibers on spools. Traditionally all of these steps were done by hand in a very time-consuming process. In the 1700s English inventors introduced several water-powered and horse-drawn contraptions to speed the spinning and weaving process. By the 1800s, steam-powered machines improved efficiency and textile mills opened. Today, northern England remains an important industrial textile center.
