Breed Study: Marsham

The sheep breed Marsham got its name from the town Marsham in North Yorkshire, England. It is a cross breed produced by crossing a Teeswater ram with a Dalesbred or Swaledale ewe, sometimes a Wensleydale ram is also used. This cross resulted in ewes that are very hardy with strong mothering instincts, and highly prolific. These sheep also produce nice fleeces with long staples and good luster, like other English Longwool breeds.

Marsham tops and a mini skein of test spin

Marsham fleece can be either white or grey, above is tops made from grey fleece. Like many of the Longwool breeds Marsham has very long staples ranging from 14cm to 23cm; it is considered a coarse category with micron range of 33-35.

I spun a small sample from the tops using a Turkish Spindle in the size S (Munchkin) and I let the fibre dictate how it wished to be spun. It was very easy to draft although it can be a bit slippery, it definitely wanted to spin fine.

Lleyn sample swatches

As with all the tests I spun 5g of the fibre, again I forgot to measure the length of the spun yarn but you can see in the photo above, after I’ve made the swatches there is quite bit of the yarn left and the yarn is markedly finer.

Although Marsham is considered a coarse breed it feels softer in the hands (in my hands anyway 😅), the yarn softened after finishing but did not bloom like Lleyn, instead it has a silky feel and a soft halo. Adding this fibre in a blend would help with the drape I think.