The Raddie Arrans little red sheep

It was during a conversation with Alistair Davidson the then tenant of Glen Rosa Farm that I first heard of this breed of sheep and,as is so often the case I now wish I had asked more questions. This is particularly the case as subsequent interest shown by others has revealed very little. Indigenous live stock like the indigenous culture having been little valued and generally described as inferior when mentioned at all.
What Mr Davidson did tell me was that twenty years earlier he had thrown out the stuffed head of a four horned ram which had been long in the family. He also said that from time to time lambs born among his Black Faced sheep had the look of the Raddie about them though this had been more frequent in his fathers day.
By his accounts they would seem to have been an attractive animal. In the pure form a bit like a four horned Soay,the typical coat colour was reddish brown but there was some variation. The fleece weighed about one and a half pounds was fine in texture and was plucked rather tham shorn.
It would seem that the practice was to keep the adults tethered,the ewes were milked at the start of winter and a cheese was made.

The fate of the Raddie was sealed at the time of the land improvements when sheep runs were created and it was forbidden to keep sheep on land not designated for that purpose. Proscribed sheep were to be confiscated and destroyed. This policy together with genetic polution ment that by 1840 few of the old type were left.
However a flock of some 400 referred to as Raddies but bred up to Black Face were kept by a Mr Watson of Carlaw Farm,Maul Don. Up until the sheep were removed from that hill in the latter part of that century.

With the exception of my contact with Mr Davidson not much has come to light,however I have obtained photographs of some stuffed heads which have fortunately been preserved,and these like all photos on my site are free to download.

Interest in these sheep was sparked off when Marhall Watson of Braxfield was included in a Rare Breeds Survival Trusts paper on Hebridean Sheep (1986). Since when a small amount of information has emerged one source being Gulch's Recollections of Scotland ,the shepherds life on the Isle of Arran.

The ancient sheep of Arran were clearly very similar to those described from so many other parts of Scotland and no doubt their undyed fleece would have provided many a tartan plaid.


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