Southdown sheep wool and cereals due to rising volumes of imports from the British Empire was accompanied by the Wet Years - a six-year period of cold, wet weather with little sun. In the Second World War, the South Downs were commandeered for military training, only fringe farms being left to produce milk for the towns. Sheep farming declined further after the war, although it is now being encouraged again through the designation of the downland as an environmentally sensitive area, and the restoration of arable land to sheepwalk. The Southdown has been placed on a watch list by the Rare Breeds
HMS Southdown (L25) support of the Normandy Landings. Following the war she was converted for use as an air target ship at Rosyth in September 1945. She then transferred to the Reserve Fleet at Portsmouth in April 1946. She remained there until sold to Thos W Ward for scrap. She arrived at the breakers yard at Barrow on 1 November 1956. HMS Southdown (L25) HMS "Southdown" was a Type I destroyer of the Royal Navy which served in World War II. She was scrapped in 1956. "Southdown" was ordered on 11 April 1939 under the 1939 War Emergency Build Programme as job number