Southdown sheep Southdown sheep The Southdown is a small, dual-purpose English sheep, raised primarily for meat. The Southdown breed was originally bred by John Ellman of Glynde, near Lewes, East Sussex, about 200 years ago. His work was continued by Jonas Webb of Babraham in Cambridgeshire, who developed the larger animal of today. It was exported to New Zealand and was used in the breeding of the Canterbury lamb. This sheep was involved with crossbreeding to develop other breeds: The Southdown in Britain is recognised by the Rare Breeds Survival Trust as a native breed, although today it is popular amongst the
Southdown and Eridge Hunt including Henfield. At Uckfield, the country extends north, to include Crowborough and Royal Tunbridge Wells and East to the A21. The hunt's best centres are Albourne, Chailey, Hadlow Down, Lewes and Mark Cross. Its terrain consists of wooded weald, well-fenced vale, and the open downland of the South Downs. The hunt is linked to three separate branches of The Pony Club, with the Southdown hunt founding a pony club in 1936, but which split in 1976 to form the Southdown Hunt West and Southdown Hunt East Pony Clubs, and the Eridge Hunt establishing a branch in 1935. Southdown and Eridge