Sheep are not so ubiquitous in the UK as they once were. But signs of them, and references to them, are prevalent. These signs are in rural areas, but in urban areas also.
Rearing of sheep is on field, hill etc, but selling of sheep has traditionally needed to be in centres, places where humans gather and business occurs, and thus most often in towns and cities. And products emanating from sheep - wool and cloth - while in pre-industrial days were outcomes from cottage industries located in the countryside by sheep farms, in the industrial period - when scale of endeavour became large - tended to derive from town or nearby locations and possessing good supply of water-power for driving steam mills. The product from sheep, meat, in being sold by a butcher, and needing to reach a sales place where plenty of customers were, required to be available in town shops, not merely at a local outlet.
Notwithstanding that we should not just expect to see signs of sheep in the countryside but in urban situations too, it seems that largely what we carry in our minds concerning sheep and the pastoral tradition is that they link to the countryside. This is, in a way, not at all surprising. Until the industrial revolution, most of the populace was countryside based, and had a lifeway solely focused on immediate locale. And the presence and keeping of sheep was usual and integral to that way of life.
In her book A Short History of the World According to Sheep, Sally Coulthard gives information that people in the UK connect to sheep. She says:
‘For thousands of years, people have lived with, looked after and built their environments around sheep. Many of the rural traditions and skills that we value in the UK, for example, come from sheep farming and wool production. From dry-stone walls to agricultural shows, sheepdog trials to spinning and weaving, the heritage and landscape that we cherish, and still enjoy, comes in large part from centuries of sheep farming.’
Coulthard then goes on to offer an explanation as to why, as a concept, traditional farming draws people in the UK. She says this: ‘Like ancient crafts or period buildings, traditional farming allows us to keep a link to our past and helps us understand who we are.’
Signs of sheep, of the kinds discussed here, are of word and/or illustration. What is being said by the signs of sheep that we see, around and about? There are those which give information, and which is true now. Others will tell a truth of the past. Some can say something that the provider believes to be true. Others will say something that the provider hopes to be true. Further others will say what the purveyor wants to be true. Others again can be making a linkage to sheep or something of the sheep world which has no, or likely has no, basis in fact: wordage and/or imagery relating to sheep are being used to make a link to sheep for an item and which is to the benefit of the provider of that item.
So, what are the types of contexts in which sheep signs are to be found, and what are the kinds of uses to which sheep signs are put?
Given that sheep were a firm feature of UK life for a long duration, and that now, relatively, they are neither so prominent nor as financially-lucrative, it can be understood easily why sheep, together with the type of pastoral life which surrounded in the past, or which is perceived as having surrounded, should appeal.
Signs related to sheep or the sheep way of life can be used to convey everything from factual information, through giving added appeal and attraction to information or statement, to adhering a sheep-connected reference to something that has no actual or definite association with sheep. In all, the acceptance has been made by the provider that the intended audience finds sheep and the pastoral tradition attractive and inviting.
The interpretation on the part of the sign provider, as it must be with the labeller and promoter of food products, must be that conveying rurality and wholesomeness will catch audience interest and attention.
Road and street signs, and such like - official kinds of signs, and especially if they are not of recent appearance - are likely to speak facts or what are thought to be facts. These can convey such as places where sheep were gathered or placed, tracks or droveways or streets walked by sheep, and so on. In an area known for sheep, a representation of a sheep can be the logo: as example of so doing is the Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty Partnership. Sheep images are deployed on signs for villages and towns towards manifesting a certain identity, showing place promotion and differentiation. Many pubs and inns have names associated with sheep, and maybe not all have actual or direct sheep connections. In an old market town in Suffolk (known in the past as a wool county) is an inn, dated from the 15th century, originally called the Cross Keys: at a point pre-1711, however, the inn’s name was changed to the still-existing one, The Fleece. While doubtless sheep were thereabouts at the time of change of name, maybe the inn had no particular connection with fleece, but rather the new-name choice was a ploy of good marketing? Interesting is the present inn sign, which in being trendy rather than traditional perhaps has as its target clientele the trendy rather than the traditional.
The appeal of attachment of a sheep name to an entity, shows in the area of built property. Residential dwellings can carry ‘olde-worlde’ names associated with sheep. Some may be conversions of buildings deployed in sheep farming. Probably quite a few have simply been given sheep-related names to convey age, give a bucolic association, render added charm. To give them charm and appeal - presumably - new estates of housing and newly-laid roads in association, can receive from their owners, developers, promoters, names along the lines of Shepherds’ Way, Shepherds’ Close, Shepherds’ Court, and so on. While maybe shepherds were once in a vicinity, possibly there never was actually a shepherds’ way through, or in the area of, a new estate. But, never mind, the pastoral promotion ‘box’ has been ticked.
In our contemporary situation, and in which so many people live in town and city, what is to be read into the strength of prevalence of sheep images and references on signage in the UK? Strictly practical and informational reasons for existence can explain some signs. But when it seems that sheep and sheep-related images and wordage are being selected when they do not need to be, search needs to be made for other causes. Sheep and their world apparently have an appeal with the public, and which appeal seems to be rooted in a nostalgic hankering for, and the romanticisation of, rurality and its way of life. Sign-producers, for products of a range of type, interpret, therefore, that sheep and their world generate good consumer feeling, and that endowing with ‘sheep association’ a sign for an item helps sell or ‘sell’.
13th September 2021