 showing bales of Wool - probably in 1914 |
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According to advertisements appearing in the Dorset County Chronicle and Somersetshire
Gazette, the first sales of wool by auction by Henry Duke & Son started in 1882.
Sales included the finest wools, mostly from Dorset Horn and Dorset Down Breeds, and soon became the most important of such sales in the country attracting large companies of buyers from the chief manufacturing centres, who specialised in such fine wools, which were unobtainable elsewhere, and who were able to select their requirements from entries of between 100,000 and 200,000 fleeces. |
| Wool from the Dorset Down and Dorset Horn Breeds is of particularly fine texture with a short
staple. It is most suitable for the hosiery trade, for the making of white knitting yarns, and specialist firms use
it for the manufacture of felts employed in the production of bank notes and for the manufacture of tweeds. An added attraction of the wool sales was the nearby seaside resort of Weymouth and many a buyer would give his lady a delightful few days there in mid-season. |
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 Dorset Down Ram Copyright © Meat & Wool Innovation Ltd. |