Breeders of Fell Ponies

Ponies at Huntfield (Scotland)

Famous Stud names of the past

Prefixes are a 20th C development to help advertise studs. Early entries in the Stud Book, eg Volume 5 from 1898, record stallions with individual names like Blooming Heather, Brough Hill, and Eden Grove. Notably, these were all different in colour: black, bay and brown respectively.

Breed Prefixes of the Past

This list is taken from the FPS Stud Book compilation and gives approximate dates when some of the prefixes that occur again were first recorded. You can compare these prefixes to those of 1968 on the FPS site

Baggra-Yeat (pronounced Yat): 1916 Harry Watson, Uldale, Carlisle

Mountain: there were lots of these pre 1915 but they seem to be unrelated to any one stud

Gowbarrow: 1917 Messrs Swinburn, Gowbarrow, Ullswater

Roughhill: 1918 George Mawson, Bampton

Moor: 1921 John Bellas, Keswick

Linnel: 1924 Roy B Charlton, Hexham

Longlands: 1924 Joseph Fawcett, Uldale, Carlisle

Raisbeck: 1924 Edward Birtle, Raisbeck, Orton

Woodend: 1924 W J Wharton & son, Eamont Bridge, Penrith

Bousfield: 1925 William Hully, Orton

Guards: 1925 Richard Little, Ireby, Carlisle

Hardendale: 1925 John Brunskill, Hardendale, Shap

Gibside: J P Gibson, Burnopfield, Co Durham

Wallthwaite: 1925 Bennett & Lambert, Troutbeck, Penrith

Lownthwaite: 1931 Henry Wales, Milburn, Penrith

Stonecroft: 1932 Edward de Vere Irving, Shap

Birkett Bank: 1941 J & T Relph, Threlkeld

Heltondale: 1945 Thomas Noble, Keld Head, Heltondale

Tebay: David Trotter, Tebay, Cumbria

Dalemain : 1945 Mrs Hasell-McCosh, Dalemain, Ullswater

Dene: Mrs A A D Newall, Gt Whittington, Northumberland

Sleddale : Henry Harrison, Shap, Cumbria

Castlerigg : J W Harrison, Keswick, Cumbria

Heltondale : Greta and the late Sarge Noble, Bampton, Cumbria

Murthwaite: Thomas Capstick, Sedbergh, Cumbria

Many of these people, and their family before them, had of course been breeding Fells much earlier than their prefixes would imply. Thrifty to the end, breeders were reluctant to pay good money just to have their farm's and their ponies' names written into a book, when everyone around them already knew their stock and its quality!

Some Northern UK breeders

Extracts from the FPS Stud Book. There are breeders in the Netherlands, North America, Belgium, Germany, France, Czech Republic, Sweden, Denmark, Italy, Slovakia, Austria, Hungary, Poland, Russia, Australia and New Zealand (2021). This is only a very short list of some breeders in the north of the UK; I am not going to attempt to include every person in the Stud Book.

Brackenbank : David & Katherine Wilkinson, Appleby, Cumbria

Birkett Bank: (revived) Rob Relph-Briggs, Cumbria

Bracklinn: A Smith, Scotland

Darrenvale: Russell Sutcliffe, Lancashire

Greenholme: Bill, Ted and John Potter, Cumbria

Dalefoot: Barbara Potter, Cumbria

Guards: Mrs C M Dixon, Cumbria

Hardendale: Barry Mallinson, Cumbria

Hillhead: Helen Gallagher, Tyne & Wear

Inglegarth: Beverley Hodgson, Lancashire

Kerbeck: Christine Robinson, Cumbria

Linnel: Sarah Charlton, Northumberland

Lownthwaite : The Wales family, Cumbria

Lunesdale: Bert Morland, Cumbria

Rackwood: Eileen Walker, County Durham

Tarnbeck: Gwen Williamson, Cumbria

Townend: Mrs G Wilson, Cumbria

Waverhead : Barbara Bell, Cumbria

Wellbrow: A & A Thorpe, Shawforth, Lancashire

Wansfell: Wendy Black, Cumbria

Globetrotter: Libby Robinson, Cumbria

Ashbeck: Samantha Smith, Cumbria

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