Hampshire Hogs
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Collier's 1921 drawing of a Hampshire Hog
Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
People born and bred in Hampshire, UK, have been referred to as Hampshire Hogs since the late 18th century. For hundreds of years, wild boar roamed the acres of forest that crossed the county and were the focus of royal hunting parties in the New Forest.
Eventually, some of the boar were domesticated and became recognised as the Hampshire Hog and the Wessex Saddleback. Both breeds were black with a white band round their shoulders and forequarters. The only difference was in the ears – the Hampshire’s ears were erect and the Wessex breed had floppy ears. The Wessex saddleback was bred with the Essex saddleback, which differed from the Wessex only in having white hind feet and tail tip, to form the British saddleback. The Wessex is extinct as a separate breed in UK but survives as a rare breed in Australia and New Zealand.
Hampshire hogs were exported to the USA in the early 1800s and now constitute the fourth most recorded pig breed in that vast country. Some sources suggest it may be the oldest American breed.
Hampshire County Council commissioned a bronze statue of a Hampshire hog to mark its centenary in 1989. It is situated outside its offices in Winchester. A wild boar is the emblem of the Ringwood Brewery, a small brewery producing cask ales and some bottled beers.
Wild boar outside the Ringwood Brewery in the New Forest
Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
The boar statue almost looks friendly. I can't imagine wild boar being very friendly at all. Our wild pigs certainly aren't.
ReplyDeleteIt's all a matter of interpretation, I suppose.
DeleteI don't know much at all about pigs except my mum raised one or two a year to be Christmas hams and pork chops etc. They were way down the back of the yard and I had nothing to do with them. I didn't go to live with mum unitl I was 16-17.
ReplyDeleteYou know more than most, I suggest :-)
DeletePigs are very - satisfactory somehow, I think. I'm glad I don't have one down the bottom of the garden though. :-) xx
ReplyDeletePigs always look so comfortable, I think x x
DeleteGosh, I'd never realised that pigs, like dogs, can have either erect or floppy ears. How very interesting!
ReplyDeleteToodle-oo!
Nobby.
It's the dogs with one erect and one floppy ear that amuse me.
DeleteIs there a connection between boars and beer drinking? If I was running Ringwood Brewery, I might have chosen a happier emblem: bottles, beer steins, beautiful dogs, sunset, forests, royal crowns etc.
ReplyDeleteSorry, that should have been Hels, not anonymous
ReplyDeleteI should have clarified that Ringwood is in the New Forest, hence the connection to wild boar. I have amended the post accordingly!
ReplyDeleteThat’s really interesting. I lived in Hampshire, years ago, but have never heard about the Hampshire hogs!
ReplyDeleteI only know about it because my parents referred to themselves as Hampshire hogs, otherwise I'm sure it would have passed me by :-)
ReplyDeleteWe have some of these delightful names for folks from certain regions or towns too. The people from a town near to us are called Sheep Heads, and those from another are Moon Extinguishers, something to do with the legend that back in the mists of time, they thought the tower of their cathedral was on fire, while it was just the light of the full moon ... xxx
ReplyDeleteI love to read about the derivations of names. Sheep Heads is a good one! x x x
ReplyDelete