Made in Pyrénées

Pyrenean Wool

Today, Pyrenean sheep are one of the region’s symbols due to their milk (Pyrenean cheeses) and their meat (PDO Barèges Gavarnie). But they are also the source of a commodity that is less widespread today, but which was once truly vital: wool. Let’s find out more about this little-known but highly noble material…

ONCE UPON A TIME...

People and sheep

Sheep were introduced into the Pyrenees thousands of years ago. They quickly played a major role in the history of mankind. Sheep provided the milk needed to make butter and cheese. The stockiest breeds were a source of meat. Sheep soon found a home in Pyrenean families. The sheep were taken up to the high-altitude prairies in spring and brought down again in autumn. In the meantime, they were shorn of their fleeces: the use of wool as a textile fibre dates back to the Bronze Age and was already being used in weaving in the Pyrenees over 20 centuries ago! Wool was added to flax and hemp, two plants that were also used to make robust clothing able to resist bad weather and the cold.

From wool...

To clothes

After the sheep are shorn, the wool is carefully washed, carded (the word “carding” derives from “chardon”, the French word for thistle – the wild plant has tough thorns which were used as natural combs to untangle and fluff up the wool fibres), spun and formed into skeins or balls before being knitted. Traditionally this work was done at home by women or old men who could no longer work in the fields. Wool was also sorted for future use: the whitest wool was used to make sheets and noble clothing, while the browner or blacker wool went to make more practical, less refined but still warm clothes, such as berets and socks, mattresses and blankets. For shirts and underwear, flax was preferred. It was widely grown in the central Pyrenees (especially near Lourdes), to the point where Bigorre was known as the “Blue Country”, due to the blue flax flowers.

Did you know?

The Manech and the Merino are two breeds specifically bred for their wool. They can supply between 2 and 8 kg when sheared once or twice a year. In the Pays Toy south of Lourdes, the Barégeoise breed provides exceptional wool.

And today?

After a golden age in the late 19th century with the mechanisation and industrialisation of Pyrenean wool production in some towns in the Piémont region (Saint Gaudens, Pau, Oloron, Bagnères de Bigorre, Bruges, Pontacq, etc.), the industry almost totally disappeared at the end of the Second World War. But it is gradually making a return: wool is a warm, natural and resistant material with many qualities making it more attractive today in contrast to synthetic materials. Wool production has always been local, earning it the name of “Pyrenees wool”. This is now a great asset in a period celebrating the “made in France” and highlighting local producers. Pyrenees wool, whether it is still on the sheep you might spot during your hikes or in the form of felt used to make traditional berets, still has plenty of tales to weave…