Normanby Park Shire Horses
Eveline van Breemen, Collections Assistant Social History
In February 2023 I went to the Shire Horse Society to access their archives. The aim was to find out more about the Sheffield family and their Shire horses. This article is a summary of the interesting information that we discovered.
Sir Berkeley Sheffield (1876-1946) had a keen interest in Shire horses. He was a member of the Shire Horse Society, set up the Normanby Park Stud Farm and was an advocate for the Shire breed.
In 1901 Sir Berkeley became a member of the Shire Horse Society. The 1902 Society Stud Book recorded Sir Berkeley as the owner of 6 mares. 3 of these mares, Bess, Gem and Gentle were bred fairly locally by John Henry Johnson of Fockerby Hall in Goole. Surprisingly between 1903 and 1905 Sir Berkeley was not noted as owner or breeder. Possibly he wanted to re-think his strategy. Or get his Shire horse farm set up properly before starting his new venture. He re-appears in the Stud Book in 1906.
Normanby Park Stud Farm
In 1906 Sir Berkeley was first recorded as a Shire horse breeder. He now owned at least seven mares. One of these, Normanby Lass, was bred at Normanby. A second mare was bred by Sir Berkeley but owned by Mr Downing in Rotherham. The rules are that whoever owns the dam, the mother, is the breeder.
1907 was an important year too, as this was the year Sir Berkeley owned his first stallion, Kingsway. This stallion was already a prize winner in Tring and Leighton Buzzard.
1909 saw Sir Berkeley elected as a council member of the Society. He would serve for 3 years with an automatic retirement in 1912. Then in 1914 Sir Berkeley Sheffield was the president of the society. Meetings took place in 12 Hannover Square. This building was also home to the Royal Agricultural Society. It will have been about 15 minutes by horse and carriage from Sir Berkeley’s London home, 8 South Audley Street.
The stud that made the biggest impact was prize winning stallion Slipton King. Sir Berkeley bought this Shire in 1910 from Lord Rothschild, from Tring in Hertfordshire. Slipton King won many prizes and was the start of a well-run Stud Farm business in Normanby village.
The 1911 Stud Book had this impressive list of Shires registered to Sir Berkeley, as owner, breeder or both:
Studs
- Forage President: owner
- Royal Grey: breeder
- Southill Castle: owner
- Normanby Harold: owner (breeder: Thomas Read, Flixborough)
- Normanby Statesman: owner
- Normanby Stylish Boy: owner and breeder
- Normanby Victor: owner and breeder
- Slipton King: owner
Mares
- Normanby Bonny: owner and breeder
- Normanby Flower Girl: breeder
- Normanby Gay Lass: owner and breeder
- Normanby Gipsy: owner and breeder
- Normanby Gloaming: owner and breeder
- Normanby Jessica: owner
- Normanby Princess: owner and breeder
- Normanby Rachel: owner and breeder
Sir Berkeley was an advocate for breeding Shire horses. At the 1908 Normanby Show he begged the local farmers not to get rid of their good mares and foals but to keep them and get an even better breed. (Sheffield Daily Telegraph, 31 July 1908.)
The Normanby Stud farm was once housed down current Dairy Close. A nearby wooden barn was used as a quarantine hospital for ill horses and cattle.
Besides being an interest to Sir Berkeley, the Shire horses also were of practical and financial use. They were used on the estate to do heavy labour, for agriculture and transport. They won prizes at the shows. And they worked for the Normanby Stud Farm. Mares would come to the Stud, or as stated in the Stud Book studs could be “Let for the Season”. The Normanby Stud Farm was advertised in the Shire Horse Society’s London Show Catalogue.
Shires were also sold. This often happened by auction after the London Show. Quite a few horses were sold to go abroad, for example to America.
Normanby Show
The Normanby Shire horses were also a yearly feature at the Normanby Show. The Normanby Shires as well as other horses from the Normanby and Butterwick Estates were shown during the agricultural section of the show. A parade of Shire horses from the Normanby Stud took place during the 1911 Normanby Show.
Other North Lincolnshire Owners / Breeders
The members list in the 1909 Shire Horse Society Stud Book shows 21 private members from Northern Lincolnshire. A few names:
- R.I. Swaby, Blue Bell Hotel, Scunthorpe.
- George Sheardown, Flixborough Grange.
- William Sheardown, Old Park Farm, Crosby.
- Joseph Temperton, West Butterwick.
- Major R.N. Sutton-Nelthorpe of Scawby Hall, who was president of the Society in 1892.
Find Out More
Here you can watch some great footage of Shire horses being shown:
If you were to go to a Shire Horse Society Show today, you would see many of the same features. The Shire Horse Society runs a yearly show in March.
