Since 1987

Wool and Glencroft

Glencroft has manufactured in the UK and used 100% British Wool in our range of jumpers since we began in 1987. This is yarn certified by British Wool as being from sheep living on UK fields.
It’s been the most traceable wool we could find at a reasonable price but we’ve always hankered to use the sheep on the fields around us and contribute directly to our local community.

Sheep in the Yorkshire Dales

There have been sheep in the Yorkshire Dales for generations, from our local Dalesbred breed on the fells of Ingleborough to the more modern Texels, bred for meat and the North of England Mule, a cross between the Blue Faced Leicester and Swaledale breeds. However much of the wool has been worth less and less in recent years, with some farmers finding they had to pay to just get rid of some breeds’ fleeces.

Glencroft has been based in Clapham for over 30 years and also now a second generation family business with son Edward Sexton. He went to the village primary school with many current local farmers so it was an honour to reach out to them years later and connect further with the local community.

Made in Yorkshire

How it began

A random connection led to a conversation in mid 2021 with Maria Benjamin and Zoe Wooster at the Wool Library who had managed to create yarn with their own Herdwick sheep using a variety of scourers, carders, combers and spinners across Yorkshire.

We realised we could make our own wool as long as we started with 500kg – the minimum quantity we could get commercially scoured. Very soon after that we got in touch with the Yorkshire Dales National Park to help us get the project going, picked up wool from two local farms we’ve known all our lives and started the process that would result in Clapdale Wool!

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  • Clapdale Wool Traceable Dalesbred Flat Cap Clapdale Wool Traceable Dalesbred Flat Cap
    Made in Britain
    Glencroft
    Flat Caps

    Clapdale Wool Traceable Dalesbred Flat Cap

    £59.95 GBP
    £59.95 GBP
  • Clapdale Wool Traceable Thwaite Zig Zag Pattern Jumper Clapdale Wool Traceable Thwaite Zig Zag Pattern Jumper
    Made in Britain
    Glencroft
    Clapdale Wool

    Clapdale Wool Traceable Thwaite Zig Zag Pattern Jumper

    £300.00 GBP
    £300.00 GBP
  • Green plaid chunky wool travel rug rolled up Green plaid chunky wool travel rug
    Made in Britain
    Glencroft
    Clapdale Wool

    Crummock Green Dalesbred Breed Traceable Wool Travel Rug

    £169.95 GBP
    £169.95 GBP
  • Clapdale Wool Traceable Cattlegrid Knit Jumper Clapdale Wool Traceable Cattlegrid Knit Jumper
    Made in Britain
    Glencroft
    Clothing

    Clapdale Wool Traceable Cattlegrid Knit Jumper

    £199.95 GBP
    £199.95 GBP

The Process

Clapdale Wool starts with sheep on the hills of Ingleborough and surrounding fells – the Yorkshire ‘Dale’ of ‘Clapdale’. On these fells are a range of breeds and we’ve used nearly all of them – Dalesbred, Texel, Blue Face Leicester, North of England Mule and Texel (and Teeswater in our first year’s batch).

We want Clapdale Wool to represent this area which is why we’ve included all the breeds, even some that aren’t usually associated with knitting wool. It also means we can work with as much of our local farmer’s wool as possible, not just those with the softest fleeces.

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  • Clapdale Wool hand knit hank in dark grey colour Close up of Clapdale Wool hand knit hank in dark grey colour
    Made in Britain
    Glencroft
    Yarn & Fabric

    Clapdale Wool 100g DK Hand Knit - Dark Grey

    £17.95 GBP
    £17.95 GBP
  • Clapdale Wool hand knit hank in blue colour Close up of Clapdale Wool hand knit hank in blue colour
    Made in Britain
    Glencroft
    Yarn & Fabric

    Clapdale Wool 100g DK Hand Knit - Mountain Blue

    £17.95 GBP
    £17.95 GBP
  • Clapdale Wool hand knit hank in mustard colour Close up of Clapdale Wool hand knit hank in mustard colour
    Made in Britain
    Glencroft
    Yarn & Fabric

    Clapdale Wool 100g DK Hand Knit - Mustard

    £17.95 GBP
    £17.95 GBP
  • Clapdale Wool hand knit hank in natural undyed cream colour Close up of Clapdale Wool hand knit hank in natural undyed cream colour
    Made in Britain
    Glencroft
    Yarn & Fabric

    Clapdale Wool 100g DK Hand Knit - Natural Undyed

    £17.95 GBP
    £17.95 GBP

The Future of Clapdale Wool

The first 500kg of Clapdale Wool was picked up from farms in September 2021. It took 6 months to process (read more about that below) and our first product – hand knit hanks – sold from May 2022 on our website and in local shops. We created our first limited edition jumper from this wool – The Thwaite – in May 2023.

In 2022 we expanded the project to 7 local farms and purchased 3 tonnes of wool with the help of British Wool, who picked it up and sorted it for us.

Half of this wool will be made into more mixed breed yarn in a range of colours for hand knitters and more limited edition jumpers.
The other half, made from the hardy Dalesbred sheep, will be woven into blankets and a tweed cloth.

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