Our President Graham Ryves-Webb recommends the writings of Barclay Wills to all Southdown enthusiasts. ‘Shepherds of Sussex’ is a most interesting read, possibly long out-of-print, but worth pursuing from the local library.

The excerpt below is taken from the flysheet of a very old and precious copy:

“This is undoubtedly a most fascinating subject, and I have nothing but admiration for Mr. Wills’s amazing industry. A clear portrait emerges of the old shepherd, brusque in manner, but kindly at heart, who deplores the advent of the new age with its machines and speed and pines for the ‘good old days’ and the leisurely pursuit of his age-old calling.

Thus writes our literary adviser after reading the manuscript of Shepherds of Sussex, and we feel that such an authorative, careful and accurate study of Sussex shepherds will undoubtedly take an honoured place in the already bountiful supply of literature on Sussex. Mr Wills has compiled this valuable record over a number of years, and has spent much time in interviewing famous shepherds in order to obtain first-hand knowledge of this ancient craft.

Not only does he give much valuable information about the shepherds themselves, but he also describes and outlines the uses of the various accessories connected with the shepherd’s work. He discourses of dewponds and their uses to the shepherd; of shepherds on the marshes around Rye, and the difference in the methods of sheep tending in these parts in comparison to the more familiar downs.

A remarkable fund of anecdote, amusingly written in intelligible dialect, enlivens the narrative, and makes the reader feel at one with these grand old men who pursue a calling now fast dying out. So thoroughly has Mr Wills completed his task that the publishers confidently commend Shepherds of Sussex to all lovers of Sussex, believing that it will be enjoyed alike by the general reader and the earnest student of Sussex lore, who will find in it fresh sources for study as a result of the author’s painstaking researches”