Sheep farmer Pyrs Williams with his flock at Hafod-y-Llan.
Image: Grace Robertson/Picture Post/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
Named for Snowdon, the country’s highest peak, the Welsh region of Snowdonia is a land of open, mountainous terrain and glacially carved valleys.
With climate and soil unsuitable for most agriculture, the area has been a center for sheep farming for centuries.
In 1951, the same year that the Snowdonia region was designated as a national park, Picture Post photographer Grace Robertson documented shepherds as they gathered their flocks from the mountainsides for the late-summer shearing.
Pyrs Williams with some of the helpers on his farm.
Image: Grace Robertson/Picture Post/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
A shepherd with his flock at Hafod-y-Llan in Snowdonia.
Image: Grace Robertson/Picture Post/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
Image: Grace Robertson/Picture Post/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
A farmer and his dogs scale a peak in search of wayward sheep.
Image: Grace Robertson/Picture Post/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
Sheep are herded into slate-walled yards where they will be shorn, washed, and dipped.
Image: Grace Robertson/Picture Post/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
Image: Grace Robertson/Picture Post/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
Men shear sheep using traditional hand clippers, as mechanical clippers would cut their coats too short for the chilly local climate.
Image: Grace Robertson/Picture Post/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
Image: Grace Robertson/Picture Post/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
Image: Grace Robertson/Picture Post/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
Image: Grace Robertson/Picture Post/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
Image: Grace Robertson/Picture Post/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
Image: Grace Robertson/Picture Post/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
Image: Grace Robertson/Picture Post/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
Pyrs Williams rests with his dog.
Image: Grace Robertson/Picture Post/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
Freshly shorn sheep are dipped in a stream to wash.
Image: Grace Robertson/Picture Post/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
Image: Grace Robertson/Picture Post/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
A shearer pauses for a break.
Image: Grace Robertson/Picture Post/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
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