It was created in the early nineteenth century by Édouard Malingié [fr], by cross-breeding of Romney stock imported from the United Kingdom with local breeds including the Berrichon du Cher, Merino, Solognote [fr] and Tourangelle.

[4]: 781 [6]: 249  Romney rams imported from Kent in the United Kingdom were cross-bred with ewes of local breeds including the Berrichon du Cher, Merino, Solognote [fr] and Tourangelle, in the hope of combining the meat qualities of the former with the rusticity of the latter.

In 1896 a breed society was established; in 1926 this was re-formed, and in 1927 the first volume of the flock-book was published.

Numbers increased further in the twentieth century, reaching a peak of approximately 650000 head in the 1960s.

[4]: 781  These were widely distributed in south-west central France, in an area bounded roughly by the rivers Garonne to the south-west and Loire to the north and east, and concentrated particularly in the départements of Haute-Vienne and Vienne in the centre of that area.