[4] Teeswater sheep have been bred in northern England for about two hundred years;[citation needed] the breed was rare by the 1920s[clarification needed], but has seen a renaissance since World War II.

[1] The Teeswater Sheep Breeders' Association was formed in 1949 with the aim to encourage and improve the breeding of Teeswater sheep; to maintain their purity and particularly to establish the supremacy of Teeswater rams for crossing with hill sheep of other breeds for the production of half-bred lambs.

The wool of the Teeswater should be fine, long-stapled with high lustre with each lock hanging free and with no tendency to felt.

The Teeswater produces a kemp free fleece, a characteristic it passes on.

[5] John Claudius Loudon's "An Encyclopaedia of Agriculture" of 1825 describes the breed as: The Teeswater sheep differ from the Lincolnshire in their wool not being so long and heavy; in standing upon higher, though finer boned legs, supporting a thicker, firmer and heavier carcase, much wider upon their backs and sides; and in affording a fatter and finer grained carcase of mutton...[6]