‘Emmsmoor’
The Alphington name has been protected by the ‘Rough Collie Breed Council’ since the early 1990s, before that it had been owned and used by two generations of the Newbery family, who had been enthusiastic supporters of the West Country canine scene.
Alphington Collies first came to prominence in
the late 1920s with the blue merle
dog
Alphington Blue Jester, half brother to
Ch Laund Lindrum, bred by Mr C. F. Pyle,
‘Glenack’, and the kennel remained active until
the mid 1960s.
Despite their early association with blue merles
Alphington will always be remembered
for their
sable and whites, including such famous dogs as
Alphington Safeguard, Diamond
King,
Aristocrat, and Achievement, the latter gaining
his title in 1938, all of which
traced back to their
first champion Alphington Merrymaid who,
starting out in life
as Seedley Snack, came, like all
Alphington’s early stock, from a combination of
Seedley and Ashtead breeding.
Wealthy landowners and farmers based in the Alphington area, west of Exeter, Devon,
the Newbery family brought an experienced stockman’s eye to the art of Collie breeding,
quickly acquiring a reputation for sound stock without exaggeration. Alphington’s
comparative isolated location and the Newbery family’s farming connections during
the second world-
The general soundness of a line which had maintained its purity over almost three decades explaining why Alphington Collies were the frequent choice of the more experienced breeder and repeatedly found behind the winning Collies of the late 1940s and early 1950s.
Alphington Sweet Lady
Typical Alphington bitch from the 1940s, this one owned by Miss de Belle-
whelping
Mr Alf Newbery Senior handling Alphington Blue Jester
the first Alphington Collie to gain a Stud Book number, and one of the few blue merle to carry the Alphington affix
Ch Alphington Nigger King
A war-
