The name comes the village of Patterdale in the Lake District where the breed was first developed by Joe Bowman, Master of the Ullswater Hunt (a combination of the previous Patterdale and Matterdale hunts, amalgamated in 1873). Joe was already a breeder of Border Terriers and familiar with the local Fell (also known as Lakeland) terriers. He combined the two breeds, using blue-black Border Terriers with Black and Tan Fell terriers to create his ideal ‘go anywhere, all purpose’ terrier.
Later, Joe’s work was continued by Cyril Breay and Frank Buck, all with the same objective, to produce a useful working terrier that could go to ground, hold off fox or badger until they could be dug to, not back down if attacked and kill smaller quarry such as rats. Due to the terrain hunted, these dogs also had to keep up with either horses or men on foot, across rough terrain that would have caused shorter legged terriers to struggle or need to be carried.
Bowman, Breay, and Bucks Patterdales all originally had wire coats, the smooth and broken coats being a much more modern addition to the type.
Today’s Patterdale may be smooth coated or broken coated, they may be shorter legged or broader headed than Bowman envisaged. They may in fact be crossbred with other terrier types, since function was always more important than pedigree to working terrier men.
The Patterdale is now found across the UK and also in the US, where they’re used to hunt groundhog, racoon, fox and nutria, and often can be found competing in Barn Hunt and Terrier Racing too.
The only Kennel Club to recognise Patterdales as a breed is the United Kennel Club in the US, where they were first listed in 1995.