Attracting the largest crowd Borderway Mart in Carlisle has ever seen was the much-anticipated Bluefaced Leicester sale that consisted of the entire female portion of the renowned Carry House flock of Martyn Archer.

In post-sale comments, the sale was described by Harrison and Hetherington auctioneers as "the sale of the century", with records falling and the sale surpassing a total gross of £430,000 (€518,150).

Stealing the show and breaking the Bluefaced Leicester record was Carry House R043. This impressive one-crop Carry House Ranaldo daughter was sold carrying a single to Ballytober Hijack S1.

After fierce bidding, the hammer was dropped at a record-breaking 15,000gns (€18,979). The successful purchaser of the stand-out ewe was Andrew Hunter.

Following closely behind the record-breaking ewe was the Gilsland Show interbreed champion. She was also scanned in-lamb to Hijack. The prizewinning ewe went on to sell for an impressive 11,000gns (€13,917) to Muriel Forbes.

A packed ringside in Borderway Mart, Carlisle, for the Carry House flock sale. \ Wayne Hutchinson

The third lot to breach the 10,000gns mark was another one-crop ewe, this time sired by Farden Popeye and carrying triplets to Carry House Ranaldo.

On this occasion, it was Neil Marsden who was successful with his bid of 10,000gns (€12,650).

Having a spectacular sale from start to finish, Archer’s 125 Carry House lots sold for an impressive average of £3,472 (€4,184).

His 42 super stock ewes achieved an average of £3,837 (€4,622), his 29 impressive shearling ewes averaged £3,769 (€4,541) and the strong entry of 54 ewe lambs averaged £3,029 (€3,650).