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Up until the end of the eighteenth century, the sheep from the Scottish Islands were called the Scottish Dunface or Old Scottish Shortwool and were similar to the sheep kept up to the Iron Age. A variety of the Dunface lived on the St Kilda islands of Boreray and Hirta and were described as being: small, with short, coarse wool, and either 2 or sometimes 4 horns.

When the St Kilda archipelago's human inhabitants were evacuated along with the sheep of Hirta, in 1930, the sheep on Boreray were left to become feral. These sheep became some of the few surviving descendants of the Dunface.
In the 70s a small flock of 6 were exported to the mainland to begin to increase the population of the breed, but the majority of Borerays still remain on the island. Borerays are amongst the smallest sheep in the British Isles, with adult ewes weighing only 28 kg and standing at a height of only 55 cm. They have short tails and moult their fleeces naturally. Fleeces are rough in quality with the wool being best suited to the creation of tweeds or carpet yarns. The face, legs, and neck are often mottled. They are extremely flighty, most probably born from their feral instincts and so tend to stay close together as a flock.