Bermondsey Leather Trail

Bermondsey, in south London, was once the largest leather producing district in Britain. In this video, I walk around Bermondsey looking for traces of this former industry. The walk forms part of a project to tell the history of the leather trade in the United Kingdom. If you have any photos, documents, or memories that might be useful for that project, then please do get in touch in the comments below.

[simonolsen]

This was wonderful. Thank you Dr Ian Stone for these gems you produce. I'll count watching that as a quality investment of one hour of my life.

[ladyjusticesusan]

Wow this was amazing. Thank you for posting. I had no idea of this history. Loved every minute.

[matthewabbott]

Great video - to think that every town would have had a tannery at some point as well. As some comments have said, other centres such as Walsall (Saddlery) and Northampton (shoes) were also synonymous with leather (I'm originally from Northamptonshire and can trace the "leather" trade back over 100 years) but Bermondsey was the real heart.

[Gargoiling]

Thanks for posting this. I was thinking of doing a walk that way this afternoon. Now I've got a proper plan!

[nicolaimrie]

Loved this, thank you. My 3 x grea3t grandfather was a leather cap maker in Bermondsey. I've walked around the area but didn't catch all those sites. Will walk your route sometime soon.

[tommyxbones]

I used to live on Weston st. opposite Leathermarket st - I was aware of the history of the area, it's literally written everywhere in the street names & some pub names but I was surprised how extensive it was, going all the way down to the Grange & Neckinger - that was way bigger than I ever imagined.

[nickpatrick]

Really interesting. Many names of the from the origins of the leather industry were still around when I joined it in the late 1970's, some even today. It great to know just how important and how large the leather industry was in its heyday. The second largest industry in the UK!

[michaelredwood]

I think the evidence shows that the leather industry profits paid for Charles Booth’s social study of London and the big team he put together to help him with it. The leather industry had pretty steady and substantial profits in the USA and especially after they were feeding enormous volumes of Dongola leather into lightweight footwear needed in USA. The Booth CO history appears to confirm this but with “trade” and “manufacturing” seen by some of the family as a less worthy profession than owning ships we see very little mention of the Booth & Co leather business in even his wife’s writings.

[neilroberts]

I think you forgot about Walsall saddle makers
even the royals brought from walsall