Tanning



In medieval Chester the main industry was leather. There were skinners, tanners, glovers, shoemakers and saddlers in profusion. Local landmarks include "Shoemakers Row" and the "Gloverstone". As well as leather from dairy farming pelts and skins were imported on a huge scale. Both tanned and raw hides were sent from Ireland to Chester, together with tallow used in waterproofing, but skins were considerably more numerous. In 1525-6, for example, Chester received some 2,200 hides, over 13,000 lambskins, 10,200 sheepskins, 2,300 badger pelts, 1,100 calfskins, 640 marten and otter skins, 300 fox skins, 90 goatskins, and 50 hart skins. Alum and oil, used by Glovers and Tawyers to prepare light leathers, also came from Ireland. Prices for skins in the luxury market rose fast between 1500 and 1550, marten tripling in price and otter quadrupling, and Irish skins were sold in London after preparation in Chester. In 1536 Chester was brought into the national customs system for leather and in 1537-8 customs duties were paid on 10,681 tanned hides in five Spanish and five Chester ships. Figures for later years ranged from 700 to 1,600 hides, with Spanish merchants exporting the larger share. The privileges of the various trades and their asssociated guilds were jealously guarded (see: "Charters") - in 1433, the Mayor and Sheriffs of Chester were ordered to find and punish all ‘foreigners’ who used the trade of skinner and shoemaker within the liberties of Chester.

Hemingway (11831) writes:


 * "From the earliest era of which we have any records it is clear that one of our principal local manufactures was that of dressing the skins and hides of animals. Thus in the translation of a transcript I have given out of the greater Doomsday book vide vol ip 125 marten's skins were known as an article of consequence in the time of Edward the Confessor. A great portion of our early imports consisted of large quantities of kid and lamb skins from Leghorn and other parts of Italy which were dressed here and then manufactured into gloves. The dressing of sheep and calf skins also formed a large branch of manufacture. Such indeed may be considered the staple of the place and gave rise to that immense pile of warehouses and work shops on the borders of the river known by the name of Skinner's street. In this description however must also be included the tanning trade which was carried on here to a great extent and which seems to have had its seat principally on the north side of Foregate sreet. Horn lane now called Steammill street is said with great probability to derive its name from the number of the horms of beasts which were there piled together and formed a kind of fence or boundary on each side of the road. It may also be noticed that in digging foundations for houses on the opening of Seller street a great number of tan pits were discovered. Both these branches of manufacture have greatly declined particularly the former there is now no direct importation of the Italian leather and the dressing of it as well as the glove trade have chiefly migrated to Worcestershire. The remains of the skinning trade are now in the hands of Messrs W and T Topham and Messrs Rogers and Pover and the whole of the workshops and warehouses principally occupied in the branch have been pulled down the site of which is to be encircled by the city walls in order to enlarge the precincts of the castle. The tanning trade though much reduced is still carried on to a considerable extent."

Divisions of trade in the leather industry were fine and complex. The English term Cordwainer, meaning shoemaker, first appeared around 1100. By the late 13th century a distinction grew in England between Cordwainers, who used only alum 'tawed' cordwain, and the other shoemakers who worked with the inferior 'tanned' hides. Cordwainer worked only with new leather, whereas a Cobbler worked with old. Cobblers have always been repairers, frequently prohibited by law from actually making shoes. Some even going as far as collecting worn out footwear, cutting it apart, and remanufacturing cheap shoes entirely form salvaged leather - hence the term "cobbled together" for somerhing made of diverse parts in a possibly rough and ready manner.



Tanning and leather working were important enough to be among the earliest crafts to develop guilds. Although the shoemakers emerged victorious from the dispute of the 1360s, and thereafter some of their number were engaged in tanning, the tanners remained active and apparently congregated in and around Barkers Lane (later Union Street), close to the company altar in St Johns church. Hides were imported from Ireland, or supplied by the city's butchers and other local traders. The cobblers, always among the largest and humblest occupational groups, had a Row in Bridge Street, but were also scattered throughout the city. the saddlers, who in the 14th century also had a Row in Bridge Street, may well have had a further base in Eastgate Street and beyond the walls, near the tanners. Never as numerous as the cobblers, they were apparently richer and occasionally held civic office. Other leather workers included a few parchment makers, also perhaps based outside the Eastgate, and glovers, mainly in Lower Bridge Street. The status of the latter and the importance of their trade apparently increased in the late 15th century, when three became sheriff and one mayor. By then, although Bridge Street apparently remained the focus of manufacture, retailing may have been in Eastgate Street, where Glovers' Row was recorded in 1426. Skinners, who were particularly prominent in civic life in the mid 15th century, declined in numbers thereafter. They traded especially in squirrel, although rabbit, fox, and beaver were also known.

History of Leathermaking


The English word for tanning is from medieval Latin "tannāre", derivative of "tannum" (oak bark), from French tan (tanbark), from old-Cornish tann (red oak). While an animal is alive, its skin is soft, flexible, very tough and hard wearing and essentially semipermeable: meaning that although water vapour can travel out, it is not able to penetrate and come in. This changes when the animal dies. If the skin is then kept moist it deteriorates by rotting, and if it is dried it goes hard and brittle. Tanning converts the protein (collagen) of the raw hide into a stable material, which will not putrefy and is suitable for a wide variety of purposes. Tanning materials form cross links in the collagen structure and stabilise it against the effects of acids, alkalis, heat, water and the action of micro-organisms.

Historically, this process was considered a noxious or "odoriferous trade" and relegated to the outskirts of towns or even to sub-classes of society. Throughout the early Middle Ages, in countries under Muslim rule (such as Spain), tanning and leather craft remained in Jewish hands because of the low status of the profession. The famous Cordoba leather was exported to North Africa and Europe, including to Chester. The Moors in Cordoba specialised in two trades, the silversmiths and the production of cordovan leather, called 'cordwain' in England. Originally made from the skin of the Mouflon sheep, found in Corsica and Sardinia, this leather was tawed with alum, tanned with sumac and finished with oils to produce leather of unequalled quality. The method was supposedly known only to the Moors. English Crusaders brought home much plunder and loot, including the finest leather the English shoemakers had ever seen. Gradually cordovan leather became the material most in demand for the finest footwear in all of Europe.



Skins typically arrived at the tannery dried stiff and dirty with soil and gore. First, the ancient tanners would soak the skins in water to clean and soften them. Then they would pound and scour the skin to remove any remaining flesh and fat. Next, the tanner needed to remove the hair from the skin. This was done by either soaking the skin in urine, painting it with an alkaline lime mixture, or simply allowing the skin to putrefy for several months then dipping it in a salt solution. After the hairs were loosened, the tanners scraped them off with a knife. Once the hair was removed, the tanners would "bate" (soften) the material by pounding dung into the skin, or soaking the skin in, for example, a solution of animal brains. Bating was a fermentative process which relied on enzymes produced by bacteria found in the dung. Among the kinds of dung commonly used were those of dogs or pigeons. Between the mid-sixteenth and the mid-seventeenth centuries one-fifth of the annual new admissions to the freedom of the city of Chester were leather workers, although later in the seventeenth century the proportion declined. The profits were unequally distributed, while the merchants of Chester exported large quantities of dressed calf skins from the port under licence, they claimed (in the Rolls of the Freemen) that "the countrey adjoyneinge [did not afford] anie other commodities transportable." Glovers at Chester in the late sixteenth century could afford to buy leather only in small quantities, "never more than 2os. together at one time," and could not expect to make more than four shillings profit a week.

Exports from Chester to the continent were dominated by tanned calfskins. This trade was regulated under a licence granted by Elizabeth to the Chester merchants in 1584. This licence, which allowed the merchants to export 10,000 dickers (sets of ten skins: from decuria, the Latin word for a bundle of ten hides) of tanned calfskins within twelve years, was intended to relieve the Chester merchants who had suffered heavy losses through piracy and shipwreck during the 1570s. The licence was slightly altered in 1586 and then renewed in 1598, 1605 and 1629, thus continuing the privilege down to the Civil War. The value of this licence became immediately obvious in the years after 1584; before 1584 a type of woollen cloth known as Manchester cottons had been Chester's principal export to the continent, but thereafter tanned calfskins dominated this trade.

Economic factors contributed to the decline of the leather industries in Chester. The Chester tanners attempted to take political action to defend their interests in the early 18th Century, when new duties were imposed on tanned and untanned skins and the export of oak bark to Ireland (where a rival leather industry was growing, and iron-founders had reduced the supply of local oak bark by deforestation) was depriving the Chester tanners of this important raw-material. In effect, the Chester tanners were struggling against the gonvernments need for revenue and against the economic interests of Irish tanners, the oak bark exporters and British curriers and shoemakers. The Chester tanners had the support of their MP, Peter Shakerley, but all their petitions were rejected and the trade continued to decline.

"Chrome tanning" became attractive after the 1860's - this was the first major change in the tanning process for over 2000 years. The first steps towards this new process were made by Frederick Knapp of Braunschweig, Germany. His UK patent 2,716 (1861), through John H. Johnson, covered iron, chrome, manganese, and other metallic salts in combination with fatty acids to form insoluble metallic soaps, so that the iron in the pelt might not be washed out. It is effective on skins which will be used for softer, stretchier leathers, such as those found in purses, bags, briefcases, shoes, gloves, boots, jackets, pants, and sandals. Hides which are tanned with minerals are pickled first in an acid and salt mixture. From there, hides are soaked into a chromium-sulfate solution. This process is much faster than vegetable tanning/ The rise of chrome tanning coincided with the clearance of much of the ancient oak forests of Cheshire, which had been the principal source of oak bark used in tanning.

Bark and Bark Mills


Oak bark was the prefferred source of "tannin": a general term which includes a range of materials. The tannin compounds are widely distributed in many species of plants (including gallnuts, sumac, witch hazel, tea leaves, oak bark), where there is some evidence that they play a role in protection from predation (including as pesticides) and might also help in regulating plant growth. Tannins may also have an "antifreeze" effect within the plant. Despite their use for centuries in tanning processes, individual molecules such as Ellagic acid, gallic acid, and pyrogallic acid were first described in detail by chemist Henri Braconnot in 1831. It is the tannins that make acorns and sloes incredibly bitter and unpleasant to eat. The bitter, astringent taste of tannins can discourage browsing by herbivorous animals. In the case of Delamere Forest, once a royal hunting forest, this would have included damage to trees by deer. This was especially true of the English (Pedunculate) Oak, which has a higher tannin content than the White (Sessile) Oak, and deer will preferentially eat the latter. Hence in Delamere Forest the higher tannin English Oak predominates despite the local condition (sand and gravels) being such that Sessile Oak would be expected.

All barks are best collected in the spring when the sap starts to rise in the trees, the leaves are just coming out and the bark will peel easily.

Guilds and Companies

 * Skinners: Stewards of the Skinner’s Company are named in a Pentice Court roll for 1448-49 and the Company is amongst those listed in a Mayor’s book for 1475-76. In 1483, Edward, Prince of Wales, ordered that no skinner or shoemaker was to practice that trade in Chester without licence of the company on pain of £10. In 1608, there were 36 masters in the Company. The skinners mainly pursued their trade in the south part of the City, near the river. Skinner Lane was closed in the early 19th century because of the re-building of Chester Castle. In 1835, there were only two members of the company, but it had revived by 1863, when new rules and regulations were issued.


 * Wet and Dry Glovers: Wet glovers produced their gloves in leather; dry glovers used other materials, such as cloth. Glovers are recorded in Chester from 1380 and stewards of their company are named in a Pentice Court roll in 1445. They are amongst the companies listed in a Mayor’s book for 1475-76 and in the 16th century joined the parchment makers, to produce the play ‘The Raising of Lazarus from Death to Life’ in the Chester cycle of Mystery Plays. In October 1562, when one of their members, John Harvey, was elected a Sherriff of Chester, they were involved in a serious dispute; some of the company were summoned to Ludlow to appear before the Council in the Marches of Wales. Glove making was for long said to have been on of Chester’s staple industries and survived the destruction of all the glovers houses under the walls of the City in the siege during the Civil War. The Company had its own meeting house by the City walls at the east end of Duke Street. By 1835 it had 22 members.




 * Tanners: The tanners probably existed as an organised body in 1361, when they offered the Black Prince twenty marks (£13 6s 8d) and a perpetual annual payment of 6s 8d for letters patent forbidding others to meddle with this craft. This Charter, granted in 1362, was rescinded in 1370. In the list of companies in a Mayor’s book for 1475-76 they appear under the alternative name of "Barkers", because oak bark was used in the tanning process (c.f. Union Street: once "Barker's Lane"). By the later 16th century, they had established their position as the company producing the first on the cycle of Mystery Plays, ‘The Falling of Lucifer’. Despite this privileged position, the Tanners appear not to have received a new charter of incorporation. In the early 18th century, they corresponded with Chester’s members of parliament over the tax on leather and the export of oak bark to Ireland. In 1835, the Company comprised 10 members and met annually in an inn.


 * Saddlers and Curriers: Saddlers are recorded in Chester from 1392-93. In 1472, their company was given a monopoly by Edward IV to last for 40 years. In the 16th century cycle of Mystery Plays, the Saddlers produced ‘The Castle of Emmaus and the Apostles’. In 1639, the company was granted another charter, on this occasion by the City. The saddlers amalgamated with the curriers, who were leather dressers. The Company was one of the three responsible for presenting prizes for the Shrove Tuesday races held on the Roodee after 1540. During the 16th and 17th centuries, they fought to protect their craft against the shoemakers and the cutlers. Their dispute with the latter was over the sale of spurs. The Saddlers originally had their own meeting place, the Saddler’s Tower on the city walls at the east end of Abbey Street. It was demolished in 1774. By 1835, in spite of the continuing demand for their products, the Company had only 5 members.


 * Cordwainers: As early as 1356, one of the Chester rows was known as ‘le Corvyserrow’. It was not surprising that the title of Cordwainer was selected by the shoemakers themselves. The first English guild of shoemakers to call themselves Cordwainers was founded at Oxford in 1131. It was also the choice of the London shoemakers, who organized a guild before 1160, and also the Worshipful Company of Cordwainers likewise used this title in 1272. It seems that whenever shoemakers have organized, they have shown a clear preference for the title Cordwainer, conscious of the distinguished history and tradition it conveyed: originally there was a distinction between Cordwainers, who used only alum 'tawed' cordwain, and the other shoemakers who worked with the inferior 'tanned' hides - this later dissappeared. The earliest surviving charter granted to a Chester company was granted to the shoemakers by Edward, the Black Prince, in 1370, reversing a decision made eight years earlier which forbade them to meddle in the tanner’s trade. For a brief period in the 15th century, the Cordwainers and Shoemakers were amalgamated with the Skinners. In the 16th century cycle of Mystery Plays, the Shoemakers produced the ‘The Coming of Christ to Jerusalem’. In 1550, the expenses of their play included 19d for riding the banns; 2s 8d for a dozen boards for the carriage; and 22d for 2 ½ yards of flaxen cloth for Mary Magdalene’s coat. Together with the drapers and the saddlers, the shoemakers were responsible for providing prizes at the Shrove Tuesday races. In 1835 the Company was said to have once owned a meeting house in a rock near St John’s Church, now the Hermitage. It was then still quite large with about 30 members.

Vegetable Tanning
This was the traditional process, and comprised the following steps:


 * Skinning: The tanning process begins with obtaining an animal skin. When an animal skin is to be tanned, the animal is killed and flayed before the body heat leaves the tissues. Useful by-products at this stage are hooves and horns. This can be done by the Tanner, or by obtaining a skin at a slaughterhouse, farm, or local fur trader. Skinners might also deal in hides which are not intended for tanning, but will be preserved by processes such as "tawing". Tawing is a method that uses alum and aluminium salts, generally in conjunction with other products such as egg yolk, flour, and other salts. The leather becomes tawed by soaking in a warm potash alum and salts solution, between 20 and 30 °C. The process increases the leather's pliability, stretchability, softness, and quality. Adding egg yolk and flour to the standard soaking solution further enhances its fine handling characteristics. Then, the leather is air dried (crusted) for several weeks, which allows it to stabilize. Tawing is traditionally used on pigskins and goatskins to create the whitest colors. However, exposure and aging may cause slight yellowing over time and, if it remains in a wet condition, tawed leather will suffer from decay. Technically, tawing is not tanning. Depending on the finish desired, the hide may be waxed, rolled, lubricated, treated with oil, split, shaved and dyed.


 * Curing: This is salting for preservation, done quickly to prevent putrefaction of the hides from bacterial action. Obviously Chester had good nearby sources of salt.


 * Soaking: In soaking, the hides are soaked in clean water to remove the salt left over from curing and increase the moisture so that the hide or skin can be further treated.


 * Liming: After soaking, the hides and skins are taken for liming: treatment with milk of lime (a basic agent)


 * Unhairing/Scudding:


 * Deliming and Bating:


 * Pickling:


 * Tanning:



Tannery Sites
As noted above, the leather tanning industry was malodorous, and tanners were active in the poorer areas of the city. Perhaps not by co-incidence these poorer area's became in several cases associated with religious minorities - possibly due to alienation from the mainstream church. OS maps from 1874/5 identify tanneries at the following locations:


 * Flookersbrook: A cattle market was long established at "The Ermine" (a name associated with the skinning trade) on the boundary of the City liberties. A tannery existed on the site of what is now Halkyn Road.


 * Brook Street: A tannery existed on the western side of this street, which led to the George Street cattle market.


 * Queen Street: was the site of a City-center tannery.


 * Union Street: formerly "Barker's Lane" was known for tanning and nearby was found "Tanyard Court".


 * Handbridge: a "Skin Yard" existed in Fopham's Lane (later Mill Lane), which led to the Dee Mill's on the south side of the River Dee.

Nowadays (2019) it is generally accepted that the tanning industry poses many dangers to both the environment and those that work within it. The primary environmental threat involves the dumping of solid and liquid waste that contains leftover chromium and other hazardous compounds. This is commonplace in regions without strong environmental/workforce protection standards, which also happen to be the primary regions where leather is tanned, such as China, India, and Bangladesh. Work within the tannery itself is still fraught with dangers — often the result of inadequate or non-existent worker protections. These includes slips and falls on improperly drained floors; exposure to lime, tanning liquor, acids, bases, solvents, disinfectants, and other noxious chemicals; injury from heavy machinery or flaying knives; drowning, being boiled alive, or buried in lime, which all remain terrifyingly real hazards.

Sources and Links

 * The Leather Crafts in Tudor and Stuart England;
 * The Politics of the People in Eighteenth-Century Britain;
 * The Post-Medieval Period Resource Assessment;
 * A Landscape Interpretation of Delamere Forest;
 * The Tanning Industry of Medieval Britain;
 * English Medieval Industries: Craftsmen, Techniques, Products;
 * Best Available Techniques (BAT) Reference Document for the Tanning of Hides and Skins;