Historic Leather Market & Exchange
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An Introduction by Charles Dickens Jr.: "Bermondsey Leather Market"
"This great leather, or rather hide market, lies inWeston-street, ten minutes’ walk from the Surrey side of London-bridge. The neighbourhood in which it stands is devoted entirely to thinners and tanners, and the air reeks with evil smells. The population is peculiar, and it is a sight at twelve o’clock to see the men pouring out from all the works. Their clothes are marked with many stains; their trousers are dis-coloured by tan; some have apron and gaiters of raw hide; an about them all seems to hang a scent of blood. The market itself stands in the centre of a quiet block of buildings on the left hand side of Weston-street, the entry being through a gateway. Through this a hundred yards down, a square is reached. Most of it is roofed, but there is an open space lathe centre. Under the roofing are huge piles of fresh hides and sheep-skins. There is no noise or bustle, and but few people about. There are no retail purchasers, the sales being almost entirely made to the great tanners in the neighbourhood. The warehouses round are all full of tanned hides; the yards behind the high walls are all tanneries, with their tens of thousands of hides soaking in the pits. Any visitor going down to look at the Bermondsey hide-market should, if possible, procure beforehand an order to visit one of the great tanning establishments. Unless this be done the visit to the market itself will hardly repay the trouble of the journey, or make up for the unpleasantness of the compound of horrible smells which pervade the whole neighbourhood. NEAREST Railway Station, London-bridge; Omnibus Routes, Tooley-street, Borough High-street, Gt. Dover-street; Cab Rank, Bermondsey-square." -- Charles Dickens (Jr.), Dickens's Dictionary of London, 1879
From London to Bermondsey
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A Grade II listed Victorian building, the Leather Market was the hub of leather trade in Bermondsey during the 19th century. Tanning was banned by the City of London due to the abhorrent smells generated by the tannery industry involving dog faeces to soften the skins. Subsequently, the tanning industry moved south to Bermondsey outside the jurisdiction of the City of London.
The Leather and Skin Market opened in 1833 in Weston Street by a group of local tanners and leather dressers. After moving from Leadenhall Market to Bermondsey, the Leather Market initially traded just the skins (untreated pelts from sheep and calves) with hides from horses and oxen utilized in the production of heavy-duty leather still bought and cold at Leadenhall. However, these procedures also moved to Bermondsey as the months elapsed.
Home of the Skin Salesmen
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The skin market within the area was a rectangular-sized space, designed so that carts could transport and unload the skins into the marketplace. Within the space, up to 50 different skin salesmen were present, selling their goods to buyers who would use the skin to produce leather, wool or parchment.
Some time later in 1878 a new building was erected alongside the market, inscripted with with the words ‘The London Leather, Hide and Wool Exchange’. The new building included a pub where plenty of business was likely conducted. There is a pub that still exists there today, called the Leather Exchange. The building was made during the era of architectural sculpture, which explains its spectacular stone reliefs that demonstrate the processes of individuals turning raw skins into processed leather.
The Demise of the Tanning Industry
Unfortunately, Bermondsey’s tanning industry peaked in the mid-to-late 19th century. The arrival of the 20th century saw radical changes in the production of leather and other hubs grew in the north of England where rents and labour costs were lower.
Subsequently, although Bermondsey remained a hive of leather activity, it was more as a wholesale centre for processed leather and manufactured leather goods transported from areas such as Leeds and Liverpool. The development of leather manufacturing hubs in the north of England, coupled with the growth of the motor vehicle industry – and natural decline in the need for horses and saddlery – further affected Bermondsey’s leather industry.
Bermondsey’s infrastructure was not helped after it was bombed heavily throughout the World War II, resulting in the destruction or damage of many of its bustling tanneries.
The final nail in the coffin came in the 1960s, when increasing numbers of goods once manufactured using leather were then made from cheaper, man-made synthetics.
The last working tannery in the region closed in 1997, with S.O. Rowe & Son PLC of Tanner Street bringing down the curtain on a hugely influential industry for the area.
Sources
https://www.workspace.co.uk/content-hub/london-life/the-history-of-the-leather-market-in-london
https://www.victorianlondon.org/markets/dickens-bermondsey.htm