The Fascinating Leather, Hide And Wool Exchange Roundels

In Bermondsey, once a very industrial area of London, you will find the old Leather, Hide and Wool Exchange building. 

Look closer and you will see, around the frontage, five decorative roundels relating to the history of the building and the industry that dominated this area for hundreds of years.

Bermondsey

In the medieval period, the tanning of leather was banned within the city walls, due to the noxious smells it produced. Bermondsey, therefore, situated just South of the river, with its ready availability of water and grazing land became a hub of leather production.

It became known as the ‘land of leather’ and by the late 1700s a third of all leather in the country came from Bermondsey.

Rather disgustingly, one key ingredient of the tanning process was dog faeces. This would have to be scraped up from the streets of London and collected by unfortunate workers known as ‘pure finders’. The faeces, or ‘pure’, was used along with urine to purify and soften the hides, so you can only imagine the unholy stench. Dickens said on one of his visits to Bermondsey that the ‘air reeks with evil smells’. 

The Leather, Hide and Wool Exchange

In 1833, not just the production, but the sale of leather/skins took place here with the opening of the Leather and Skin Market. 50 skin merchants sold their good here to those that made leather goods. This had previously generally taken place inside Leadenhall Market in the City.

In 1878, the Leather, Hide and Wool Exchange building opened next door, as a trading centre, on Leathermarket Street. ‘Hide’ was the word used for cow skin and ‘leather’ for other animals in this period. 

The building, designed by George Elkington, was described as an ‘ornament to the district’. In true Victorian style the building was functional but also made a statement with its design. The entrance includes these amazing Atlas-like figures, or ‘Atlants’.

Due to London’s growth, in the early 1900s, the leather industry increasingly moved to the North of England and the Exchange shut in 1912. By the 1980s the leather industry and trade had moved out of the area completely. 

Today the building is offices and part of it has been converted into a pub: The Leather Exchange.

The Roundels

Back to those roundels! The five roundels around the outside depict various stages in the leather production process. 

The first depicts ‘fellmongering’. This was the most unpleasant part of the process, which involved scraping the flesh and hair from the skins.

The next step was tanning the hides. Below you can see two workers turning the skins in the tanning pit.

The skins are then flattened and hung up to dry….

… before being rolled and stored.

The final roundel here depicts a prospective buyer inspecting the goods.

So, next time you are in Bermondsey, why not go and check them out.

Thank you for reading! More of London’s little historical details below…