Hide and Skins
1. Tanners and Leatherworkers
Tanning has always been associated with stink and industrial 'pollution'. In medieval times the sites of such industries were often on the edges of burghs. Gallowgate in Aberdeen was an area for such production and it is possible that William Leys (1472) and William Bawne (1473) worked there. Archaeological evidence suggests that it was a centre for various leather working trades including tanning, fell-mongering (removal of hair from skin) and cobbling.
Four large late 14th century pits formed part of a tannery complex which would have fronted on to Gallowgate. The pits would have been used for soaking hides in urine and dung. Washing the hides polluted the loch and the common rivulets of the burgh, which the Council sought to restrict. There was also a lot of smell (in the Netherlands drains for these crafts men were called stinkerds) and general detritus.
Of other leatherworkers, only the work of beltmakers has been identified in the archaeological record, although saddlers and glovers must also have been active in medieval Aberdeen.
2. Cordiners and Cobblers
Cordiners or cordwainers, such as Gavin Vyschert (1585) and William Spence (1591) made shoes from new leather. The cordiners' craft appointed an officer to visit the flesh market on a twice weekly basis to inspect skins to see that they were acceptable for their purposes.
The large number of medieval shoes found at several sites in Aberdeen attest to the work of cordiners. Cordiners may also have been active in the Gallowgate area, although most of the shoe remains found there are distinctive of cobbling, or shoe repair, rather than of shoe manufacturing.
It seems from trade statutes that cobblers worked in the same booths as cordiners and were associated with particular cordiners. Thus, certain statutes specify fines for cordiners for giving out work to cobblers who were not in their booths. Later cobblers were allowed to have their own stalls but not to erect signs.
