Report - Moorlands Sheepskin & Leather Works, Glastonbury June 15

[Styru]

In 1870, twenty-three year old John Morland bought a tannery in Glastonbury, Somerset county, England. He chose this little town because he found the water to be of exceptional quality and purity – which is quite important for tanning.
In the following years, Morlands of Glastonbury became renowned for outstanding sheepskin products. In the beginning of the 20th century, Morlands manufactured coats, car mats, rugs, boots and slippers. During World War II, the production switched to jackets and boots for pilots of the Royal Air Force – both made out of sheepskin, of course.
In 1953, Sir Edmund Hillary decided to bring along a number of Morlands boots on his successful Mount Everest expedition.
Until the 1960s, Morlands of Glastonbury prospered and employed hundreds of workers on its 31 acres (130000 m2) premises. However, a decline in the sheepskin industry lead to the closure of the huge tannery in 1984. Afterwards, the manufacturing was moved to a smaller building.

The site is divided into two main buildings, this one was covered by Wellingtonian last year..

And you can see his report here:

http://www.28dayslater.co.uk/morlands-tannery-glastonbury-june-2014.t90445

And this one:

That myself and 'The Queen' took a look at last weekend.

Not a lot to see in the main part of the building - but work your way upwards, and there is evidence of their trade, and the wide range of 'big' names they produced goods for...

Indeed, head right to the top - and it becomes button and label nirvana:

Fibreboard cutting patterns, hand edged with brass strip, to prevent damage from the pattern cutters knife.

A nice little wander - and worth a look if you are passing - probably not road-trip material though .

One last pic - the original factory gates, hidden away in the basement....

 

[dweeb]

Great stuff, I love those glove patterns!

I actually have a coat made in that very place

 

[Miss Drippy]

Lovely pics

 

[Punk]

Great stuff It's got some lovely features

 

[clebby]

Superb report matey

 

[norfolkexplorer]

Nice work.

 

[Oxygen Thief]

Great report that is mate, thanks. The patterns and gates are nice finds.

 

[wellingtonian]

Nice one @Styru This building was properly locked down when I visited.
Have the local "residents " been helpful??

 

[Styru]

Nice one @Styru This building was properly locked down when I visited.
Have the local "residents " been helpful??

Yep, but the local homeless, as opposed to the metal fairies I'd say - only one - very small, reasonably well hidden guest entrance (and no gift-shop)

 

[Goldie87]

Very nice, I do like the look of that

 

[Styru]

A quick, sad, update on this one. The arson-faries visited last month, the building covered above was gutted, so all those things above, those wonderful patterns etc. are no more

News story here: http://www.centralsomersetgazette.c...y-going-fast/story-28121659-detail/story.html

 

[Lord Oort]

What a shame I really liked this place. Complete bunch of 's

 

[CreakyFloor]

I'm staying just across the road from here this evening.
Had a walk over and a very large gypsy camp outside the approach road.
Huge scrap yard behind the buildings, well according to Google maps it's there..
Will have a proper look tomorrow.