The leather workshop

Cobblers and cordwainers
Anmod Dracan re-enactor John Watson had his stall next to the wood turner. John is a skilled leather worker and was at Roxburgh to demonstrate his techniques and display his wares.

'Most of the leather work that I do is making shoes,' says John. 'But I also make other things as well, like belts and purses. Originally you would have had different tradesmen making the different items. For example, somebody who made shoes was called a cordwainer and somebody who repaired shoes was called a cobbler.'

Butcher's leather
Leather would have been obtained from a butcher and then prepared by a tanner before the leather worker came into the picture. Buying your shoes wouldn't necessarily have been a financial transaction in the economy of the time, as John explains: 'You wouldn't need to have cash to buy your shoes in lots of cases. People could easily have bartered for the things they wanted. Like items or skills.'

Fashion of the day
So what was the fashion of the day? 'People would have needed practical shoes for working in,' says John, 'But some people didn't go in for the normal "turn" shoes. If you really had an eye for fashion you would probably have worn poulaines (very pointy shoes), which were completely impractical but showed everybody that you probably didn't have to work for a living.'

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