Report - Morlands Tannery, Glastonbury. June 2014

[wellingtonian]

Morlands Tannery, Glastonbury​

My daughter was responsible for spotting this one, while out and about with her mates, so seemed only fair that I took her along to have a closer look.

A little history;

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.

Exterior

This is one of two remaining buildings left on what would have been a big site in its day. Second building is well sealed.

Found our access to this one without too much trouble, but had to scamper in quickly as we were overlooked by a group of pikey caravans on the nearby waste ground.

The building in General is in a pretty shonky condition, with structural scaffolding and wall braces holding parts of the place up.

The internal courtyard

Despite this, the roof seemed fairly good and the interior is, for the most parts, pretty dry.

We found a few things of interest.

Some machinery

Stripped out switchgear

Lots of paperwork

And general derpyness

And finally, Georgia the explorer

Should mention that the ground floor area near the pikey camp is being used for storage of various tools, fuel cans etc.

Nothing too outstanding, but we spent an enjoyable hour mooching around on a lovely evening.

Cheers for looking

 

[host]

Shame it's so stripped, a couple of nice bits though. i bet it was amazing a few years ago.

 

[Miss Drippy]

I think I've passed this on my way to Street village; nice explore.

 

[dweeb]

I bet there is some stuff to find with some raking in that place, looks like "one of those places"

Great report.

 

[wellingtonian]

I think I've passed this on my way to Street village; nice explore.

Yep, that's the one.

 

[wellingtonian]

I bet there is some stuff to find with some raking in that place, looks like "one of those places"

Great report.

Yes dweeb, it defo needs picking over with a future explore. Only just scratched the surface really. Cheers.

 

[Will Knot]

Looks mint that mate, nice report, thanks for sharin'

 

[rigsby]

It use to be massive when I was a kid! not much left now.

 

[wellingtonian]

It use to be massive when I was a kid! not much left now.

Yes mate, assuming all the wasteland surrounding the remaining buildings were once factory buildings, it must have been immense. Pikeys / travellers seem to have moved in big style currently.