A tannery is where animal skins are cured into useable leather. The process was not a pleasant smelling one and tanneries were seldom located near population centers.

The tannery at St Fagans started life at Rhaedar in Powys and was built in the C18th. It used Oak bark to produce heavy leather goods for Saddles and shoes or the like. Although it is quite a recent building (It cured its last hides in the 50s), the buildings would have changed little over the centuries.

The courtyard of the building is covered with the pits in which the hides would be soaked in as part of the process. Wooden covers were placed over the pits when not being attended to.

The small room on the right (smaller still in my model) was where the hides were removed of their hair. The large first floor room with the woodern slatted sides is where the hides would be hung up to dry, the slats alowing air flow for the leather. The small stream behind provided fresh water for the process and power via a water wheel (and yes I do know that in the photo my wheel isnt actually in the water :) ).

This is the first model I have made as a direct interpritation of an existing building. The scale isn't totally exact as I had to use a bit of selective compression to stop it becoming too big - bigger than some of my castles.