so what's the deal with Walsall?

KarinUS

KarinUS

Well-Known Member
May 20, 2001
13,004
31
48
52
Texas
users.wireweb.net
so how come all saddle companies are located in Walsall? Is it a town or a county?
My new potential is a Frank Baines (never heard of them but their website sounds like they know what they are doing) and they are in Walsall too.
Seems like there is no UK saddle company that's NOT in Walsall?!
 
It's a shite hole of a town in the west midlands. Just north of Birmingham. I worked there for years & hated it so much. It's rough as!!! As for why saddles are made there, I don't know. Its main shopping centre is called the saddlers and it has statue things of saddles. Most towns or areas in England are known for something. Ie where I last worked, Stoke on Trent (30 mins north of walsall at the top of the midlands) and it's called the Potteries as all it's industry used to be making pottery. They made a lot of those vulgar old fashioned plates ie Wedgwood that nans tend to like :D but I think are sought after world wide.
Other parts are known for mining, or all sorts of things.
A smaller town within Walsall, on wolverhamptons boundaries, called Willenhall is famous for lock making. They have a mini museum & even today you can go all over the country and still find licks that say 'made in Willenhall' in them.
Saddlery was just what Walsalls industry was (& partly still is).
Glad to say I have just moved to Stafford workwise as these industry towns are dire!
 
Last edited:
We live about 20 miles away and had to venture there to look at a potential car a few weeks ago. I had idealised it as some magical place where all the saddles are made and was so disappointed. As others have said it is a rough old :poop:-hole and I felt really insecure there. Completely popped THAT balloon of expectation :redcarded: AND I didn't see any famous names *pouts*... just a few road names with leather connections.....

And no... we didn't buy the car... that was :poop: too!!! :frown:
 
I used to work For Frankie Baines!

NOrthampton is the centre for everything leather and shoes, Walsall is the centre for everything saddlery, lorinry and buckles and all manner of horse tack bits and bobs......or used to be untill INdia and China came to the fore.

I don't think it's such a bad place, people wise, most Black Country folk are rough but very nice folk. I would feel more secure in Walsall that Brum.
 
Not read all the article there Poohsmate, as the laptop is being rubbish.

Could it be that Walsall became the centre of the saddlery world due to the tanneries being in that part of the world, maybe the tanneries being there due to the best water being there = best tanning?

LOL at the descriptions of Walsall and surrounding areas! :giggle: I stayed up in that part of the world once. Got stuck in some blasted one-way system in the car, went round and round and round, like sodding 'Groundhog Day' but more scary!
 
I don't know the history but there are so many areas in the UK that have their specialisms - Sheffield silver, Stoke on Trent potteries. I guess that developing skills and technology meant that having a concentration of industry, in the days before mass transport, was advantageous.

Walsall is not the nicest place in the world and it is an eye opener as so many of the companies are based in red brick Victorian workshops. It is like going back to the dark ages, so many of the small workshops are not computerised - they make beautiful saddles (well, certainly the workshop we uses does) but they're not the most "advanced" of businesses! They are craftsmen, not businesses as we think of them.

In the building where our saddles are made is one other saddle maker plus a chap who imports leather, nail heads and other saddle and harness components - last time I was there he had the cantle components for military saddles, the bits that are covered with sheepskin seats, very interesting.
 
sbloom said:
In the building where our saddles are made is one other saddle maker plus a chap who imports leather, nail heads and other saddle and harness components - last time I was there he had the cantle components for military saddles, the bits that are covered with sheepskin seats, very interesting.
Click to expand...

Lovely to hear about 'proper old style craftsmen'. :D

But...Why would a Walsall saddler want to import leather and harness components? Just curious!

I know "the trade supplier who all saddlers use" own their own foundry in the UK for all brasswork, but sadly much metalwork is imported now. :(
 
sbloom said:
He's not a saddler and not all Walsall saddlers use English leather! He supplies those saddlers.
Click to expand...

See, that's something people should know and I bet a whole lot of folk DON'T realise. They assume made in Walsall = English leather. Now there it is in black and white.

Did you know that one very well known leather company in the UK admitted that their leather comes in to the UK from Canada? Which isn't a problem, because the climate is temperate and similar to the UK...but still, you kind of expect it to be English! We had problems (and so did other saddlers, because we discussed it!) with this leather cracking. :( Shame, as it's lovely leather and worked nicely.

We also know a Curriers in the UK, who we planned on using, who was recomended to us, who admitted, when we asked them, that their leather came from Spain! Needless to say, we don't use them. We expect an English Curriers to use English leather! We tried a hide, and had problems with this leather exhibiting cracking and being dry, and it worked totally different from the English leather we were used to. That's why we asked them - are you SURE this is English....and they told us, no, it comes from a tannery in Spain!

We are very happy with our current supplier. Sometimes we have to wait a little while for our hides to be prepared, and the leather is really expensive now, but we know what we are getting, and where / how it was made. We have been using this company for about 15 years now.

I can see folk on a mission here for a list of WHICH saddles are made in England, which are made of English leather, etc, etc! :giggle:
 
The problem comes from the shortage of cow skins available in the UK.

LOADS of English leather is imported as "crusts" then finished for the job they are required for. This has been the case for years too.

The EU made it difficult for the ENglish tanneries to get any decent leather as they killing age of beasts was reuded so they were no more than calves when they were taken off and they leather was that of young beasts without any substance.
 
Rockys saddle came from Adam Ellis in Walsall - it was orginally a M2M for Archie but when he retired - just after saddle was made:stomp: I had it altered to fit Rocky....

Considering how much it cost me - i'd be very peeved to find out that it was made with imported leather - but as i've said before - you just dont know sometimes!

Which reminds me - must clean my saddle!!:giggle:
 
I went and bought a bridle the other day, from 2 chaps in a little workshop in Walsall, no signs outside, was like stepping into the leather museum itself! However I have a nice bridle which was less than half the cost of an Elevator or Sabre, and just as nice.

There is a huge difference between 'English leather' and 'made in England' - some companies import leather to Walsall, so the product is made there, but not from English leather.

But for Karin - yes as others have said, certain towns or areas have traditional trades or industries eg Nottingham and Honiton for lace, Birmingham for jewellery, many towns in Lancashire for cotton weaving (mill towns), Kidderminster and Axminster for carpets, Northampton for shoes etc. I'm just lucky that I have horses and live half an hour's drive from Walsall :smile:
 
How did you find this place for your bridle, GT? Did you just stumble across the place whilst walking around.....?
 
happyhacker101 said:
Rockys saddle came from Adam Ellis in Walsall - it was orginally a M2M for Archie but when he retired - just after saddle was made:stomp: I had it altered to fit Rocky....

Considering how much it cost me - i'd be very peeved to find out that it was made with imported leather - but as i've said before - you just dont know sometimes!

Which reminds me - must clean my saddle!!:giggle:
Click to expand...

Although I have reasons for not being his biggest fan as far as I know he makes good quality English leather saddles.
 
Ginger Thing said:
I went and bought a bridle the other day, from 2 chaps in a little workshop in Walsall, no signs outside, was like stepping into the leather museum itself! However I have a nice bridle which was less than half the cost of an Elevator or Sabre, and just as nice.

There is a huge difference between 'English leather' and 'made in England' - some companies import leather to Walsall, so the product is made there, but not from English leather.

But for Karin - yes as others have said, certain towns or areas have traditional trades or industries eg Nottingham and Honiton for lace, Birmingham for jewellery, many towns in Lancashire for cotton weaving (mill towns), Kidderminster and Axminster for carpets, Northampton for shoes etc. I'm just lucky that I have horses and live half an hour's drive from Walsall :smile:
Click to expand...

Are these the two brothers who have a workshop near the fire station? i used to get my girths and stirrup leathers made by them, really good stuff:smile:
 
newrider.com
Top Bottom
Back