Artisans of Dartmoor - Book - Page 25
Jessie works in a red-brick stable in the courtyard of an old
farmstead, where a large-scale environmental regeneration
project is under way. Inside, against the left-hand wall, tawny and
white spotted fallow deer furs are piled high, encrusted in salt
to preserve them before tanning. Floor space in her workshop
is mostly given over to enormous steel vats, each containing
stewing skins – some in a chocolatey oak-bark soup, others
in an experimental pickling solution that smells like salt and
vinegar crisps. The whole place whiffs of wet dog, except for
one corner, where a pile of freshly harvested spruce shavings
lends a pleasant hint of pine forest. In the centre stands a large
tanning pan, simmering on a gas burner, sending plumes of steam
billowing into narrow shafts of late-afternoon light through the
wood-slated windows.
Once the skins have steeped – a process that takes up to a
month – Jessie oils and stretches them into shape, then clips them
to a frame to dry. Fish skins, used to embellish her products, are
tanned with bark, then treated with oil to enhance and preserve
the textured scales.
It’s long been assumed that humans have been wearing leather
and skins since they realised that wandering around naked wasn’t
that warm – which, on Dartmoor, would have been a very long
time ago. But in 2011, firm evidence was discovered in a young
woman’s Bronze Age burial chamber, a mere 10 miles from Jessie’s
workshop (see page 10). Containing a sash decorated in leather
and a well-preserved bear’s pelt, which it’s believed was worn as
clothing, the find was hugely significant for Jessie. “This landscape
is alive with the past,” she says. “Our ancestors left a very tangible,
visible imprint on the moor – in hut circles, stone rows, and burial
chambers. Humans have been tanning hides for millennia – 99.9%
of our evolution – so being part of that tradition gives me a
profound sense of continuity, belonging and peace. When I tan,
it feels as if my hands have known it forever.”
The Hide Tanner • Jessie Watson Brown
25
