Nottingham's caves can boast Britain's only surviving underground medieval tannery. The Marsh area of the city was renowned for its tanneries and by 1667 there were 47 here. Tanning is the process by which animal skins are preserved and made usable as leather. This required large quantities of dung and urine, which produced a smell so foul as to repel even the rats. The absence of rodents resulted in few cases of the plague and consequently many wealthy folk chose to live nearby in spite of the awful stench.
The tannery now forms part of the City of Caves attraction beneath the Broadmarsh Shopping Centre and consists of two caverns, which were cut into the cliff face and previously open to daylight. The oldest is the Pillar Cave so named for the large column, which supports the roof. A King John groat found in the well of this cave suggests that it was cut before 1250, although the earliest evidence of it being used as a tannery dates from around 1500. The second cave is equal in size and includes a dozen square vats, which have been cut into the floor to contain the solutions. Tanneries were common here until 1639.
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