Audio clip: From smelly skins to Van Haren
Click here for the audio clip From smelly skins to Van Haren
This audio clip is part of the Learning Route Waalwijk. View the route here.
Grandpa: Look around you Sanne and take a good look at your surroundings. Did you know that the shoe and leather industry goes back centuries? It seemed destined for this environment.
Sanne: Really, why then?
Grandpa: Well, imagine, I think around 1600. Large families lived on the farm, but there was hardly anything to eat. People took every opportunity to earn some extra money, and leather tanning was very convenient in this area.
Sanne: Sounds like an intense time grandpa, And that tanning, tell me?
Grandpa: Yes, that's because of the landsch...
Click here for the audio clip From smelly skins to Van Haren
This audio clip is part of the Learning Route Waalwijk. View the route here.
Grandpa: Look around you Sanne and take a good look at your surroundings. Did you know that the shoe and leather industry goes back centuries? It seemed destined for this environment.
Sanne: Really, why then?
Grandpa: Well, imagine, I think around 1600. Large families lived on the farm, but there was hardly anything to eat. People took every opportunity to earn some extra money, and leather tanning was very convenient in this area.
Sanne: Sounds like an intense time grandpa, And that tanning, tell me?
Grandpa: Yes, that's because of the landscape here. It was really only suitable for cattle, but the seepage water from the peat bogs, flowing rivers and the oak trees provided the perfect conditions for tanning leather here. Tons of hides and water lay rotting loose for a time, then they were scraped and rinsed clean and thrown into tanning pits along with oak bark. After a year of stinking, the hides came out supple and were hung in the drying attic.
Sanne: Clever, but mega gross say!
Grandpa: Haha yes and they didn't look at that polluted water like that back then. But they had to! We will soon pass some farms that used to have such a drying attic. You can recognize them by the black horizontal shutters.
