Place Name
Industrial heritage. It is derived from the Old English words fell meaning skins and monger a dealer or trader. A fell monger would sell animals skins or hides – particularly sheepskins to tanners to make leather and the Bermondsey area was the centre of the tanning industry from at least the late 15thCentury. This small path led to a tannery which later became the leather technical college. A combination of plentiful water from the nearby River Thames, oak trees and large swathes of land for sheep and cattle to graze in this predominately rural part of South London lead to Bermondsey being known as the Land of Leather, and by the 1790s was responsible for producing over a third of all leather in England.
