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Daytime:  01433 621623

Email

thecordwainer@hotmail.co.uk

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Unit 8 Brough Business Centre

Brough near Bradwell

Hope Valley

Derbyshire

S33 9HG

Besides orthopaedic footwear, we manufacture Orthotics (special insoles) that can have a dramatic effect on your comfort and mobility yet be able to wear your everyday shoes.

The Orthotics we make are unique, they are individually assessed, casted and manufactured then fitted into the shoe to work correctly.

Common uses for Orthotics.

• Chronic foot conditions.
• Sports injuries.
• Accident trauma.
• Long term disabilities

….. or just plain comfort.

And what can we offer you ?

• A full assessment of your needs.
• We will work with your health professional or clinic.
• A same-day service (conditions apply).
• Standard service of 24 hours.
• I will guarantee the lowest price for the specialist service provided.

The orthotics we make are made of a variety of materials all designed to give both support and comfort, whilst at the same time remain lightweight and functional. We do not make rigid insoles, we believe they can cause more problems than they solve, it is important that the foot is allowed to function as normally as possible with the insole complimenting that function.

Our experience making orthopaedic footwear means we fully understand the important role an orthotic insole plays in improving your mobility and well-being. 

This service is only available from our workshop, or by arrangement with your healthcare provider or clinic. Our Nationwide Visiting Service is not available for supplying orthotics.

Our footwear and orthotics are made using the highest quality materials and processes that continue to be used in traditionally made bespoke footwear. All the materials we use comply to European Standard EN 344-1.
 
The Cordwainer is registered with the Medical Devices Agency. All our footwear and orthotics comply with Medical Device Directive EN93/42/EEC which states that custom made devices are subject to the classification rules and should not be CE marked.
 
The Cordwainer is one of the most experienced and highly skilled shoemakers in the United Kingdom, however this does not allow us to prescribe an appliance or footwear as shoemakers cannot register with the Health Professionals Council. You will be asked to sign an acknowledgement that you are happy to receive footwear not made to prescription. If you wish to have your appliance or footwear made to prescription you should seek the advice of your hospital or doctor.
 
The best results always come from co-operation between all the health professionals involved with dealing with your condition or disability. The Cordwainer will work with any NHS Hospital, Trust or Clinician to ensure you receive the best service possible.

14th Independent Shoemakers Conference

When:               17th - 19th February 2012

Where:              Imperial Hotel, South Mall, Cork, Eire

Host:                  Des Kennedy Associates

Bookings:         00353 21427 4040 (Hotel)

Information:  00353 2143 8177 (Des Kennedy)

HOTEL WEBSITE      www.flynnhotels.co.uk

CORK WEBSITE         www.cork-guide.ie

AIRPORTS                    www.corkairport.com    www,dublinairport.com

FERRIES                       Stena Line      Irish Ferries

Whether you are visiting for a few hours, a day or a few days, there are plenty of places in the local area for you to eat, visit or stay. 

As many of my customers travel long distances to the workshop, they have asked me to suggest where they might stay or otherwise fill their time while they are waiting for their orders to be completed. I have listed a selection of popular local places of interest, those marked * are those my customers or I can personally recommend.

Where to eat.

If you are just visiting the workshop for a few hours, there are a number of great places to eat within 10-15 minutes of Brough. Here are just a few.

Where to stay.

You might decide to stay overnight or even longer when you have traveled a distance to the workshop. The Peak District has a great reputation for its accommodation ranging from B&B's to top flight hotels.

What to see.

The Peak District has a wide variety of attractions ranging from half an hour to a full day, surely enough to please every one of our visitors. 

Towns and villages.

The local towns and villages are what makes the Peak District so special, each of them unique but all very welcoming. 

Link to Bamford Village Online website

The word "Cordwainer" derives from the Spanish "Cordovaner", a leather worker from Cordoba in Andalucia. During the heyday of the "wain trades" the word became incorporated into the English language in it's present context.

In her book "A tune on a penny whistle - tales of a Derbyshire childhood" Doris E Coates wrote at length about the shoe industry in her home village of Eyam in the heart of the Peak District National Park. Along with her family who were involved in the industry, those who lived in Eyam and the neighboring villages of Stoney Middleton lived through a period of great hardship as the country tried to com to terms with peace again in 1918. The plight of the workers eventually led to improvements in their working conditions as a Government Bill was proposed a 48 hour week and minimum wages, but the impact of the strike had already led to many of those workers from Eyam losing their livelihoods and many moved away from the area altogether.

My grandmother Rose McGuinness lived in Eyam for around 50 years and my father John Taylor grew up in the village until national service took him south to Aldershot where I was born. However my Derbyshire roots remained firm and I now live in nearby Bamford. When I moved back to the Hope Valley I became interested in the villages history and have combined with the village history society to research more about this period in the villages history, and to try and find both the factories and the people who were involved at the time.

Although every small town and village would have had a shoemaker or two for it's own needs, the villages along the Hope Valley had a very important place in the history of shoemaking in the country. The proximity to a leather tannery at the Tanyard Factory (now Goatsclifffe cottage) at Grindleford and a steady flow of fresh water from the River Derwent, provided the area with a ready supply of leather, with the locally killed cattle, skinned and cured ready for the tannery. Further tanneries were listed at Hope, Bradwell Tideswell, Calver and Peak Forest. All the tanneries produced the oak bark tanned leathers that were needed for the thriving local shoe industry.

By the mid 18^th century the leather tanning industry was in full bloom. By this time some very basic shoe making machinery enabled shoe factories to increase their production even further and shoemaking factories were replacing what was very much a cottage industry in the region. Leather products of all kinds were required as the Industrial Revolution transformed the landscape. The power from the steam engines in the newly built mills was transferred to the shop floor machinery through leather belting with the factory workers required heavy boots. The booming railway industry also required leather products in all manner of ways including upholstery, overalls, boots, water hoses, even the window straps for the carriages.

It is likely Grindleford tannery processed leather in much the same way as in the rest of the country. After being salted down to stabilise the condition, the skin is thoroughly washed to remove the salt and dirt before being laid in lime pits to soften the skins enabling the hairs to be easily removed. The skins were then washed again to remove the lime, a process which relied heavily on access to the fresh water from the River Derwent. After being soaked in increasing levels of tannin, and then dried slowly, the skins would finally be oiled, waxed or glazed depending on the final use of the skin. In all the skins would have undergone a three month stay at the tannery 120 water : 4 skins : 1 finished leather. The hides were next passed through pits of tanning liquid of increasing strength, then left to soak for about six weeks in the strongest solution before being very slowly and carefully dried under cover. Lastly they were handed over to be dressed and if necessary dyed by the currier, a skilled craftsman often in business on his own account. The currying process involved impregnating the leather with grease to leave it soft and supple, chiefly using ‘dubbin’, a mix of equal parts of cod liver oil and beef tallow. Heavy leathers were usually dipped in a tank of molten grease, commonly paraffin wax.

The Census of 1891 and 1901 gives perhaps the clearest indication of how whole families worked either in one of the seven shoe factories known about at the time, or worked from home supplying the factories as outworkers. Among them listed were 12 members of the Ridgeway family, 7 Bramwell's, 12 Cocker's. 6 Daniel's, 5 Dawsons, 9 Furness's, 12 Slater's and 13 Whites besides around 30 other families with anything up to half a dozen members of each family employed. Among those listed was William Lennon who's factory outlasted all others and were still actively trading both making and importing ranges of mens industrial boots and leisure footwear.

Most of the factories in Eyam have now been converted to residential dwellings but they can still be identified, indeed some have plaques identifying their history for visitors. Lower Burch Row (my family lived at Upper Burch Row) was the site of a slipper factory, there was a shoe factory adjacent to Eyam Square and Harold West's factory at Leedums Mill set back just further up the village. There was another factory (formerly West's) on what is now Taf's Card, and the Ridgeways factory was at Townhead. Set back on Eyam Edge was another large factory while the remaining factory was on the corner of Tideswell Lane. Hopefully in the coming months further research will result in a permanent record of the whereabouts of all the factories with more information about who worked in each and where those families are now.

It is hoped that we will be able to display the results of this research along with the findings of a meeting with the Eyam Village Society (historical society) in the Eyam Museum during 2011.

With thanks to the following for the information contained in this article.

Julie Bunting. Freelance Journalist

John Clifford. Historian and dep. Chair of Eyam Village Society.

John Beck. Curator of Eyam Museum.