the tradesman to justify a fine. A typical entry reads: ‘the jurors say that John Colyn is a tanner who takes advantage of his art against the terms of the statute. Therefore he is in mercy – 3d’. In the fifteenth century fines were of 2d., 3d. or 4d. By the second half of the sixteenth century Tudor inflation had pushed the usual fine to 6d., with some of 8d. or even a shilling. The fines are often the only evidence as to who was a tanner and in which borough. As the same formula was used year after year, it is clear that generally the fines imposed on tanners were in the nature of licences to work. The size of the fine was probably related to the size of the business and its prosperity. From 1463 to 1472 John Colyn of Roughway paid four 2d. fines and one 3d. fine. In the three years 1473-75 he appears as John Colyn ‘senior’ paying 4d. a year. He presumably died that year because in 1475/6 plain John Colyn, his son, paid a fine of 2d. The business must have contracted following the death of John Colyn (snr). The fine assessment would depend on the local knowledge of the affeerors, or assessors, who were elected by the court jurors. The fines were paid to the lord of the manor and were one of his sources of revenue. Sadly, the records of fines do not provide details of the tanner’s employees. In Wrotham, tanneries were probably small family affairs with sons following fathers into the trade with few servants being employed.

Regulation of the Tanning Industry

The earliest acts relating to tanning were from the time of Richard II.⁴ Legislation of Henry VI in 1422 sought to prevent the defective tanning of hides.⁵ There were later confirmations and additions by Henry VII, Elizabeth and James I, ordering the separation of the various leather trades. A tanner was not to be also a currier, leather cutter or shoemaker. Acts of Elizabeth and James I forbade tanners to be butchers or butchers to be tanners.⁶
   There was also a division between the tanned hides of the tanners and the lighter, softer leather of the tawyers. The tanners produced ‘red’ leather from hides soaked in tannin solution. The tawyers preserved the skins of almost every other type of animal using alum, egg yolks, oil and flour to produce white leather – hence their name of whit-tawyers.
   In 1509 tanners were forbidden to tan sheepskin, which was the province of the tawyers, and tanners were only allowed to sell ‘red’ leather.⁷ Throughout the sixteenth century there were acts forbidding the export of leather, and regulations about when and where leather could be sold. In 1532 Leadenhall Market was declared to be the market for leather in London with a system of searchers and the sealing of hides to denote their quality.⁸ For every 10 hides certified searchers were to receive one penny. The penalty for marking hides improperly or for