The Leather Conservation Centre

The Leather Conservation Centre An internationally renowned organisation offering a comprehensive leather conservation service.

The Leather Conservation Centre was established in 1978 and is an internationally renowned organisation offering a comprehensive service in the conservation and restoration of objects (including books and other archival materials) of historic, cultural and artistic importance made wholly or partly of leather or its related materials. Clients include museums, libraries, historic houses and many mor

e. The Leather Conservation Centre also supplies a small range of materials for leather conservation and leather conservation publications.If you have any questions or would like a quotation for conservation work, please do not hesitate to get in touch.

A Roman Shoe (Or Two)Two fragments from a Roman Caliga shoe arrived at the Leather Conservation Centre. This adult shoe ...
15/07/2026

A Roman Shoe (Or Two)

Two fragments from a Roman Caliga shoe arrived at the Leather Conservation Centre. This adult shoe sole and fragment of shoe upper do not appear to belong to one another based on their dimensions. From their style, they can be dated from around the 1st Century BC to 1st Century AD.

Leather rarely survives from this period. When it does, it is most often because it has been in waterlogged conditions that exclude the oxygen that would otherwise cause organic materials to decay. The moment that changes, deterioration can happen rapidly.

This is where we come in…

The LCC offers a range of professional courses designed for qualified and practicing conservators at all experience leve...
15/07/2026

The LCC offers a range of professional courses designed for qualified and practicing conservators at all experience levels, and those working in related fields, providing the opportunity to develop specialist skills in understanding, treating and caring for leather, parchment, skin, and related materials. Swipe to view the range of courses on offer. New courses will be added to our website and social media throughout the year so look out for these!

To express an interest in any of these courses, please email us at [email protected] and we will be in touch with further details.

Meet The Course Facilitator: Dr Christine Anscombe Our upcoming 2-Day Leather Training Course: From Raw Material to Fini...
14/07/2026

Meet The Course Facilitator: Dr Christine Anscombe

Our upcoming 2-Day Leather Training Course: From Raw Material to Finished Product is led by Dr Christine Anscombe, Director and Co-founder of Leather Wise Ltd and one of the most respected figures in the global leather industry.

Christine spent 16 years at SATRA Technology Centre, alongside 11 years at BLC Leather Technology Centre as Innovation and Training Manager, and has held senior roles across tanneries in the UK and Australia. She is a qualified leather technologist holding an Honorary Doctorate and Honorary BSc in Leather Technology from the University of Northampton.

Her industry contributions include serving as Past President and Fellow of the Society of Leather Technologists and Chemists (SLTC), 15 years as Chair of the British Standards Institute Committee on Footwear and Leather, and representing the UK on the Executive Committee of the International Union of Leather Technologists and Chemists Societies (IULTCS), where she currently chairs the Training Commission. In April 2026 she received the Landmann Certificate from the SLTC in recognition of her significant contribution to the leather industry.

Christine has delivered leather training courses across the globe and brings decades of hands on, technical, and commercial expertise to this course, covering everything from raw material and manufacturing through to sustainability, regulation, and quality assurance. We are delighted to welcome her to the LCC studio to facilitate this two day course!

The LCC offers a range of professional and introductory courses, alongside talks, webinars and other events. Our program...
13/07/2026

The LCC offers a range of professional and introductory courses, alongside talks, webinars and other events. Our program includes all aspects of leather and skin materials from historic manufacturing techniques to heritage craft skills, specialist heritage and conservation skills as well as best practices for long term care outside of museum contexts. Groups for all practical courses are kept small, so these tend to sell out fast! Keep an eye on the events page on our website for upcoming courses and training opportunities.

We also offer bespoke on-site training courses for conservators and other heritage professionals working with leather, skin, and related materials. Please email us at [email protected] to discuss your training needs.

If you have an item which needs to be conserved, please email us at: info@leatherconservation.org. We work on all types ...
13/07/2026

If you have an item which needs to be conserved, please email us at: [email protected]. We work on all types of objects which contain leather, parchment, skin, and related materials, and can offer a range of options and advice to suit all budgets and treatment needs.

The Leather Conservation Centre (LCC) is the global epicentre for the preservation of leather heritage. The LCC takes a ...
13/07/2026

The Leather Conservation Centre (LCC) is the global epicentre for the preservation of leather heritage. The LCC takes a holistic approach to conservation - preserving and protecting not only historic objects in the conservation lab but the skills and intangible heritage intrinsically linked with them, many of which are now endangered.

🔍 Young leather detectives, this one's for you... 🔍As part of Roman Around Leicester, we're partnering with LCB Depot to...
24/06/2026

🔍 Young leather detectives, this one's for you... 🔍

As part of Roman Around Leicester, we're partnering with LCB Depot to invite families to come and solve a 2,000-year-old mystery. A Roman shoe was pulled from the bottom of a well in Berkshire, and it is now in our studio.

On the day you can:
👟 Find out what a Roman Caliga is and why it was one of the most important shoes in history.
🛠️ Make your own Caliga to take home using a template, hole punch and lacing, just like a real Roman shoemaker.
💧 See a replica of the shoe as it looked when it was pulled from the well, and discover how our conservators brought it back to life.
🔍 Place the hobnails, spot the D-shaped holes, and piece together the clues.

How did it survive? What did our conservators do to save it? And can YOU make your own Roman Caliga Shoe to take home? Come and find out at LCB Depot.
Part of monthly FREE creative family fun 🏛️

📆 Saturday 11th July (12 - 4pm)
📍 LCB Depot, Leicester ()
🎟 Drop in/Free Tickets are available at https://romanaroundleicester.eventbrite.co.uk
🗒 More information on this and other events is available at bio

📦 Every detail matters: housing and recording 📦 Conservation does not end with the treatment. How an object is stored an...
24/06/2026

📦 Every detail matters: housing and recording 📦

Conservation does not end with the treatment. How an object is stored and documented afterwards is just as important as what is done to it in the studio, and for objects as fragile and as historically significant as these, that documentation begins the moment they arrive with us.

One of the most important aspects when working with waterlogged leather is tracking how it changes shape as it dried. Even with the most careful freeze drying process, some dimensional change is inevitable in leather that has spend two thousand years saturated with water. We trace the dimensions before and after treatment to record how the material has shifted.

Hobnails had become loose during treatment due to the dimensional changes of the holes. These were housed in a tray made to correspond to the outline of the sole, so that their original placement remains known after two thousand years in the ground.

🪡 Treatment: the final stages 🪡 Once the drying process was complete and both pieces had gradually acclimatised to ambie...
24/06/2026

🪡 Treatment: the final stages 🪡

Once the drying process was complete and both pieces had gradually acclimatised to ambient room conditions, the work was not quite finished. Some dimensional changes had occurred during drying, as they almost always do with waterlogged leather, and a localised indirect humidification treatment was used to gently relax the sole before weights were applied to ease out distortion in the toe area.

Areas of cracking and splitting across both pieces were then consolidated with Klucel G, a cellulose-based consolidant applied, in a 2% solution, to improve fibre cohesion and reduce the risk of the surface powdering when handled. One of the most pleasing results of the drying process was the visibility it gave us of the sole's layered construction. The midsole, previously inaccessible, became visible after treatment. This revealed the three distinct layers of insole, midsole, and outsole that make up the sole, as well as the additional piece of leather inserted as heel reinforcement. A shoe made with care and craftsmanship, still legible two thousand years later.

🔬 Treatment: from waterlogged to stable 🔬 When waterlogged archaeological leather is retrieved, the water within its fib...
24/06/2026

🔬 Treatment: from waterlogged to stable 🔬

When waterlogged archaeological leather is retrieved, the water within its fibres is doing an important job, holding the structure of the leather together. If the water is removed too quickly, the leather will shrink, distort and crack beyond recovery. We needed to replace that water gradually and carefully before the leather could be dried at all.

Following an initial light clean to remove loose burial deposits and prducts of iron corrosion, both pieces were submerged in a solution of polyethylene glycol 400, a consolidant that gradually displaces the water within the leather fibres and supports the structure from within. The pieces were held first in a 15% solution for one week, then a 30% solution for two weeks.

After rinsing, the leather was placed in a freezer at -40°C for freeze drying, a controlled process in which the remaining moisture is removed as vapour rather than liquid, minimising the risk of distortion. The pieces were weighed daily to track the drying process, with small weights applied wherever lifting or distortion was observed.

You can see the difference between the dark, saturated leather that arrived with us and the stabilised material you can see in these photographs.

Address

The Leather Conservation Centre, Canopy
Northampton
LE16WB

Telephone

01604719766

Website

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