The Leathersellers' Company

History

The Leathersellers' Company support and enable people, communities, and the UK leather industry through charitable giving and education, since their first Royal Charter in 1444.

The first Royal Charter of 1444 established the government of the Company by four Wardens, confirmed and extended the Company’s right to inspect leather, and granted the right to meet, to wear a livery and to hold land. Shortly after incorporation, a group of trustees acting for the Company purchased five tenements on the south side of London Wall near Moorgate, and from around 1476 the Leathersellers used the upper floor of one of the houses as a Hall.

The new Leathersellers’ Hall was completed in 2016 and is the seventh Hall in the Company’s long history. It is located on a narrow site on the south side of St Helen’s Place. Behind it is the medieval church of St Helen’s Bishopsgate. The new Hall stands exactly where the second Hall, the former Benedictine Priory of St Helen, was located up until 1799.

The new Hall is a total new build apart from its early 20th century facade, which was retained from the last major redevelopment of St Helen’s Place in the 1910-1926 period.

The Leathersellers' Company is situated at 7 St Helen’s Place, London, EC3A 6AB