Different parts of The Black Country have long been associated with certain products or trades. Willenhall for its Locks & Keys, Brierley Hill for its Glass, Cradley Heath for its Chain & Walsall for its leather. Such was the success of the Walsall leather trade, that the town was home to nearly a third of Britain’s saddlers and harness makers at the turn of the 20th century. Due to its ideal location for all raw materials like Iron, Coal, Charcoal & Limestone which could all be sourced from the local area, as well as an abundance of skilled metal and leather workers drawn to the area.

A good saddler needs an equally good loriner, to provide the bits, buckles & bridles for their completed saddles. In this post, we look back at a few of the saddle makers and leather workers we supplied that are in our archive.

Jabez Cliff & Company, the Cliff family business, can be traced back to Walsall as far back as 1793, with Jabez Cliff Tibbits being the 7th generation to run the business. The company produced two lines of products. The Cliff Brand, which focussed on bridles, and Barnsby Saddle, which were considered among the finest quality saddles in the world.

Barnsby saddles were used to outfit the Royal Horse Artillery & The Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment and various British Police Forces. They must have performed well, as Jabez was knighted by King George VI in 1948, and was later elected Mayor of Walsall.

We worked with Jabez Cliff to provide stirrups for the company in 1948, the same year their managing director received his knighthood.

Walsall Riding Saddle (WRS), Founded in 1946, started as a workshop focused on a small range of riding saddles. With the range expanding into Bridles, Reins, and saddle trees. The latter of which was spun off into its own company, Walsall Riding Saddle Trees.

WH Tildesley worked with Walsall Riding Saddle between 1955 and 1961, producing saddle bars for the company exclusively.

WRS is still trading to this day, having since merged with another Walsall Saddle Maker; Ideal Saddle, to become WRS Ideal Saddle.

Butler Brothers (Walsall)

Established in 1812, the company operated out of its Park Street location for over 100 years until moving to ‘Triumph Works’ on Long Street. The company benefited from this location being so close to Walsall Railway Station. This meant Butlers could dispatch finished products without delay.

Rather than being solely focused on Saddles and the Equestrian market. Butler Brothers diversified into other markets like School Satchels and shoes, and completely pivoted to a military outfitter during WWI & WWII. Supplying rifle straps, bags, cases & boots.

We worked with Butler Bothers in 1937 to produce clips exclusively.

Our In-house Range

Alongside producing components for customers. W.H. Tildesley manufactured its own range of products for various core markets of the time, including horse tack. We have a dedicated pattern book specifically for the range. The date range on the drawings indicates that all 120 drawings were produced between May and August 1918. We produced mainly Cheek Pieces, Mouth Pieces, Bradoon Stampings, Links, and Nameplates.

With the abundance and probable near saturation of the local saddle trade, it would have only made good business sense to carry a small range of simple components to sell to saddle makers who perhaps couldn’t afford to produce their own proprietary Lorinery.