Suffolk's sheepskin and leather craft tradition grew out of its farming economy, where wool and hides were a working county's everyday materials, worked by hand into gloves, aprons and outerwear for local trades. Nursey Sheepskin has been part of that story since 1846, when Samuel Nursey founded a leather workshop in Bungay, Suffolk - and nearly 180 years later, Nursey Sheepskin is still handmaking genuine sheepskin goods in the same town.
Here's how that tradition took shape, and how one Suffolk family business has stayed connected to it for six generations.
Suffolk's roots in wool and leather
Suffolk's landscape made it natural territory for working with sheepskin and leather long before "craft" was a marketing word. Sheep farming was woven into the county's agricultural economy, and the leather and wool produced locally needed skilled hands to turn it into something useful - aprons for farm workers and blacksmiths, gloves, and other practical leather accessories for the trades that kept a market town like Bungay running. It's this working, practical tradition - not a decorative one - that Nursey Sheepskin was born into.
1846: Nursey Sheepskin's beginnings in Bungay
Nursey Sheepskin was founded in 1846 by Samuel Nursey in Bungay, Suffolk. Like the wider tradition it grew from, the original business had nothing to do with the coats it would later become known for - it made protective leather aprons for farm workers and blacksmiths, along with gloves and other leather accessories, for the local trades of the time. It was, in other words, exactly the kind of practical leather workshop that Suffolk's economy relied on throughout the nineteenth century.
From workwear to a British icon
Nursey Sheepskin's shift from workwear to the coats it's best known for came from a very specific, practical request. Towards the end of the Second World War, Lieutenant General Sir Oliver Leese, commander of the British 8th Army, asked Nursey Sheepskin to adapt one of its sheepskin jerkins by adding sleeves, so he could wear it as a winter warmer. That single request is what led Nursey Sheepskin to pioneer the sheepskin coat in Britain - turning a piece of Suffolk workwear into a style that would eventually be worn well beyond the farms and workshops it started with.
The idea took off. By the 1980s, trading as Nursey of Bungay, the business employed around 80 to 90 people, produced roughly 15,000 coats a year, and turned over about £2.5 million annually, supplying hundreds of men's outfitters and women's dress shops across Britain and northern Europe. For a stretch of the twentieth century, a piece of Suffolk-made leather craft was genuinely part of the national wardrobe.
A national moment, then a quieter chapter
Nursey Sheepskin's most famous moment came when Del Boy Trotter, the lead character of the BBC sitcom Only Fools and Horses, adopted its sheepskin coat as his trademark look - a piece of Suffolk craft that ended up recognised across the country. But fashion and weather both move on, and as high-street outfitters and dress shops closed and winters grew milder, demand for full sheepskin coats declined. Production wound down in 2014, and the Bungay factory shop closed its doors in 2015 after 169 years of continuous trading.
The craft continues: a smaller, handmade revival
The story didn't end there. James Nursey and his partner Marcella took on the business, moving it online and rebuilding it as a smaller, focused, handmade operation - retaining a skilled workforce making genuine sheepskin and leather goods including gilets, slippers, hats, headbands, bags, and mittens and gloves, all still made in Bungay, Suffolk. You can read more about that revival, in James's own words, on our About page. As James Nursey put it: "We want to try and keep making our sheepskin products for as long as possible because our loyal customers still love them. The skilled craftsmen and women making our products have decades of experience and we want to use their fantastic expertise as long as possible."
That decision to stay small and handmade, rather than chase volume, is really a continuation of the same tradition Nursey Sheepskin was born into back in 1846: skilled local hands, working genuine sheepskin and leather, for people who need it to actually work, not just look the part.
Why this local tradition still matters today
Suffolk's sheepskin and leather craft was never really about fashion first - it was about durable, practical goods made by people who knew the material. Nursey Sheepskin's near-180-year history, from farm workers' aprons through to a genuine national icon and back to a small handmade workshop, is one continuous thread of that same approach. Every piece Nursey Sheepskin makes today - mittens, gloves, slippers, hats, gilets and accessories - is still handmade in Bungay, Suffolk, from whole-piece British sheepskin, by people who genuinely know the craft. For the part of that history that's become genuinely famous, read the story behind the coat Del Boy wore.
FAQs
When was Nursey Sheepskin founded?
Nursey Sheepskin was founded in 1846 by Samuel Nursey in Bungay, Suffolk, originally making protective leather aprons, gloves and accessories for local farm workers and blacksmiths.
How did Nursey Sheepskin start making sheepskin coats?
Towards the end of the Second World War, Lieutenant General Sir Oliver Leese asked Nursey Sheepskin to add sleeves to one of its sheepskin jerkins so he could wear it as a winter coat. That request is what led Nursey Sheepskin to pioneer the sheepskin coat in Britain.
Is Nursey Sheepskin still based in Suffolk?
Yes. Nursey Sheepskin has always been based in Bungay, Suffolk, and every product is still handmade there today, nearly 180 years after Samuel Nursey founded the business.
Did Nursey Sheepskin ever close?
Yes. The original factory shop in Bungay closed in 2015 after 169 years of continuous trading, as demand for full sheepskin coats declined. James Nursey and his partner Marcella subsequently revived the business as a smaller, handmade online company, still based in Bungay, Suffolk.