Our Bullring saddlebags are made by hand in our Liverpool workshop in two sizes, Medium and Large. The design comes from our research into the bags of the Dark Ages: how people carried what they owned, and the clasps they used to keep it closed. The bull ring was one of the simplest and strongest closures of the time, and we have built our Bullrings around it.

A bull ring was easy for a blacksmith to make. A rod of iron was heated in the forge, hammered round the horn of the anvil into a ring and closed in the fire, with no pins, tongue or moving parts to wear out or break. It was far simpler than a buckle, which needs a forged frame and a pin and holes punched through the leather. To fasten a bull ring, the leatherworker needed only a single cut through the leather for the ring to be pulled through. The result is beautiful, structured and very secure. A bull ring closure is slow and awkward for anyone but the wearer to open, which mattered in a crowded medieval market and still matters on a busy street, at a festival or on a packed train.

Because the design is so simple and so old, it carries little hardware and wastes nothing, which makes our Bullrings some of the best value bags we make. The Medium Bullring is a compact everyday saddlebag with a long front flap and a surprisingly roomy body. The Large Bullring is built on the body of our Large Sporran, with room for a medium notebook, a small tablet, a phone and a purse. Both are cut from ethically sourced heavy leather, stitched with cotton-nylon thread and finished with cast metal rivets, and both suit medieval, steampunk, gothic and vintage styles as easily as everyday wear. Each one is made to order, can be personalised with a hand-pressed monogram, carries our maker's mark and is backed by our five-year guarantee and a lifetime of workshop repairs.