Hidden shoe

[elm]

Thought you might like to see this little shoe which came to light whilst we were taking down an old stone wall. The only other finds were a stoppered bottle and a horseshoe, can't be certain if all three were together as the wall came down with the aid of a mini digger ....


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[shelli]

I get a sad vibe from a child's shoe in an old wall - like grave goods.

Sorry (didn't mean to get you down)

Shelli

 

[Nemesis]

http://www.apotropaios.co.uk/june_swann_concealed_shoes.htm

 

[elm]

Thanks for that - funnily enough I've just been avidly reading the self same article, fascinating stuff.

 

[alice]

Very interesting! But I doubt if it's a child's shoe with that heel (which is also interesting in itself, with that metal horseshoe shaped protector on the bottom). It was big thing for girls to get a heel on their shoes in the 1880's and earlier as part of the putting their hair up and the lengthening their dress hems rites of passage.

Remember that people were a lot smaller then. My Japanese mother-in-law (age 83) is 4'7" and weighs 90 lbs, the same size as many 12 year olds. Even in England back in the 1880's that would not have been an unusual size.

alice

 

[Nemesis]

I don't think it unlikely that it is a boot belonging to a young person - in this picture the girl leaning against the wall on the left, is wearing something similar. She probably bought them from the boot and shoe makers which used to be along the street - both buildings are still standing (listed - the boot shop was a former bastle house).

The metal protectors were common too - made the boots wear much longer, in the days of leather heels, and were also put onto clogs, very common wear in the north. I suspect they were a development from pattens.

When I was young people still put metal 'segs' on shoes to make them last - they made a clatter and could be made to 'spark' in the school playground , struck against the tarmac. My husband's grandfather was a boot and shoe maker and he recalls having boots made with segs and doing just this. You can still buy segs:

http://www.timpson.co.uk/online-store/type.asp?cat_id=9&type_id=45

I can remember when I was a child having shoes cobbled by a proper cobbler (the shop smell I can recall to this day! Leather and glue, in a tiny space with lasts and equipment cluttering up the space) and metal protectors hanging in the shop

 

[shelli]

According to absolutely fascinating research above (thanks for that) children's shoes were common - if you think about it - a childs shoe, once outgrown by all the children in the household, was completely redundant - whereas adult boots and shoes continued to be used, repaired, passed on and reworked for decades.

Love the idea of throwing shoes after people "for luck" - will try that one if i have a feminine moment in the future - will work on aim in the meantime!!

 

[Nemesis]

Well if you think about it boots and shoes were traditionally tied behind wedding vehicles when the bride and groom left the church - for luck.

Clogs - my nearest clog makers is now Strongs in Caldbeck:

http://www.morrisdancing.org/clog2004.html

 

[shelli]

My dad always had segs in his shoes! - noisy bloomin things - Segs meant you were poor!

Aah those halcyon days - Lets all join in the refrain " and he painted matchstalk men and matchstalk cats and dogs, he painted kids on the corner of the street with their sparking clogs" - Gods bless you for that Ralph McTell
:wink:

 

[Nemesis]

You can still buy those horseshoe protectors:

http://penninecastings.co.uk/shoe.htm

Eeh bah gum they did narf clatter on t'cobbles when the knocker oop got you out of t'bed to get to t'mill...

Not to be worn by miners of course, in case a spark caused an explosion.

 

[shelli]

My favorite place as a child was the Victorian museum (sad I know) at Preston Park Eaglescliffe (Nr Yarm) - my best friends dad was the park-keeper- so we played in the museum all the time

there was a complete street with shops etc - they were all pretty spooky (especially the chemists shop) but the most spooky of all was the cobblers - it had a pile of shoes in one corner and was eerily lit so the dummy cobbler looked like he was moving - we used to scare ourselves half to death in the place - it was fab!

 

[shelli]

just looked at Preston Hall website - it's changed a bit since I was a nipper - they've updated the displays but still looks pretty good - there was a minah bird in the conservatory there that used to shout "Show us ya knickers" at old ladies - hilarious!!

 

[Nemesis]

I love York Museum too, with its streets of shops.

 

[shelli]

Am rambling now - but have just remembered the attics in Preston Hall - where all the scary victorian dolls and toys were!!

 

[Flyfisher]

I've never heard of 'segs', but I know exactly what you mean. I've always known them as 'Blakeys' after the brand name. Maybe it's a north-south thing. And yes, I remember buying them in the local cobblers and then sparking them in the playground!!

They made a bit of a 'tinny' noise though. Proper 'quarter-tips' were much more 'solid' sounding and also didn't increase the height of the heel. The same local cobbler could fit these as heel replacements.

 

[Nemesis]

Husband was brought up in Berkshire (although born in Durham) and his boots were made in Portsmouth, but he still called them segs.

Short I wonder for segments?

 

[MdB]

They were Blakeys in Hampshire too. There was a craze at school for a while.

 

[Penners]

Proper 'quarter-tips'.

When I started my engineering apprenticeship in Ipswich, my first pair of safety boots had steel heel tips. One of standard, MkI initiation jokes, was to get an apprentice engrossed in an electric welding task - this got him standing on a steel plate - and then secretly welding his heel tips to the plate.

What larks, eh?