51/35/1-2

Pattens are wooden shoes that were used by most countrywomen as overshoes to keep their feet out of the mud in the farmyard and around the dairy. These pattens have a wooden sole with leather toe caps and side pieces, and are riveted on to an iron ring. There is a tooled design on the leather of the side pieces and holes have been stamped out for laces.

1 pair of pattens: wood; metal; leather

Citation in publication [H. J. Massingham, 'Country Relics' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1939)] –'The Hermitage shelters a few of what might be called the auxiliaries of the old kitchen. Certainly in every one a pair of pattens would have been standing by the door into the yard. // The worn wooden clogs, the iron hoop underneath them for raising them up and the toe-cap are originals, while the leather bands that were tied above the ankle and the laces were imported from another pair. The second pair came from Wootton Bassett in Wiltshire, and from what I could gather of their history were made at about the beginning of the nineteenth century. The third pair was given me by Mrs Joan Sharp of Alderton who is in her eighty-fifth year; she had received them as a wedding present in 1877.' (pp.214-216) [see also 51/33], MERL list / description [Massingham Collection, October 1989] – 'ACC. NO.: 51/35 // NAME: PATTENS // NEG NO.: 35/191 // STORAGE: ', The pattens had been in the family of the Vergeress of Winchcombe since 1750.

1800-01-01 - 1899-12-31

Nineteenth century

Wood, Metal, Leather