Object number
52/31/5
Exhibition
Description
This is a finished left clog sole, showing the final stage of production in clogmaking. It has acquired its final shape, and has a groove around the edge to which leather uppers will be attached.
Physical description
1 clog: wood (birch); good condition
Label Text
<DIV STYLE="text-align:Justify;font-family:Georgia;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal;font-size:16;color:#000000;"><P><SPAN><SPAN>4. <B>Clog soles</B><P>These birch wood clog soles, made in the early 1950s by Cumbrian clog maker Mr. R. Shepherd, illustrate the four stages of production. From left: 'Breaking up', how the sole would look after being shaped with a stock knife by the woodland clog block cutter; 'Roughing out', when the curve of the sole and hollow of the instep are made; 'Rounding up', which gives final shape to the sole; the last soles are a finished pair, complete with groove for the leather upper.<P>52/31/1-5</SPAN></SPAN></P></DIV>
Archival history
Object history research, John Masters, March 2020 - How can this object be described? // A wooden shoe sole. // What was this object used for? // Most likely it was used for demonstrations in the MERL showing how clogs were made, and possibly also used in object handling. It is one of a set of five birch wood clog soles, made in the early 1950s by clog maker Mr. R. Shepherd, of Hackthorpe, Cumbria to illustrate the four stages of production. // From the left: // •'Breaking up', how the sole would look after being shaped with a stock knife by the woodland clog block cutter; •'Roughing out', when the curve of the sole and hollow of the instep are made; •'Rounding up', which gives final shape to the sole; •Finishing. The last soles are a finished pair. // This object is the left sole of the finished pair. It has acquired its final shape, and has a groove around the edge to which leather uppers will be attached. // How old is it? // It was made in about 1952. The acquisition card written when the object was placed in the MERL collection is dated 1952 and it mentions the object was new at the time of acquisition. The set of clog soles were made especially for the MERL by Mr. Shepherd who had just retired. // What is a clog? // Clogs are a type of footwear made in part or completely from wood, and have long been associated with the shoes of the peasantry. Clogs have been used worldwide and although the form may vary by culture, within a culture the form often remained unchanged for centuries. // The choice of wood was important and those most favoured were woods which would not split. Alder, birch, sycamore, willow or beech were commonly used. // There are three main varieties of clogs: wooden upper, wooden soled and overshoes. // •Wooden upper clogs; are made by hollowing out a lump of solid wood to make a combined upper and lower. // [image] Solid wooden clogs 64/4/1-2 // Two main variants can be seen: o whole foot clogs; where the wooden upper covers the whole of the foot to near the ankle, such as the familiar Dutch klomp. They are also known as "wooden shoes". Whole foot clogs can give sufficient protection to be used as safety footwear without additional reinforcements. o half open clogs; where the wooden upper extends over the toes or slightly further, such as the Italian "zoccolo" or Belgian sabots. The upper is similar in outline to a court shoe. Half open clogs may have additional covering or securing straps in some sort of fabric or leather. // •Wooden soled clogs; use wood for the sole only. Wooden soled clogs come with a variety of uppers: // •complete uppers made from leather or similar material, such as traditional English clogs. As the sole of the clog is made of wood and to help make the clog last, clog irons were often nailed under the toe and heel of the sole. These irons have a groove down the middle of a strip of metal 10mm wide and 6mm thick of wrought iron. For more protection, the finished clog may have steel toecaps. // [image] English traditional clogs with leather uppers 52/59/1-2 // - open sandal type fitting. For example, Japanese geta // - toe peg styles. For example, Indian paduka // •Overshoes; are wooden soles with straps designed to be worn over other footwear for protection e.g. from mud, commonly known as pattens. Patten style clogs are not used anymore. // [image] Patten 51/700/1-2 // The type of upper determines how the clogs are worn. Whole foot clogs need to be close fitting and can be secured by curling the toes. In contrast wooden soled clogs are fastened by laces or buckles on the welt and therefore the toes are relaxed as in shoes. Half open clogs may either be secured like whole foot clogs or have an additional strap over the top of the foot. Some sandal types, and in particular toe peg styles, are worn more like "flip-flops" and rely on the grip between the big and next toe. // Clogs in Britain. // The wearing of clogs in Britain became more visible with the Industrial Revolution, when industrial workers needed strong, cheap footwear. The heyday of the clog in Britain was between the 1840s and 1920s and, although traditionally associated with Lancashire, they were worn all over the country, not just in the industrial North of England. At this time clog dancing was very popular – it is thought that clog dancing arose in the industrial textiles mills as a result of the mill workers entertaining themselves by syncopating foot taps with the rhythmic sounds made by the loom shuttles. After World War 2 wooden shoes largely disappeared from widespread use. Working class people associated clogs with poverty and clogs were replaced by more fashionable all-leather and synthetic footwear. // Clogs in Britain today. // Only Walkley's of Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire are still mass-producing clog soles. Maude's Clog Sole Factory (later Walkleys) in Hebden Bridge made 862,164 pairs of soles in 1911 and this rose to a peak of 1,211,268 pairs in 1943. In the steel trades where they walked over the hot metal in the rolling mills, a man could burn through four pairs of clog soles in a day, many factories employed their own clogger to keep re-soling the worn out clogs. // Related items in the MERL collection.
This stock knife, or clog making knife, is a clogger's tool, in this case used to cut a groove around the clog sole. This stage of the production process is called "rounding up". The hollower has a small concave blade for this purpose. The knife has a hook at the either end to attach it to a loop on a bench, enabling the tool to be used in a lever action. It was used to make clogs at Chester Garth Farm, in Rookhope, County Durham, until 1935 // [image] Stock knife 61/130
Production place
Hackthorpe
Production date
1952 - 1952
Object name
Material
Associated subject
