Shoes - The Agony and the Ecstacy

Boot, 1860s

Leather

This item is on display in the introduction section of the exhibition.

This boot was discovered in the foundations of a building in Hind Street, Sunderland, during excavation work in the 1960s. It was placed there as a good luck charm to ward off evil spirits. The deliberate hiding of footwear under floors, up chimneys, and bricked up in walls dates from at least the 1600s in this country. A powerful superstition, it still continues today in the building trade.

TWCMS: J2036