Hollytrees museum is a fantastic old house, situated in Castle Park, Colchester. It details the history of Colchester and the family that lived in the house, however I cant say I remember anything about them. I pay my attention to the room of hats, and the toy room. But there's also a cabinet devoted to Kazimierz Hurlo, a shoemaker.
Him and his wife, Katarzyna.
One of Mr.Hurlo's own dancing shoes.
This is a last, It determines the shape, size and style of the shoe, and the leather is formed around it.
These are lasting pliers, used to pull the leather over the last.
A stitching awl is used to punch holes into the leather, so that it can be threaded.
A heel hammer has a long nose, so it can reach inside the shoe and nail the heel on from inside.
Finally the glazing iron and wax. The iron is heated and then the wax is rubbed with the iron, onto the leather to give a high shine finish.
I found this visit very interesting, as it has provided me with an idea of traditional methods, which are fascinating in contrast with the methods I shall use.
After this I went to Colchester Castle, which I remembered has a display of medieval shoe patterns. There is not much information on them as it is only a small section of the castle, which is devoted to teaching Colchester's Roman history. But it was really fun trying on the shoes and everything was the same as I remembered it was as a child! The shoes I tried on were worn as soles, strapped to one's normal footwear, they're called pattens.
A wealthy person's shoe in a patten.
Tools used to make shoes.
Leather from shoes found in Colchester, there was a booming trade around the area... I've been told to visit the local history section of iour town library in order to find out more.
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