Concealed shoes
Sunday 28 July 2002
Things you find on the net: Concealed shoes and garments: June Swann was the pioneer of research into concealed shoes with an article in 1969 for the Journal of Northampton Museum and Art Gallery…—this museum holds a very large collection of concealed shoes…
The earliest reference to the use of shoes as some kind of spirit trap comes from the 14th century. It regards one of England’s unofficial saints, John Schorn from Buckinghamshire, who was rector of North Marston 1290-1314. His claim to fame is that he is reputed to have performed the remarkable feat of casting the devil into a boot. The oldest concealed shoes date back to roughly the same time as Schorn but there are very few examples from that period—he may have begun the tradition, or it may simply be that his legend records a pre-existing practice.