On Thursday, I had the pleasure of attending a fascinating seminar that was informative and ultimately thought-provoking. Titled “Concealed Shoes, Concealed Meanings: Ritual in the post-medieval home?” and delivered by Dr. Ceri Houlbrook from the University of Hertfordshire, the contents of the seminar investigated the phenomenon of hundreds of singular shoes discovered in the houses of various European countries since the 1600s. Most of the shoes were found in England, but they have been found across Europe. Eight concealed shoes being discovered here in Ireland.
Dr. Houlbrook recalibrates the concept of historical discovery, stating that “you don’t have to [physically] dig to uncover history”, derived from her experience gained from working and receiving her doctorate in Archaeology. This is especially true regarding the existence of concealed shoes and their method of discovery. Usually found by residents of old farmhouses via the lifting the floorboards or sticking a hand up the chimney, the concealed shoe is a term that was coined in the 1950’s by June Swann. She began recording instances when these shoes were rediscovered – amassing 700 records of concealed shoes herself by the time of her retirement. The Northampton Museum carries on her work today, with their website allowing people to report any concealed shoes they discover. The collection of the shoes is called the Concealed Shoes Index, which has 3000 shoes listed. One might think that some of these shoes were lost, but accidental loss cannot account for the sheer number of them listed. It is postulated that the concealment of these shoes were intentional; there also seems to be an equal distribution of shoes in terms of demographics. Children’s shoes, women’s’ shoes and men’s shoes are all documented within the Concealed Shoe Index. There was no meaningful difference between the numbers of the left or right shoe. The commonality between the shoes is their well-worn status before being hidden.
Naturally, one wonders why these shoes were concealed. This is where frustration may occur; Dr. Houlbrook prefaces that there are more questions that arise from further exploration than any definitive answers yielded. The prevailing, most popular theory that is provided for the aetiology of the concealed shoes is one of protection. It is thought that placing these shoes, particularly in vulnerable gaps of the house where things could intrude, such as chimneys or rooves, would repel evil forces from the house. The veracity for this evil-ejecting ritual seems to be doubtful; Dr. Houlbrook could not find any contemporaneous literary entries regarding the protective qualities of the shoe in rituals. Instead, she finds multiple literary descriptions of the shoe as a bearer of luck – particularly in the act of throwing the shoe after the beginning of a journey, seen in Charles Dicken’s 1869 novel David Copperfield. Throwing the shoe after ships leave the docks or when people start new work is additionally included in Radford & Radford’s Encyclopedia of Superstitions, published in 1948.
One could conclude that the concealed shoes are a symbol of good luck, then. However, it is impossible to ascertain the purposes of the rituals. Dr. Houlbrook makes a compelling argument for the mutability of meaning that has stuck with me. A 300-year-old tradition is inevitably going to evolve in meaning: there will be shifts in purpose as time inevitably goes on. What might have begun as a ritual for good luck, throwing or otherwise, may have mutated somewhere along the way into one of protection from evil spirits. The mutability of meaning and the impossibility of receiving definitive answers has been a core experience for me, as a MedRen student. Particularly for Old English literature: studying manuscripts and developing theories around it; codicology, palaeography and textuality only serve to provide a general estimate on the cultural contexts and important dates themselves, but never produces a definitive or precise answer. I also share the experience of studying a subject that feels far removed in time, place and the environment. Although there will probably never be exact answers, there are valuable lessons to be learned by speculation and being able to whittle down things to a general timeframe through research.
References
Dickens, Charles. “David Copperfield”. Penguin, 2008.
The Concealed Revealed, Northampton Museum & Art Gallery, 7 Jan. 2020, https://www.northamptonmuseums.com/info/3/collections/61/shoes-2/3.