Shoes of All Sizes

Leather, like wood, only survives in archaeological contexts when either very wet or very dry. Excavations at Perth High Street in the 1970s revealed plenty of waterlogged deposits that were perfect for the preservation of leather items – over 6000 of them, to be exact. Close to 2000 fragments of turnshoes were recovered from Perth High Street. Our conservators have worked on a handful of these during this project. 

Turnshoes – a type of shoe in which the sole was sewn to the upper with right sides together, and the finished object then turned right way out – were a very common style of footwear in the medieval period. When we find fragments of turnshoes in archaeological contexts, they can give us fascinating glimpses into the lives of those who wore them, providing information about everything from fashion to foot size – ranging from a child’s size 4 to an adult’s size 11 in this case – and even occasionally revealing the presence of painful bunions.  

Child’s Shoe

Calf Boot

These various pieces of leather were once joined to create a calf boot, a style quite similar to our model wellies. This style of footwear was popular throughout Europe in the medieval period. It may have been held in place with a thong tied around the ankle or calf, to help prevent the boot sliding around due to the loose fit. You can see how worn this example is at the toe and heel.

Evidence of Bunions

These shoes display the characteristic bulge that is formed when a bunion pushes against the side of the shoe, causing damage to the shoe, and pain to the human! Five of the shoes excavated from the Perth High Street site in the 1970s displayed these bulges.

This shoe belonged to a child. Children’s shoes in the medieval period were mostly quite plain, shaped closely to the foot, and without the pointed toes or other exaggerated features that we see in some adult’s styles of the time.

A More Complex Construction

These fragments are from a type of shoe that featured a separate seat (heel area) and forepart. This is the earliest example of this type of shoe from the excavations at Perth High Street, dating to the early 12th century AD. You can see the thong around the sides, which held the upper portion of the shoe onto the shoe.