Revealing the Ritually Concealed: Custodians, Conservators, and the Concealed Shoe

Abstract

Concealed shoes are footwear purposely concealed within domestic buildings. The motivations behind their concealments are unknown to us, but the prominent theory suggests that shoes were employed as apotropaic (evil-averting) devices. The metonymical connection between shoe and wearer is believed to imbue the shoe with the necessary protective power, and one theory suggests that, to possess this power, shoes must bear the unambiguous imprint of their past wearers, hence why the vast majority of them are old, well-worn or damaged. From the point of discovery (often during restructuring work), the concealed shoe’s biography can follow a variety of courses. Some debate, for example, surrounds their removal. Some finders believe it to be “bad luck” to remove concealed shoes and therefore wish to keep them in situ. Others are donated to museums, where still more debate surrounds their treatment: should they be restored by textile conservationists or left in their original state, their damaged conditions being considered central to the interpretation of the custom? This paper aims to trace the complex biographies of several examples of concealed shoes following discovery, considering how they have been variously perceived and treated by their finders and custodians.

Keywords:

• Concealed shoes
• museums
• conservation
• popular belief
• apotropaic

Notes

1 Northampton Shoe Museum are currently renovating their galleries and reconsidering the display of concealed shoes, a process which will be outlined in Houlbrook & Shawcross (forthcoming).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Ceri Houlbrook

Dr Ceri Houlbrook is an Early Career Researcher in History and Folklore at the University of Hertfordshire. Her primary research interests include British folklore, both past and present, and the heritage and material culture of ritual practices and popular beliefs.

[email protected]

Rebecca Shawcross

Rebecca Shawcross has been the shoe curator at Northampton Museums and Art Gallery since 1998. She is responsible for the Designated Shoe Collection. She is particularly interested in the curation of shoe displays, orthopaedic footwear and exploring why we wear the shoes we wear.