A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



it will be well to place on record in this history 

 of Northamptonshire (essentially a shoemaking 

 county) a short description of the methods 

 employed. 



We will take the boot as supplied to the 

 army in the eighteenth century. It should be 

 mentioned that a boot of that class (a fairly 

 strong boot) was produced by practically the 

 same process as had obtained at least a century 

 earlier, and was continued with little develop- 

 ment till i860. 



Fashion in shape and style varied often, but 

 the way in which the boot was fastened together 

 remained the same. The boot complete con- 

 sists of 'upper' and 'bottom.' In the trade 

 the term ' upper ' comprises all that part of the 

 boot to which the sole and heel are attached — 

 the upper portion, in short. The expression 

 'bottom' covers not only the sole and heel, but 

 the connecting portions between them and the 

 ' upper,' which are styled ' insole ' and ' welt.' 



Now for its making : Firstly, the ' upper ' 

 must be produced. From a calf skin or a cor- 

 dovan hide are cut pieces of leather in such 

 shapes that when sewn together they should be 

 capable of being moulded into a comfortable 

 covering for the foot. These pieces of leather 

 must be joined carefully, in some cases the 

 thickness of the material rendering a sharp 

 piercer of steel necessary with which to make 

 a hole, through which the bristle, and in its 

 wake the well-waxed thread, may pass. 'Closing ' 

 is the trade term applied to this process. Until 

 the end of the eighteenth century the upper 

 was closed by the journeyman shoemaker or 

 members of his family ; after that time ' closing ' 

 was made a special branch of the craft. This 

 done, the ' upper ' and a sufficient supply of 

 leather for the bottom is placed in the hands of 

 the cordwainer. Taking the wooden ' last,' 

 he attaches with a few short nails to its under- 

 side enough leather to cover it cut from the 

 side (belly) or top end (shoulder) of a well- 

 tanned hide, where the leather is moderately 

 thin and pliable. This is called the ' insole,' 

 and it is pared with a sharp knife close to the 

 edge of the ' last.' 



Stretching the ' upper ' on the ' last ' till it 

 lies over its underside and upon the ' insole ' for 

 about half an inch all round, he pins it tem- 

 porarily to the said ' insole ' with a few nails 

 (lasting tacks). Next he takes a strip of leather 

 about an inch wide (the welt), and running it 

 around the outside edge of the ' last ' so that 

 it lies upon the portion of the 'upper' which 

 is tacked to the ' insole,' sews by means of a 

 sharp, pointed, curved steel awl and a hog's bristle 

 attached to a waxed thread the ' insole,' ' upper,' 

 and ' welt ' together in the following manner : 

 The curved awl is thrust downward first, then 

 upward, half through the thickness of the insole, 

 and right through the portion of upper lying 

 thereon and the welt. 



A sufficient hole being made the awl is with- 

 drawn and the stitch made. A well-waxed thread 

 a yard or more long has a stiff hog's bristle 

 attached to each end. One end is passed into 

 the hole from right to left, the other from left 

 to right, and pulled up tight. The result is a 

 seam not only of great strength, but practically 

 waterproof, as special care is taken that the hole 

 made by the awl shall only be of a size that 

 will be completely filled by the waxed thread. 

 The three substances are thus united. 



All lasting tacks and nails are then withdrawn 

 and soft leather put up the centre of the ' last ' 

 to make all level. Next the sole (the thick piece 

 of leather which actually meets the ground) is 

 stitched to the ' welt,' the heel attached, the 

 whole smoothed and finished and the 'last* 

 pulled out from the top of the now completed 

 boot. 



Lighter-substance boots, shoes, and slippers 

 were made in a different way; that is to say, on 

 the turnshoe, sewround, or pump principle. 

 Taking the ' last,' the operator fastened to its 

 underside the sole, wrong side up, with the grain 

 or outer surface to the ' last.' The ' sole ' was 

 well wetted to render it pliable. Then taking 

 the ' upper ' he turned it inside-out, and in that 

 condition shaped it over the ' last ' and attached 

 it to the sole by sewing. This done, the ' last ' 

 was withdrawn and the boot turned outside-in 

 and again put on to the ' last,' when it was 

 properly moulded into shape and allowed to dry. 

 Of course, for this method neither a very 

 stout ' upper ' nor thick ' sole ' could be employed, 

 or the turning outside-in would have been an 

 impossibility. All light 'pump' work, dancing 

 shoes, slippers, and such-like are still made in 

 this manner, and also the thin top-boots worn 

 by jockeys. 



The antiquity of these methods is so great 

 that it is impossible to date it. Not only were 

 all light boots made in this way from the six- 

 teenth century onward, but before that time 

 there does not appear to have been any other 

 method employed at all. For such stronger 

 boots as were required it appears that a second 

 'sole' was sometimes superimposed,' but all 

 boots and shoes were made on the turnshoe or 

 weltless principle, for it should be observed that 

 in these boots was neither ' welt ' nor ' insole.' * 



> Two specimens in the Guildhall Museum, 

 London. 



* Some very interesting examples of shoes belonging 

 to the fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth centuries, 

 made on this principle, may be seen at the Guildhall, 

 London, and in the Northampton Museum. A 

 shoemaker did his woric seated on a low stool and 

 held it across his knees, keeping it firm by means 

 of a strap (called stirrup) passed over the shoe or 

 boot on his lap and under his foot. As an anvil on 

 which to hammer out the seams and level the bot- 

 toms he used a circular stone or pebble laid on his 

 knees or lap. Whence the old saying : ' You may 



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