Skan9

Pattens

97

Shoes and Pattens

le 14th-century). Scalę

>łed patten and hinged sarty 15th-century). For L136 & 140.

133 Wooden patten sole (late 14th-century). The two parts probably belong together, although one has been securely identified as alder (alnus sp.) and the other as possibly willow or poplar (salicaceae). The single-thickness leather hinge is nailed into a rebate, and nails at the toe and at the tip of the 'poulaine' show the position of the straps and leather edging-strip (part of which survives at the heel; cf. Fig. 134). Scalę 1:3.

134 Wooden patten (late 14th-century). The leather back-strap was originally double-thickness throughout, and the scalloped edge suggests that the layers were held together with binding-stitch. Scalę

1:3.

oval-shaped toes, to match the shoe fashions of the time, and were provided with straps at both the heel and the toe (Figs. 135-6). In comparison with the broad bands common in the 14th century and earlier, these straps were narrow and insub-stantial, similar to those used with the contem-porary leather-soled pattens (see below), and the toe strap was set much further forward. This was probably because of the flexible sole, which will have responded morę precisely to the movements of the foot and will have caused less stress over the instep. The straps themselves were attached with nails and, as before, a strip running along the edge of the sole behind the nail heads protected them from chafing and provided a morę finished appearance.

The woods used in the soles have been identified by Rowena Gale, whose conclusions are sum-marised in Table 17. This shows that, apart from the beech fragment mentioned above, just two groups are definitely present - alder (alnus sp.) and woods of the family Salicaceae. The latter in-cludes both willow (salix sp.) and poplar (populus