shoes&pattens1

APPENDIX I

The excavations

The footwear described in this volume came from ten separate excavations conducted during a period of just over ten years. A brief description of each of them is relevant not only as generał back-ground but as a specific guide to interpretation. The naturę and scope of each site - whether a smali ‘watching brief or a major area excavation -and inevitable differences in the condition of the leather and in the recovery methods have subtly biased the collection as a whole, giving rise to many smali anomalies. It is immediately obvious, for example, that there are relatively few early 14th-century shoes, at least in comparison with the to tal from the second half of the century. This is not because there are fewer early 14th-century sites - indeed, there are morę - but because on one of them (Custom House) the areas opened were very smali, on another (Trig Lane) the organie deposits of this datę were very poorly pre-served, and on yet another (Dowgate) only a limited ‘watching brief, rather than a formal excavation, was possible.

Information about the size of each group, its condition and the method of conservation is pro-vided in Table 21. The groups themselves have been variously dated by dendrochronology, associated datable objects (coins, pottery, pilgrim souvenirs) and, occasionally, historical or docu-mentary references. The main arguments are summarised below, but for fuli details the reader is

165 Plan of the City of London, showing sites excavated.

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