Made to Mend
Work boots, resoled
Joseph’s grinding boots: patched on the toes and soled four times.
- Made by
- Unknown bootmaker; repairs by the family
- Date
- About 1935
- Material
- Leather, iron nails
- Size
- Men’s size 9
- Cost new
- Twelve shillings
- Came from
- Dorothy Merrin’s house, 2009
On view Made to Mend, beside the last. Top floor, until 1 March 2027.
Grinders wore boots like these on wet stone floors all day. These were Joseph Merrin’s, and between 1935 and 1962 they were resoled four times on the cast iron last that stands beside them in the case.
The patches on the toes are where the boots met the trough of the grindstone. The laces are new: we replaced them, and the label says so.
More from Made to Mend.
Dinner plate, riveted
Unknown pottery, Staffordshire, about 1900Made to Mend, in the long caseCost new: threepence; the mend, a penny
Brown teapot, mended lid
Unknown pottery, Staffordshire, about 1935Made to Mend, in the long caseCost new: tenpence
Cobbler’s last
Unknown foundry, about 1910Made to Mend, beside the bootsCost new: two shillings
Where to see it
Made to Mend, top floor.
You’ll find it beside the last. Made to Mend is on the top floor; the lift is by the front desk.
Open Wednesday to Sunday, 10:00 to 17:00, and until 20:00 on Thursdays.