Made to Mend
Cobbler’s last
Every boot in the house was resoled on it.
- Made by
- Unknown foundry
- Date
- About 1910
- Material
- Cast iron
- Size
- 32 cm tall
- Cost new
- Two shillings
- Came from
- Dorothy Merrin’s house, 2009
On view Made to Mend, beside the boots. Top floor, until 1 March 2027.
A three-footed last for a man’s, a woman’s and a child’s shoe. Nobody in the family was a cobbler, but in a house where boots cost a week’s wages, everybody learned to nail on a new sole.
The smallest foot is the most worn. There were five children in the house in the 1920s.
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
Sewing tin
The family, 1920s onwardsMade to Mend, at the end of the caseCost new: a biscuit tin, reused
Where to see it
Made to Mend, top floor.
You’ll find it beside the boots. 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.