Leather-covered hobnailed clog

At a glance

• Region: Tarn
• Materials: wooden sole, leather upper, iron hobnails
• Strengths: warmth, dry feet, a sole that lasted for years
• Drawback: weight

What it is

The book describes this shoe as halfway between the galoche, a leather shoe on a wooden sole, and the sabot, carved entirely from wood. Its upper is completely covered in leather, which protected the foot when snow lay on the roads, while large nails driven into the wooden sole slowed its wear.

Its weight made the walker's step heavy, but it was built to serve its owner for a long time.

Country footwear

Wooden-soled shoes were the everyday footwear of rural France into the twentieth century. They were cheap, warm and dry on muddy ground, and the nails gave grip on ice and stone. A village clog maker or shoemaker usually made them to measure.

Each region had its own forms, from the pointed clogs of Brittany to the strapped clogs of the Alps.

Collecting and displaying it

Look for an intact sole, original nails and leather that has not cracked through. Old leather can be fed gently with a conservation wax, but avoid soaking it.

A pair of country shoes by a door or on a stair landing adds a human note to a French country interior.