POST MEDIEVAL IRON SHOE

1700

Iron mule shoe or iron fitting for the heel of a wooden clog or shoe sole. The shape of the shoe and its rectangular nail holes and nail resemble 'tongue' type horseshoes, dating from the 17th and 18th centuries (see Bailey, 1997, page 41).Clark (2004) illustrates a similar Type 4 'miniature horseshoe' on page 120, Fig.86, No.197, which is dated c.1270-1350, but was never used and 'would not function as a shoe cleat' (p.91). He discusses mule shoes on page 78, and concludes that mules were rarely shod in the Medieval period and that the shoe would be narrow and long with a length to breadth ratio of 1.24:1, looking at modern mule shoes. This iron fitting is narrower, as it is 1.43:1, and might therefore have been designed for a clog or shoe.Margeson (1993) illustrates a similar heel iron with the same dimensions, a rectangular section and rectangular nail holes on page 63, Fig.31, No.395, which is dated to c.1700-1800.