Mike Cahill maker and repairer of traditional English clogs A
Brief History Ever since man came down from the trees, and stood
on a thorn, he has tried to protect his feet from the wear and
tear of everyday life. He would have used materials that were to
hand. Skins and bark would have been the logical first choice,
but you can bet that slats of wood held in place by thonging or
something similar won't have been far behind. Wood has real
advantages, it lasts a long time, keeps the feet dry as it
doesn't hold moisture, wood insulates the foot from the cold
ground. In England for at least the past eight hundred years
this type of footwear was known as "Pattens" they were usually
worn over leather or fabric shoes to raise the wearer's foot
above the mud of the unmade road. Poorer people who couldn't
afford shoes wore wood directly against the skin, and so
developed the clog, for several hundred years the words were
interchangeable. In different parts of Europe people came up
with similar solutions for similar pr