Martin Roe says there is a "lack of any historical folklore" to back the
clogs as superstition argument. I'm not so sure. Shoes and boots are
common objects in British superstition - just think of how shoes are tied to
cars as good luck symbols in modern weddings. And shoes and boots -
generally single items not pairs - are often found deliberately hidden in
the walls, under the floors and up the chimneys of old houses; the practise,
which goes back to the 16th century at least, appears to have been carried
out in the belief that concealed shoes bought good luck to the household and
may even have helped to ward off the Evil Eye. The custom seems to have its
origins in a British folktale about a minor saint - can't remeber which
one - who was involved in an arument with the Devil. After a lot of cunning
word play the saint managed to trap Old Nick in a shoe - and ever since then
shoes and boots (and clogs) have had magical powers. The best account of
magic shoes I've come across is in 'The Archaeology of Ritual and Magic' by
Ralph Merrifield (ex museum of London) and published in the late 1980's.
There are of course going to be many examples of clogs being left in mines
for purely utilitarian, boring, work-a-day reasons. But I'm convinced that
many other examples, especially those involving single clogs, are better
explained as part of a superstitious act. The clogs found by Mark Pinkney
and the Durham Dales group were all found in a fairly inaccessible part of
the workings and there seems to be a deliberate pattern (forefields, stopes,
collapsed levels) behind their locations. I've noticed a similar pattern
with clog finds in Derbyshire. I wonder if clogs were left when a
particular part of the mine was being abandoned - perhaps as a 'thank you'
offering to the local spirit of the mine and also to ensure good luck for
new work elsewhere in the mine?
Perhaps what we need is a gazeteer of clogs. Not quite as daft as it
sounds. If we could get enough comparative information on clog finds -
location in mine, associations, date of working etc - then it should be
possible to attempt an answer to the ritual offering versus one-legged-miner
argument. Any information out there on the list?
Well, I'm off now to put some fresh garlic around the windows...
John Pickin
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