'The most numerous is that shown in figure 64.
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| fig. 64 |
At the toe it is more than twice as broad as at the heel, but it is thinner throughout than a German shoe of now-a-days. All shoes of this kind are furnished with calks at the heels, and sometimes at the toes, some of which have been welded on after the shoe was made, and others formed from the shoe itself. The greater number have a groove, in which there are generally eight nail-holes. The seat of the shoe is flat. The heads of the nails are sometimes narrow and sometimes broad, and project beyond the shoe. This variety of shoe is of several sizes, and no difference can be perceived between those of the fore and hind feet. According to tradition, it has been assumed that these broad shoes dug up in certain places were brought into the country by foreign armies, particularly by the Swedes (1632-48); but if one considers that not quite a hundred years ago there were no high roads in the country, and that horses were used mostly on badly-constructed paths, it is then probable that with us such a broad shoe was customary and necessary for special protection to the hoof. Still less should it be assumed that these shoes, as some would wish us to believe, were introduced by Roman armies; for the Romans have been expelled Germany since the 3rd century, and it might well be asked whether iron would remain so long in the ground (1500 years) without becoming entirely destroyed by rust. . . .
