A Welsh beach has been the scene of a real historical mystery, with hundreds of Victorian-era leather shoes washed ashore.
The black shoes with metal nails on the soles, probably from the 19th century, turned up on Ogmore-by-Sea beach in the Vale of Glamorgan in south Wales.
Volunteers clearing the beach of rubbish were the first to spot the ancient footwear.
According to Emma Lamport from the Beach Academy project, they immediately realised that this was not just rubbish, but something much more interesting, and began to look for an explanation of its origin.
Traces of a shipwreck?
Locals speculate that the shoes may have been part of the cargo of an Italian merchant ship that wrecked near Tasker Rock about 150 years ago. It rises about three kilometres west of the beach and is only visible at low tide.
Writer Lara Michael, who searches for historical artefacts on the riverside, is convinced: the shoes are “definitely Victorian” and their abundance is almost certainly linked to the shipwreck.
According to Emma Lamport, in just one week volunteers have found around 200 shoes on a small stretch of beach. The coastal clean-up has been underway since September, but no one expected that instead of plastic bottles and fishing nets they would stumble across hundreds of vintage shoes.
Photos of the finds were posted on social media, hoping someone would help solve the mystery of their origins.
Author photo, Beach Academy CIC
How the shoes made it to shore
Versions: an Italian ship carrying the leather shoes sank off the coast and the shoes were eventually carried by the current to the mouth of the Ogmore River.
There they may have become lodged in sand and rocks and then washed ashore periodically.
“Some of the shoes are surprisingly well-preserved, and many clearly show that they are men’s shoes,” Lamport said.
She also speculated that some finds may have been children’s because of their small size.
Lara Micalem adds that women’s feet were much smaller in the Victorian era than they are today.
Echoes of the past
Lara Mickalem is the author of four books about foul play, which is the search for ancient artefacts on riverbanks and dried-up riverbeds.
In the 19th century, this was done by poor people looking for useful or valuable items. Today, mud gaming has become a popular hobby for those who explore river silt and coastal sediments in search of historical objects.
Photographer Peter Britton, author of the Ghost Ships and Tides art project, calls the find extremely interesting. In his opinion, these shoes are “little witnesses of the past, suddenly surfaced from the depths of time”.
Photo: Peter Britton
Michael Roberts from Bangor University’s School of Ocean Sciences notes that while he doesn’t know the details of the alleged shipwreck off Ogmore, many ships wrecked in the Victorian era gradually disintegrate, releasing their ancient cargo. This can lead to unexpected finds on shore.
Similar cases have happened before, with locals sharing photos of similar footwear on social media. One user wrote that he found “small leather shoes with nails” on the same beach.
It seems that the sea will more than once remind us of the secrets it has kept for more than a century.