Lancashire Clogs

Lancashire Clogs
Clogs

The Lancashire clog is actually an adaptation of the 'sabot' worn by the French and Dutch peasantry and was introduced into the county some six-hundred years ago, when Flemish weavers settled in the Bolton area. The footwear was speedily adopted by local folk, but the rough and stony footways of Lancashire demanded that clogs were given extra protection, hence the addition of 'irons' to the soles.

Clog making flourished in Wigan in the late 19th Century and trade directories show that there were forty-nine cloggers in 1882 and this number rose to a peak of sixty-three cloggers working in the town in 1909. As late as 1937 there were still thirty-three cloggers in business.

Clogs, with their thick wooden soles and heavy irons, gave rise to the bizarre 'pastime' of clog fighting. A fight would often be used to settle a trivial quarrel and simply involved the clog-wearing combatants in kicking each other until a clear victor emerged. Clog fighters were sometimes naked but for their clogs and 'audiences' were often made up of women!

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