Maker in Residence – Jeremy Atkinson

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For a whole week traditional clog maker Jeremy Atkinson will be in the Makespace.

Jeremy comes from a long line of clog makers and is one of the sole remaining traditional hand carvers making bespoke clogs in England.

The clog is thought to have developed from a patten shoe, a protective work overshoe worn in Europe throughout the Middle Ages. Patten shoes were a wooden block/sole with a leather strap to attach it, and were designed to be worn outdoors over a normal shoe to raise the wearers feet above the mud. Those who could not afford shoes wore these directly against their skin, leading to the development of the clog.

English clogs are traditionally made from a combination of wood and leather. The English clog makers tended to carve Welsh and West Country alder, Scottish birch and Lincolnshire willow. The Welsh used alder, birch & sycamore. It was said that they paid more for sycamore however, and Jeremy has found it to last much longer in muddy conditions.