Hundreds of Victorian hobnailed shoes have washed ashore on the UK’s Ogmore By Sea Beach in the Vale of Glamorgan, South Wales. The remarkable trove of footwear was discovered by volunteers from the Beach Academy cleaning up rock pools on the beach last week on December 18.
 
Nearly 450 of the strange boots and shoes have so far been found by members of the  community interest group, who called it an ‘amazing day of discovery’.

So far, where they came from is unclear. The Daily Mail refers to their appearance as a “real shoedunnit!.”

Emma Lamport, 56, from Beach Academy said, ‘Can anyone help us shed light on the hundreds of leather shoes we are finding at Ogmore and Llantwit beaches?

‘They resemble shoes from times past rather than modern styles, mainly adult males and children.

‘We are slowly excavating them from rock pool zones where they have been embedded into sediment or trapped in rocks as part of our rock pool restoration project.’

Ms Lamport, from Ogmore, added: ‘Over 200 were removed in Ogmore alone this week, while other shoes were found at Llantwit beach in larger quantities.

‘The strongest theory is that the shoes come from a shipwreck called the Frolic that hit Tusker rock about 150 years ago as it was carrying shoes and cargo from Italy. 

‘They were washed up the Ogmore river and every now and then they appear especially when there has been erosion of the river bank. 

‘Another theory is the fact that Bridgend was also quite famous for shoemaking, apparently cobblers, who would dump old boots which could not be mended into the river at Portobello with over 50,000 pairs of boots and shoes being produced each week around 1960. 

‘Some of the boots are in pretty good condition and with some you can very clearly see they are a men’s boot.’ 

Thanks to Alaric Bond for contributing to this post.