The best stories from Northampton's world-famous shoe collection (2024)

It’s been a few years now since the Northampton Museum and its world-famous collection of 15,000 shoes closed its doors to the public in 2017.

From Elton John's Tommy boots to Queen Victoria's dainty satin wedding shoes, there is a wealth of history and stories in its midst that brings even the most boring shoe to life.

And that's not even taking into account the fabulous heels, red glittery Kinky Boots and shoes covered in fake chocolate.

Since its closure the building has changed a lot - doubling in size with the addition of a nine-metre-high glazed atrium extension.

When it is able to welcome back the public, it will also boast a new teaching area, café and all-important new shoe gallery.

And while the coronavirus pandemic may have meant the museum’s original June re-opening date is now out the window, there’s still plenty of hustle and bustle going on behind the scenes to keep everything going.

We caught up with senior shoe curator Rebecca Shawcross to find out everything you’ve ever wondered about those shoes, including the weirdest and wackiest pairs that keep people coming back again and again.

Among the unique, bizarre and fabulous, there are stories to make you laugh and cry.

Plenty of celebrities have donated over the years

A host of famous names have added their shoes to the collection over the years and prove to be some of the most popular displays.

As well as donations from the Weakest Link's Anne Robinson to Nick Knowles and his safety boots, highlights include David Beckham’s football boots, Roger Federer’s trainers and the boots worn by Elton John in the 1975 rock opera Tommy.

And then you also have the famous historical figures whose footwear is being safely preserved, including the boots of Prince Albert and the tiny imitation Napoleon boots that once belonged to Victorian dwarf Tom Thumb.

Just because they’re from celebrities, however, doesn’t mean they are always the most glamorous of shoes, as Rebecca explains.

She said: "If they are linked to celebrity we tend to accept them as people seem to love those sort of shoes. We’ve had Blue Peter presenters, they’ve donated shoes in the past, and we have Anne Robinson’s shoes.

“But the thing with that is it tends to usually be just ordinary footwear. So it's only really the association with the celebrity that makes it more interesting - Anne Robinson’s shoes are just a pair of black leather flat slip-on shoes.”

There is a lot to consider when accepting new donations for the collection

It may be a surprise to some, but it’s not just historical footwear that is worthy of collection.

Modern footwear and trainers are less commonly donated, Rebecca explains, but they are still important to document the fashion trends of today.

For a shoe to be accepted into the collection the museum must consider whether they already have examples of its kind or its designer, or whether they carry any important stories behind them.

The collection currently contains everything from the 1989 jelly shoes all the way back to Egyptian sandals dating to 300BC.

Then there’s the more than 1,900 concealed shoes that have been donated from across the world after being found hidden away in homes to ward against evil spirits.

Some shoes have stories will make you cry

Sometimes the most unlikely of shoes will have the best stories behind them.

In some cases this includes ordinary shoes, passed down generations with love and care, or those worn by people who have survived extraordinary circ*mstances.

Rebecca said: “If it's something that we have a lot of already, but it has a really good personal story to it, then we will collect it.

“A few years ago a pair of black Oxfords were offered. And we would normally say no but [the man donating them] really could chart the whole history of him - they were his father’s and when he was at school he borrowed them to go to formal dances in the 1950s.

“His father wore them at his wedding, and then the father passed the shoes to the son who donated them and he wore them at his wedding. And we have the photos of both the father in them and his mother and then him and his wife and him wearing them.

“His father worked in the city so they’ve been in the House of Parliament, Buckingham Palace. They have this amazing personal story to them and a lot of people like that, they like shoes that remind them of their past.”

Describing another pair of shoes, Rebecca added: “We had a pair that were a bequest. It was a woman that died but her auntie had been on the SS Benares that had been taking women and children from the UK across the Atlantic.

"They were torpedoed and 80 per cent of the people on board that ship were killed but her aunt survived, she managed to get in a lifeboat and had kept the shoes she wore.

"They are just practical dark blue lace-up shoes, of the time, nothing special about them at all yet she kept them.”

And some shoes will definitely make you smile

It’s not an exaggeration to say every type of shoe you could imagine is probably in the collection somewhere.

Described as “wearable art”, shoes designed by Nina Marie Shoes are covered in fake chocolate with the words ‘chocoholic’ on the sole.

Then there are the Union Jack Shelleys made famous by the Spice Girls in the 1990s and a pair by Kobi Levi inspired by the humble shopping bag.

And could you imagine wearing those enormous heels designed by the Cypriana Shoe Company in 1970s?

The museum gets calls and visits from absolutely everyone

A trio of Charles Dickens enthusiasts from America are an example of the different visitors Rebecca has welcomed to the collection over the years.

In their case they made the journey just to see exactly what men’s footwear the characters of their time would be wearing between 1830 and 1880.

In her job, Rebecca will also receive phone calls from children studying shoes for school projects to those who have found shoes in charity shops or in their homes and want to find out more about them.

As a curator, the unpredictable nature of the job is one of the things Rebecca enjoys the most.

She said: “What excites me is when you get that phone call from downstairs on reception in the past saying someone has brought in a bag of shoes, and can I have a look? You have no idea, it could be marvellous or the dullest pair but you don’t know until you go down. You never know what may turn up.”

But there’s no surprise when it comes to the museum’s most popular shoe

As well as the most popular shoe, the museum’s boot made for an elephant is also the largest item in the collection.

A firm favourite with visitors, they were created in 1958 for an elephant called Dumbo to protect him from the weather.

Rebecca said: “It was made locally by Lotus for an expedition Cambridge students did in 1959, they wanted to test out whether Hannibal could have really walked over the Alps with his elephants.

“They borrowed an elephant from an Italian zoo who did complete the trek and they made her four canvas boots with a leather bottom.

“If I go locally people know the museum as the place with the elephant boot. And then you go further afield and sometimes the only thing people know about Northampton is the museum with the elephant boot.”

Other well-loved numbers in the collection include the wedding shoes worn by Queen Victoria and the Kinky Boots from the 2005 film bringing Northamptonshire shoemaker WJ Brooks’ extraordinary story to life.

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