09-05-2013, 08:57 AM
Quote:Could soldiers with leather working skills (and perhaps army leather that they 'borrowed') have been making shoes for sale to the local community as a method of earning a little extra money?I think that's quite possible too, although shoemaking (as opposed to replacing hobnails) would require quite a range of tools. There is a cobbler's workshop at Vindolanda discussed in the 2001-2002 site report, but I don't remember if women's/children's shoes were found there as well, will check later.
(As an aside, the Vindolanda 2001-2002 site report comes exclusively on CD-ROM and won't open with anything other than Internet Explorer 8 or earlier, which means I have to borrow other people's computers just to read it. There's a lot to be said for dead tree publishing sometimes!)
