Boots and Shoes A good pair of boots or shoes made all the difference to everyday life. And they had to last. Most poorer people had just one pair of shoes to their name; for children that usually meant a pair of hand-me-down boots. A village of any size generally had a shoemaker. Even the leather was probably obtained from the nearest tannery. In early Victorian times Bakewell had up to forty shoemakers. At the other end of the scale, even small villages like Priestcliffe, Brough, Little Longstone and Over Haddon had their own shoemaker. As the century wore on, the tradition of boot and shoemaking at Eyam and Stoney Middleton expanded into family concerns using simple machinery. Production then moved into factories. But women workers grew round-shouldered and developed poor eyesight. Severe breathing problems affected those involved in the final buffing and scouring of leather and brass rivets. The air was thick with particles of sand-paper, leather and fine brass. Read More >> More Pictures Industries