Tudor streets were not covered with tarmac, nor were the pavements paved both were just compacted earth. When it rained, and especially in winter, the streets would turn to thick mud. Towns and cities were very unhealthy places. There were no proper sewers (except in Bristol) and all kitchen and toilet waste was thrown into the streets where it lay in heaps at street corners. The usual household toilet was a large pail which was inevitably emptied out of an upstairs window into the street below, regardless of passers-by. Things were just as bad outside towns as in the country the ditches running between properties were used as open sewers.
It was very hard to keep your feet clean and dry under these conditions. Shoes were very rarely waterproof so rain, snow and mud, let alone the sewage lying around would have made getting about on foot very unpleasant. Several types of overshoe were devised to raise the foot further above the ground; these were known as “Pattens”, wooden shoes with blocks underneath which gave extra height to the wearer. They were designed to be slipped on over an ordinary shoe. Pattens first appeared in the 14th century and by Tudor times were worn by everybody. These were very plain, which suggests that they belonged to the poorer classes. Those belonging to a wealthy person would probably have had some decoration on the leather.
Tudor Shoes
http://www.localhistories.org/shoes.html
In the Middle Ages peasants wore wooden clogs for working in muddy conditions. In the towns people wore wooden platforms called pattens under their shoes. (They had straps to hold them on). Some pattens were several inches thick.
In the Middle Ages shoe makers were called cordwainers. The word is derived from cordovan the name for leather from Cordova in Spain.
In the 16th century some people had deliberate cuts in their shoes called slashes. Sometimes they were slip on shoes but sometimes they were tied with latches. Early Tudor shoes did not have heel. However in the late 16th century women in England began to wear shoes with high heels.
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