A visit to the Ballogie Souter’s Workshop
Earlier this year, my colleague Brandon Hamer and I travelled North to undertake a condition assessment of objects contained within the Ballogie Souter’s Workshop, in Aberdeenshire. The shop belonged to James Merchant, a Souter, which is a Scottish and Northern English term for a cobbler or shoemaker, who lived and worked in Ballogie. Merchants’ shop, which has remained largely untouched since his death in 1941, contains a fascinating array of tools and materials related to shoemaking, as well as a number of items relating to everyday life, giving a unique snapshot into life in the early 1900’s.
Brandon Hamer, pictured inside the Souter’s Workshop
This remarkable A-listed building and time capsule came into the care of the Birse Community Trust in 1999, who have painstakingly recorded and catalogued the entire contents of the shop. Now, after successful fund raising, capital works are planned to preserve the building, and its contents, in perpetuity. But first, AOC Archaeology were brought in to assess the collection and provide conservation recommendations, as well as plans for relocation of the building’s contents.
During the assessment we gained a fascinating insight into how Merchant would have worked, from the positions of his tools on his workbench, to the collection of horse saddles and leather satchels on the adjacent shelves with small sections cut out, suggesting they were possibly used to harvest offcuts for repairs or make shoes.
We also uncovered a number of objects related to Merchants’ personal life, including beekeeping equipment, Top hats, and Jubilee memorabilia tins!
During the assessment we were visited by the children from Ballogie Nursery, who came to view the workshop and learn about shoemaking! The children had a wonderful time and were really engaged with the collection, and our conservators were treated to a very special homemade thank you card following the visit!
Stay tuned for another post coming soon, when we return to the site to assist in the relocation of the building’s contents to the Old School in Finzean, where we will be training volunteers and Birse Community Trust trustees in how to conserve and care for these remarkable objects!
If you would like to learn more about the Ballogie Souter’s Workshop, or to make a donation towards the preservation of this site, visit the Birse Community Trust website.
