Hitchin boot-scrapers (1)

Image: © Stefan Czapski Taken: 9 Jun 2013

It is a curious fact that in some English towns (Hitchin being one of them) boot-scrapers have survived in good numbers, while elsewhere they seem to have disappeared. From what I've seen, I'd say that most are associated with Georgian buildings - relatively few with Victorian ones. These days boot-scrapers may appear little more than quaint relics - it is no longer easy to imagine the state of the streets when horses were a major part of the urban scene, and we tend to forget that as late as Victorian times cattle and sheep were regularly herded through town centres. The photo was taken in Sun Street, across the road from the Sun Inn. The scraper is rather a humdrum example, and appears to be a casting, rather than a wrought-iron job made by a local blacksmith.

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