Old Town, Poole: in search of the boot-scraper (1)
Introduction
The photograph on this page of Old Town, Poole: in search of the boot-scraper (1) by Mike Searle as part of the Geograph project.
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Image: © Mike Searle Taken: 30 Mar 2014
A reminder of the time before the motor car when transportation was by horse or on foot, and a wet day would soon turn the unpaved streets into a quagmire. It was on such occasions that these cunning little devices (at one time outside many town house entrances) were used to remove the accumulated muck from householders' shoes and boots before entering their front doors. Up to comparatively recent times a survey of Poole's Old Town revealed the existence of at least nine examples of boot-scraper, but sadly only four of them appear to have survived, presumably lost during past decades of development. This C18 wrought iron example is outside Blenheim House, 31, Church Street. http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=412451&mode=adv