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  • Object number
    61/206
  • Description
    This is a wheeled drag shoe, a type of drag shoe wagon brake used particularly in West Wales. It is a convex iron shoe with small iron wheels attached to the front. When the wagon is going downhill, the shoe is placed under one of the wheels. This drag shoe is thought to have originated from the Porlock area of Somerset.
  • Archival history
    MERL 'Handwritten catalogue' form – 'DRAG SHOE // A wheeled drag shoe reported to have come from the Porlock area.', Geraint Jenkins, J. 'The English Farm Wagon', p. 100 – 'DRAG SHOES // ... In West Wales another device for braking is used. This is a convex iron shoe, 2 feet long, which is in effect a section of a tyre. It has two pairs of flanges, into which the wheel fits and is equipped with a pair of small iron wheels, no more than 9 inches in diameter. // For going downhill the shoe is placed under one of the wheels of the vehicle, the small cast iron wheels to the front. It is customary to leave four or five sets of these shoes at the top of a hill for, unlike drag shoes, wheeled shoes are never carried by the vehicle. At the top of the hill the vehicle is fitted with one of the shoes. At the bottom the shoe is left at the roadside to be picked up later by a cart going uphill. These wheeled skids are made by blacksmiths.'
  • Object name
    Drag shoe
  • Associated subject
    INFRASTRUCTURE PROVISION : transporting and travelling
    Wagon
  • External document
    • L:\MERL\Objects\JISC 2012\60 series negatives\60_4575.tif - High resolution image
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University of Reading | Archive and Museum Database
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