Celtic Shoes

06/01/2025

Some leather kit made over the winter so far - all handmade with veg tan leather - a wine carrier with corkscrew, a custom OgamNua belt and a custom archer bracer.

04/12/2024

I have handcrafted a series of OgamNua leather belts and they are on special offer for the next ten days. Each belt is engraved with the full OgamNua linear script. Handmade with Veg Tan Leather, dyed brown, brass buckle, and ready to post.
Standard belt, various lengths @ €65 plus postage
Narrow belt, various lengths @ €60 plus postage
Postage within Ireland is €6.60, UK €9.50, Europe €9.50, USA €16, and Australia €22.50 Our last posting will be on the 14th December.

You can make an order by emailing me at [email protected] Custom belts with personalised messages engraved on them to your specifications are made to order with four weeks lead time, simply inquire via the email address.

12/09/2024

My shop - I make cool things in leather - many are custom jobs and all items are crafted in high quality Italian leather to the highest standards I can achieve. Boots and shoes are only available as 'try on' or 'get your feet measured'. I have some boots and shoes in stock but because a proper fit is so crucial I do not post from stock - you have to try them on or get measured, this is the only option on footwear. The pic below is of my shop display at my home near Castlerea, Co Roscommon. It is in constant change - latest additions are duffel bags in light weight leather. https://www.celticshoes.ie/

30/06/2024

This is the south window that looks into my workshop where I make and repair things, mostly leather. The sh*tka spruce trees in the reflection were clearfelled and replanted, the dust and cobwebs are incredible layers of time - the pleasure of craft working is still with me as are my tools - today I'll add new soles and heels to Niamh's house shoes.
Next project will be a Handbag with the Four Treasures of the Tuatha Dé, the 3 symbols of the realms, an alter 'cloth' of the realms in leather, OgamNua key code, a sacred knife in a leather sheath and other secret sacred items.

07/06/2024

This Sunday afternoon 1 to 5pm = can you help out in our woodland? We have trees down, branches down over pathways etc = you'd help out harvesting windblown willows and processing them into logs and woodchip... We are near Castlerea Co. Roscommon, also an opportunity to learn some indigenous wisdom - let us know if you can join us [email protected]

10/04/2024

Handmade leather Belts with OgamNua grooved, 1.5" wide by 36" and 38" long, real solid brass buckle and Chicago Screws

02/03/2024

Today's talk and slide show features Cú Chullain agus Fionn McCumhail and their home in the Stars. Here is one of the images from today's class - the costume of warriors from that era. All leather work by me includes Celtic Shoes (Lough Gara style) sword scabbard, arm bracer, belt and bag and a shield covered on both sides with leather with a strong edge in leather all hand sewn. This life size figure 'Dathaí' lives at Rathcroghan visitors center - really happy to have dressed him in leather kit. More on the Mystery School classes at https://www.celticdruidtemple.com/saturdayclasses.html

07/02/2024

My replica Carrigallin Shoe as a pair - the Leitrim shoe

08/01/2024

A special translators belt for the OgamNua Teacher course. https://www.celticdruidtemple.com/ogamnua-teacher-training-course.html Solid Brass D buckle 38mm wide - hand made to measure €95 plus postage on its own. Included in the actual course price with the book - "Your Celtic Path, a seekers guide" with a handmade leather briefcase, lined A4 pad and 4 colour biro - plus the 4 step course itself

29/11/2023

There is no tanning factory in Ireland, we export over 3million cows but we do not produce leather... If each hide was worth just €100 = €300million that could ... Why is there no uproar?

It's true 🤯
If we're not making use of the materials that would otherwise go to waste then we are part of the problem.

14/11/2023

A nice mention of my craft work by a respected profesional

vol.132 (week 46/23): Ulster Museum Belfast (NIR)

This week in TurnshoeTuesday, we present you the most important archaeological museum in Northern Ireland – the Ulster Museum, formerly known as Belfast Municipal Museum and Arts Gallery. The museum holds at least one medieval shoe and a wooden last in their exhibitions.

The museum
The area of Belfast was settled long in history from the Bronze Age on, but it remained a small village through the Middle Ages. A first Norman castle was probably built around 1200. Belfast only became a town in 1613 and filled with English and other settlers. Today, Belfast is Northern Ireland’s capital with about 350k inhabitants.
Ulster Museum (https://www.ulstermuseum.org/) was founded in 1821 as Belfast Natural History Society; a first exhibition was launched in 1833. The museum, called Belfast Municipal Museum and Arts Gallery, moved over to a new building in 1929. It was renamed to Ulster Museum in 1961 and a Brutalism style extension was opened in 1972. Since 1988, the museum is part of the National Museums and Galleries of Northern Ireland and the largest museum of Northern Ireland. After renewal works in 2006-2009, the museum today presents a mixture of archaeology, zoology, botany, arts and fashion.

Shoes in the museum
Inside their medieval gallery, Ulster Museum holds at least a beautiful shoe and a wooden last and we think they are on display in the permanent collections. The shoe is of the A.T. Lucas type 1, a medieval Irish high-status single-piece shoe – which is comparable to early medieval central and north European slippers made from a single piece of leather, but survives here later in the Gaelic parts of medieval Ireland.
The pictures of the shoes are used under friendly permission by Con Connor, who is the author and shopowner of the homepage www.celticshoes.ie and an experienced and skilled shoemaker and will be added to our Facebook shoe gallery soon. Also check out his Facebook blog here: https://www.facebook.com/CelticShoes.

Digital offers and further research
More details about the shoes can be found on the page of Celtic shoes here: https://www.celticshoes.ie/aboutcelticshoes.html. In particular, the shoes can be admired here: https://www.celticshoes.ie/uploads/2/0/0/7/20074727/2_orig.jpg and the last here https://www.celticshoes.ie/uploads/2/0/0/7/20074727/7_orig.jpg on the page of Celtic Shoes. Also check out the essay about medieval gaelic shoes here: https://www.celticshoes.ie/inthefootstepsofthenoblegael.html.
A nice tour of the museum can be found here on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0JDjnJsSCY.
The museum offers a pretty deprecated digital tour here: https://www.virtualvisittours.com/ulster-museum/.
The picture of the museum is used under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license by user Bazonka from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ulster_Museum_3.JPG .
Beyond the listed links, some of the information about Belfast’s and the museum's history is cited from the corresponding Wikipedia sites.

Literature
Anthony T Lucas: Footwear in Ireland. Journal of the County Louth Archaeological Society 13.4. 1956
Con Connor: In the footsteps of the noble Gael. In: Joseph Mannion, Katharine Simms (eds): Politics, Kinship and Culture in Gaelic Ireland, c.1100-c.1690. Wordwell. 2018.

Last updated: 14.11.2023
Hint: The complete TurnshoeTuesday map can be found here:
https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1M-CQxxbfVfh7GtlSsNhZa5MTteiI2Dbb&usp=sharing