Ghillie brogues - why the dislike and resentment..?

[OC Richard]

square dancing actually.

With Scottish Country Dancing you're up on your toes whenever you're in motion, which is why the dancing Ghillies are so thin and flexible. They don't really have soles per se.

Now with Square Dancing the whole foot can be in contact with the floor right? So you'll probably want actual shoes with some kind of soles.

Actually back in the 1980s when I was an avid Country Dancer my partner and I were out at a folk festival and we joined in with the Square Dancers. Seemed to us that the two kinds of dancing had all the same basic sorts of steps, though they called them different names. Once we learned what names went with our familiar steps we had no problem following the caller.

And we thought "how cool would it be to have a caller in Scottish Country Dancing!"

Because we have fixed dances that we have to learn and memorise in advance.

[OC Richard]

A week ago I visited Vindolanda, a Roman fort a bit south of Hadrian's Wall.

(For those not aware the Romans manned forts both north and south of the wall. No-one knows what system, concept, or purpose these forts, and indeed the wall itself, fit into.)

Due to the oxygen-free bacteria-free soil leather, wood, cloth, etc are perfectly preserved and over five thousand Roman shoes have been recovered. (The shoes found were ones which had been discarded by their owners, thus the poor condition of many.)

Of the few on display, these had an uncanny resemblance the proto-Ghillies drawn by the Allen Brothers and "RR McIan".

Being as the Vindolanda shoes weren't discovered until 1973 one wonders just what the Allen Brothers based their "ancient Highland" footwear on. Is the resemblance coincidence, or something else?

[figheadair]

A week ago I visited Vindolanda, a Roman fort a bit south of Hadrian's Wall.

(For those not aware the Romans manned forts both north and south of the wall. No-one knows what system, concept, or purpose these forts, and indeed the wall itself, fit into.)

Due to the oxygen-free bacteria-free soil leather, wood, cloth, etc are perfectly preserved and over five thousand Roman shoes have been recovered. (The shoes found were ones which had been discarded by their owners, thus the poor condition of many.)

Of the few on display, these had an uncanny resemblance the proto-Ghillies drawn by the Allen Brothers and "RR McIan".

Being as the Vindolanda shoes weren't discovered until 1973 one wonders just what the Allen Brothers based their "ancient Highland" footwear on. Is the resemblance coincidence, or something else?

We will probably never know whether that Allan Brothers' design was coincidence or cultural plagiarism. As you have noted before, the basic style is fairly ubiquitous and, accepting that wheels have to be round, if one were to design a new one it would probably follow the tried and tested shape.

[figheadair]

BTW, isn't Vindolanda fantastic. What a treasure.

[Jock Scot]

BTW, isn't Vindolanda fantastic. What a treasure.

British understatement at its best!

[OC Richard]

Epiphany in Glasgow August 2024.

[spr0k3t]

I'm personally not a fan. I've owned the same pair for about 18 years... outside of the dust, minor scuffing of the souls, they look brand new. I have other footwear I prefer to wear when I'm kilting around. From informal slacker to full outfit. Anything from flip-flops or sandals to OxBlood Solovairs or custom patent leather Italian side zips. Gillie Broughes... they sit in a box, inside a box, under a bed. The last two times I laid eyes on them was the last two times I moved.