Hundreds of leather, hand-made shoes from a 150-year-old shipwreck have washed up on a beach.
The strange haul was discovered by volunteers cleaning up rock pools.
Nearly 450 of them have so far been found by members of the Beach Academy community interest group.
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They were on Ogmore By Sea Beach in the Vale of Glamorgan, south Wales, as reported by What’s The Jam.
They are thought to be from a shipwrecked Italian cargo vessel which struck nearby Tusker Rock about 150 years ago.
Emma Lamport from Beach Academy said: “Can anyone help us shed light on the hundreds of leather shoes we are finding at Ogmore and Llantwit beaches.
“They resemble shoes from times past rather than modern styles, mainly adult males and children.
“We are slowly excavating them from rock pool zones where they have been embedded into sediment or trapped in rocks as part of our rock pool restoration project.
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“Over 200 were removed in Ogmore alone this week.
“Other shoes were found at Llantwit beach in larger quantities
“The strongest theory is that the shoes come from a shipwreck called the Frolic that hit Tusker Rock about 150 years ago. It was carrying shoes and cargo from Italy.
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“They were washed up the Ogmore river, and every now and then they appear, especially when there has been erosion of the river bank.
“Another theory is the fact that Bridgend was also quite famous for shoemaking, apparently cobblers would dump old boots which could not be mended into the river at Portobello, with over 50,000 pairs of boots and shoes being produced each week around 1960.
“Some of the boots are in pretty good condition, and with some you can very clearly see they are a man’s boot,” added Ms Lamport, who lives in Ogmore.
Two years ago, Beverley Peatling found a similar haul of shoes.
She said at the time: “There is an amazing graveyard of old footwear on the banks of the river today.”
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