OBSOLETE WALKING GEAR

OILED BROGANS

The first boots to resemble our own were brogans, used from the 1600s by Scottish and Irish workers. Oiled for water resistance on boggy ground, they took a while to break in, there being no such thing as left t or right.

CLAUDE GLASSES

In the 1700s we were just beginning to appreciate the picturesque – but a whole view in one go? Too much! Better to capture and frame a portion of it in a small dull mirror that made it look like the work of thenpopular French painter Claude Lorrain.

NORFOLK JACKETS Before jackets were warm, or waterproof, or convenient, they were at least smart: the box-pleated button-up tweed Norfolk jacket was de rigeur for the outdoorsman from the 1860s – and destined to be completely blindsided by the invention of the zip.

HOBNAIL BOOTS

They date back to Roman times, but hobnails were still the best way of gripping the ground when Mallory & Irving made their Everest attempt in 1924. In 1937, finally, Vitale Bramani (of Vibram rubber soles) would come up with something better.

WAXED COTTON

It wasn’t breathable, and needed renewing, but paraffin wax was a step forward from sailors’ linseed oil – which went yellow, got stiff and cracked off in the cold – while the world patiently awaited the invention of the waterproof membrane.

TRIANGULAR TENTS

Slab-sided tents have been around since we held the doors open with mammoth bones. But a 1975 leap in tentpole technology resulted in geodesic designs superior in every way, and spelled their demise.