Handcarved wooden clogs
Jeremy Atkinson’s custom-made traditional clogs are crafted using methods which have stood the test of time
Aworkshop in the Herefordshire town of Kington is filled with the strong smell of leather and wood. Shelves are packed with piles of leather pieces and ancient boxes full of nails and tacks. Wooden clogs are stacked high, waiting to be picked up by customers, while baskets full of lasts sit on the shavings- and sawdust-covered floor. More baskets are filled with old tools. A stove gives off the evocative scent of burning wood. In the corner is a wooden trestle workbench with a large ring at one end, on which a long, sharp knife is hooked. This is where Jeremy Atkinson has hand carved his traditional clogs since 1980. He creates his wooden footwear in the same way as a clog maker would have during the Industrial Revolution. “It takes years to perfect the art of clog making,” he says. “You cannot teach yourself. You need guidance and have to be taught, learning to carve wood first of all.” Clog making was not his first choice of career. Trained as a teacher, he worked in a range of jobs, including teaching at a special school, selling bikes and helping former military personnel find a new trade. In between, he helped a clog maker in Tregaron in Wales for a year in the late 1970s. The work was unpaid, but helped him learn his craft. “I knew I wanted to work with my hands,” he says. “I’m not an artist, but a craftsman. You learn by rote, and develop an eye.” Finally, he moved to Herefordshire, where he opened his shop. For the last 36 years he has been making his bespoke, hand-crafted clogs, designed to perfectly fit each individual buyer. He is an excellent champion for the benefits of clogs, as he wears nothing else on his feet. “They are warm in the winter and cool in the summer,” he says. “Your foot never sweats in them, and they offer great support as well as being incredibly comfortable.”
Choosing the wood
Jeremy makes his clogs from start to finish, including felling the wood for the bases and cutting it himself. The wood comes from local coppices of sycamore or birch, sometimes alder. He picks nursery trees that