Civilian Spats

[MacMillan of Rathdown]

London, in 1890, had approximately 300,000 "working" horses on the streets (10,000+ drawing trams); with each horse dropping between 15 and 35 pounds of manure daily -- roughly 7.5 million pounds -- the streets were something of a mess. Gentlemen would "turn up" their cuffs when traversing the streets on foot, and every doorway was graced with a cast iron "boot scrape"-- often with built in brushes on the sides-- to clean muck off boots.

[SlackerDrummer]

Gentlemen would "turn up" their cuffs when traversing the streets on foot, and every doorway was graced with a cast iron "boot scrape"-- often with built in brushes on the sides-- to clean muck off boots.

One of the original boot scrapes at my house (built in 1896) is right next to the front steps. I've got to repair the one that goes by the back entrance.

And of course spats were to keep that muck from the part of the shoes you had to touch with your hands (the laces).