Skegness Magazine

A little snippet from a 1936 Skegness newspaper containing an interesting reference to Oliver Cromwell’s boots:

CROMWELL’S BOOTS
Burgh, in the words of the late Mr. Jabez Good, was a particularly healthy town, and for several years he shaved six persons over eighty years of age, namely, J. Bowls, 96; E. Houghton, 92; T. Andrews, 90; W. Kelk, 87; W. Barnes, 86; and J. Lee, 84.
The above-mentioned Jabez Good owned a small Museum, in Burgh, and at one time Cromwell’s boots were contained therein. A Miss Thimbleby presented them him for use in the Museum.
As Burgh stands on a hill it is possible to see the Church Tower from the coast, and what a marvellous silhouette it makes, with the sun setting behind it. The Tower stands high above all other buildings and looks for all the world like the keep of one of the ancient Norman castles. The sunlight fades and we see no more the tower where:
Alone and warming his five wits,
The white owl in the belfry sits. —Tennyson.
D. C. de M.

***

Now, it transpires that, only a few weeks ago, a pair of Oliver Cromwell’s boots were sold by auction, The 60cm-high (24in) boots had belonged to the late John Fane, a descendant of the 8th Earl of Westmorland. Fane had inherited the boots which were displayed in the hall at Wormsley Park, Oxfordshire, where Mr Fane, who died last year, previously lived. The boots fell into Mr Fane’s possession when he inherited the country house in 1954.

From our news article, we can gather that the Burgh Museum folded up before 1936, in fact, as Jabez died in 1911, maybe it had dissolved then. So what happend to ‘our’ Cromwell boots which were in the Burgh Museum?

Exactly how many pairs of Oliver Cromwell boots can there be still festering around after nearly 400 years?

Wouldn’t we like to know if there’s a connection?

Picture above: The 17th century pair of Oliver Cromwell’s boots which sold for almost £4,000 at an auction in November, 2009.

Picture left: Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell (1599-1658)