More than 400 leather hobnailed boots, thought to date back to the 19th Century, have been found.

Mystery surrounds the appearance of hundreds of Victorian hobnailed shoes which have washed ashore on a beach.

The black leather boots, thought to date back to the 19th Century, were discovered by volunteers cleaning up rock pools on Ogmore By Sea Beach in the Vale of Glamorgan, south Wales.

Emma Lamport from the Beach Academy social enterprise which found the shoes said there was speculation locally that they could be from a shipwrecked Italian cargo vessel said to have struck nearby Tusker Rock about 150 years ago.

Author and mudlarker Lara Maiklem said the boots were “definitely Victorian” and likely to have come from a shipwreck due to the quantity found.

  • frongt@lemmy.zipEnglish
    11·
    2 days ago

    Nah, after a couple years in UV sunlight, the plastic will break down.

    Into small pieces and microplastics, anyway, but they won’t be Garfield phones any more.

    • HellsBelle@sh.itjust.worksOPEnglish
      2·
      2 days ago

      The BBC article posted here is dated 2019 and says that the phones started showing up in the 80’s … so 20-30 years and the sizes of the plastic are not small or micro.