Sufficient evidence has been collected, however, to prove that shoes were in use at a very early age, and if not before the Roman invasion, at least during the Roman occupation of Britain; and that now about to be offered will, it is anticipated, effectually dispose of the assertion made by Dr Pegge, Sir F. Meyrick, Bracy Clark, Youatt, and many other writers, that the art of shoeing was first introduced into England by the Normans. It may also tend to correct the equally erroneous opinion enunciated by some of these and other authorities, to the effect that the Goths and Vandals who overthrew the Roman empire were the first to make this practice of arming the hoofs known to the western world. The Goths and Vandals at any rate did not reach Britain, and although the proofs that shoeing was known before their arrival in Italy and Gaul are strong enough, the testimony is still more decisive as to the employment of iron hoof-plates in this country at an earlier period than that invasion. Neither have any Tartar hordes ever crossed the sea to deposit the shoes of their steeds in our soil, as on the continent of Europe.
Some good specimens of the pattern we have referred to as being Celtic and Gallo-Celtic, have been found in situations and under circumstances which lead us to the conclusion that they also belong to that epoch, and were manufactured by kindred hands.
Sir Richard C. Hoare found the halves of two horse-shoes in a British barrow,[1]but as they are not described
- ↑ History of Ancient Wiltshire, London, 1812—21. Fosbroke is the authority for this statement. I have carefully looked through Hoare's splendid work, but can find no mention of these articles;
