Shoes to 'ward off witches' found hidden in roof

Chris Fellows found the shoes while stripping back a thatch roof in Oxfordshire around Halloween last year

A thatcher has shared his most "unusual" find made while working on a roof - a pair of shoes believed to date back two centuries.

Chris Fellows, who lives in Thame, Oxfordshire and runs Thame Thatch, has found many other items such as tools from old craftsmen and newspapers during his career.

He said shoes were believed to have been placed in the thatch in the early 19th Century to ward off evil spirits.

Mr Fellows called the curious discovery a "good find" and said they had since been put back in the new thatch.

Mr Fellows said he had worked on houses that date back centuries

Mr Fellows, who got into the craft through his stepdad, works on individual thatched properties for up to four months at a time.

He said he was used to finding old items while working.

"I quite often find thatching tools in the roof, which a previous thatcher might have forgotten about and thatched over.

"We usually find newspapers shoved in there so the next guy can pre-date [the roof].

"We found papers from [World War Two] with victory adverts."

But the find he came across last year while preparing a roof for a new dormer window was "slightly different".

"We were stripping it right back to the rafters. In the loft space, we pulled out these shoes."

His subsequent research into shoes found they dated from around the beginning of the 19th Century.

"It was a time when superstition was rife - they were put in there to ward off evil spirits and witches.

"Apparently, the shoe, because it's so close to the foot, would always contain a little bit of your soul in it - so they would stick them in the roof.

"And a lot of the roofs we work on have white window sills, because witches wouldn't cross a white doorstep."

Mr Fellows said he had found the shoes "quite close to Halloween".

"Me and the guy I was working with took the rest of the day off, just in case."

Mr Fellows said he had found many other items such as tools from old craftsmen and newspapers left in thatches

The shoes were put back in the thatch along with a time capsule from the family who live in the house.

Mr Fellows said the find was "rare" and "quite unusual".

"It's very rare you strip right back to rafters.

"You might find an old clay pipe in the roof but this is a good find."