About
The Shoemakers Museum, cared for by the Alfred Gillett Trust, tells the two-hundred-year story of shoemaking in the Somerset town of Street, home to the Clarks shoe company since its Quaker founders began making sheepskin slippers from off-cuts of their family's wool business in the early nineteenth century. Opening in September 2025 to mark Clarks' bicentenary, the museum occupies The Grange, a restored Grade II listed sixteenth-century building within Clarks Village, giving the collection a genuinely historic setting appropriate to the depth of the story it tells.
Four permanent galleries draw on a collection of more than 25,000 shoes and a wider archive of over 100,000 objects and documents, tracing the development of Clarks from a small Quaker family business rooted in the ethical and communal values of the Religious Society of Friends into a globally recognised footwear brand. Displays follow the evolution of shoemaking technique and design across two centuries, from early handmade sheepskin slippers through to the Desert Boot, launched in the early 1950s and still one of the most enduringly popular styles in the company's history, alongside the countless other designs that have carried the Clarks name around the world.
The museum is named for Alfred Gillett, a cousin of C. and J. Clark's founders and himself a notable figure in his own right: an ironmonger by trade who retired to Overleigh House in Street and spent many years researching and excavating Jurassic ichthyosaur fossils from local quarries, a fossil-collecting sideline that connects the museum's holdings to Street's rather unexpected significance as a source of important marine reptile fossils. This dual identity, part industrial heritage museum and part reflection of one family's wider intellectual curiosity, gives the Shoemakers Museum a more varied character than its name alone suggests.
Set within Clarks Village, itself built on the site of the original Clarks factory and now a well-known retail outlet destination, the museum offers visitors a genuinely rare opportunity to trace the full history of a major British manufacturing brand from its Quaker origins to global recognition, all within the town where that story actually happened.
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Plan Your Visit
⏱️ Recommended Visit Duration
💡 Visitor Tips
- Combine your visit with Clarks Village's outlet shopping, since the museum sits within the same complex.
- Allow at least an hour to see all four galleries properly.
- Visit Glastonbury Tor and Abbey nearby to make a fuller day out in the area.
- Check the website for guided tour times if you would like a more in-depth visit.
- The museum opened in September 2025 - confirm current hours before travelling, especially around Christmas.
- Free parking is available at Clarks Village.
- Ask about the Alfred Gillett ichthyosaur fossils - an unexpected and distinctive part of the collection.
Highlights
The Quaker Origins of Clarks
The museum's opening galleries trace the founding of what became the Clarks shoe company by Quaker brothers in early nineteenth-century Street, beginning with sheepskin slippers made from off-cuts of the family's existing wool business.
This Quaker heritage shaped the company's early business practices and its relationship with the town of Street, where Clarks became not just an employer but a significant civic and social presence, building housing, amenities and community institutions in a pattern typical of several notable British Quaker manufacturing families of the period.
The Desert Boot
Among the more than 25,000 shoes in the collection, the Desert Boot holds a special place: launched in the early 1950s and inspired by rough suede boots worn by British officers in the Western Desert during the Second World War, it became one of the most enduringly popular and widely imitated shoe designs in modern footwear history.
The museum's display of Desert Boots across successive decades traces the design's remarkable and continuing appeal, from its practical military origins to its adoption as a genuine style icon.
Alfred Gillett's Ichthyosaur Fossils
The museum's namesake, Alfred Gillett, a cousin of the Clarks founders and an ironmonger by trade, spent many years in retirement researching and excavating Jurassic ichthyosaur fossils from quarries around Street, a personal scientific pursuit largely separate from the family shoe business.
The museum's display of fossils from his collection connects the story of Clarks to Street's rather unexpected wider significance as a source of important marine reptile fossils, adding a genuinely unusual dimension to what might otherwise be a purely industrial heritage museum.
Over 100,000 Objects and Documents
Beyond the shoes themselves, the Alfred Gillett Trust's wider archive holds more than 100,000 objects and documents relating to the Clarks business, its workforce and the town of Street, including business records, design drawings, advertising material and photographs spanning two centuries. This substantial archive makes the Trust a significant resource for researchers of British business, design and social history, not simply a display of finished footwear on gallery shelves.
Design drawings in particular allow researchers to trace how a single shoe style evolved through successive prototypes before reaching commercial production.
Collections
The Shoemakers Museum's collection, cared for by the Alfred Gillett Trust, holds more than 25,000 shoes and a wider archive of over 100,000 objects and documents relating to the two-hundred-year history of Clarks shoemaking in Street, Somerset. Four permanent galleries trace the company's Quaker origins, the evolution of shoemaking technique and design including the iconic Desert Boot, and Clarks' growth into a globally recognised brand, alongside the town of Street's development as a company town shaped by its Quaker employer.
The museum also displays Jurassic ichthyosaur fossils excavated locally by Alfred Gillett, connecting the collection to the wider intellectual interests of the family behind its name, all housed within The Grange, a restored Grade II listed sixteenth-century building at Clarks Village.
Quaker Origins
The founding of Clarks by Quaker brothers in early nineteenth-century Street and its early business and community ethos.
The Desert Boot and Beyond
The design and enduring popularity of Clarks' most iconic shoe, alongside the wider evolution of shoemaking technique.
Themes
Time Periods
Current Exhibitions
No current exhibitions. Please check the museum website for updates.