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Scotland's last shoemaking shop to be restored after being frozen in time for half a century
Historic Environment Scotland grants £74,500 to Birse Community Trust to restore the shop with original tools and fittings intact, preserving shoemaking heritage.
- Grant funding from HES enables Birse Community Trust to restore Scotland's last shoemaker's shop, awarded �74,500 for repairs and conservation.
- The Souter's Shop was opened in 1897 in Birse, Aberdeenshire by local shoemaker James Merchant and operated by him and his son until the 1940s.
- Inside, original tools, ledgers and fittings remain untouched, while conservation works on the roof, timber, chimney and joinery glazing will stabilise the building and fund training for volunteers and traditional skills trainees.
- Birse Community Trust plans to open the interior to on-site visitors and create a virtual exhibition and online tour to explain historic shoemaking traditions.
- Dr Susan O'Connor said the Souter's Shop in Birse is "a fascinating building with an important story to tell" and noted its category A listing as nationally significant.
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Scotland’s Last Shoemaking Shop to Be Restored Decades After It Closed
A community group is being awarded funds to restore what is said to be Scotland’s last remaining shoemaker’s shop. Historic Environment Scotland (HES) is providing the Birse Community Trust with £74,500 to help it conserve and re-open the building – which is said to have lain “completely undisturbed” for decades after it ceased trading. The Souter’s Shop – souter is the Scottish word for a shoemaker or cobbler – was opened in the Aberdeenshire v…
·New York, United States
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Evening Standard+5 Reposted by 5 other sources
Scotland’s last shoemaking shop to be restored decades after it closed
The Souter’s Shop in Birse, Aberdeenshire, lay undisturbed after the business shut down in the 1940s.
·London, United Kingdom
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Total News Sources13
Leaning Left6Leaning Right1Center3Last UpdatedBias Distribution60% Left
Bias Distribution
- 60% of the sources lean Left
60% Left
L 60%
C 30%
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