Abstract
Early skates, in the form of shin bones of sheep or deer, are to be found in many English museums. Most examples have a hole drilled through the heel end to allow the insertion of a leather thong while the bases of the bones show, usually, signs of having been ground or worn smooth by friction. In the Guildhall Museum in London some of the bones have iron pegs in the heel to hold the strap. It is impossible to say definitely to what century any particular specimen may belong, but it is probable that from very early times until the introduction into England, in the seventeenth century, of the iron-bladed skate, man found that ice could speedily be traversed if he attached bones to his feet and propelled himself along by means of staves. Found with several of the Guildhall Museum bones are bone spikes, doubtless used as tips to skating staves.
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