BCT became the owner of this historic souter’s (or shoe-maker’s) shop in 1999. It was built in 1896 by James Merchant on a croft in Ballogie and he continued his souter’s business there until his death in 1941. The contents then survived largely untouched, with boxes of shoes on the shelves in the front shop, the souter’s tools and materials still in place in the back workshop, detailed ledgers of his business and a range of other related material

The Souter’s Shop is a remarkable ‘time capsule’ and attracted a good deal of press attention when it was found in 1999. While such rural souter’s shops were widespread in Scotland until little over a hundred years ago, the Ballogie Souter’s Shop appears to be the only one that still survives intact in rural Scotland.

BCT has carried out a wide range of repairs and maintenance to the Souter’s Shop building, catalogued the contents of the Shop, carried out conservation treatment where necessary and researched the local history of the Shop. In addition to on-going maintenance of the buildings and its contents, BCT provides guided visits to the Souter’s Shop for small groups of school pupils, local members and others.

© Birse Community Trust 2010. All rights reserved.