Over 400 shoes have been found across four Welsh beaches in recent weeks
19:57, 23 Dec 2025Updated 20:14, 23 Dec 2025
Hundreds of old shoes washed up on beaches in the Vale of Glamorgan(Image: John Myers)
A baffling discovery has emerged along the Vale of Glamorgan coastline, where hundreds of old-fashioned shoes have been uncovered during a major rockpool restoration project. A total of 437 shoes have so far been excavated from rockpool zones on four beaches across the Vale, with the vast majority found at Ogmore and Llantwit Major.
The finds were made as part of an environmental initiative led by Beach Academy, supported and funded by the Vale Local Nature Partnership. According to a spokesperson for Beach Academy, the shoes are not recent items of litter but appear to date back many decades.
“They resemble shoes from times past rather than modern styles, mainly adult males’ and children’s shoes,” the spokesperson said. For the biggest stories in Wales first, sign up to our daily newsletter here.
“We are slowly excavating them from rockpool zones where they have been embedded into sediment or trapped in rocks as part of our rockpool restoration project. We have no idea how long they have actually been trapped there – many stories, I’m sure.”
The shoes are being uncovered from rockpool zones on four beaches in the Vale, with 293 found at Ogmore, 134 at Llantwit Major, nine at Penarth and one at Whitmore Bay. At Ogmore alone, 200 shoes were removed in just one week, highlighting how deeply embedded some of the footwear has become within the coastal environment.
The project has undertaken 15 rockpool restoration sessions since September, with volunteers working to remove long-standing marine litter in an effort to restore the rockpools to their original natural state.
The shoes have washed up on beaches along the Vale of Glamorgan (Image: John Myers)
Several theories have been suggested to explain how such a large number of shoes ended up along the shoreline. The strongest theory links them to a shipwreck known as the Frolic, which struck Tusker Rock around 150 years ago while carrying a cargo of shoes and other goods from Italy. It is believed the shoes were washed up the Ogmore River and periodically reappear, particularly when erosion of the riverbank exposes them.
Another possible explanation lies in Bridgend’s industrial past. The town was once famous for shoemaking, particularly around 1960, when more than 50,000 pairs of boots and shoes were being produced each week. According to the spokesperson, cobblers would often dump old boots that could not be mended into the river at Portobello, where they may eventually have been carried out to sea.
The discovery has sparked intrigue on social media, with one person commenting, “We often find parts of old leather shoes down that way. The soles are always very small like a child’s shoe.”
Many of them appear to be children’s shoes (Image: John Myers)
Another said: “There were loads washed up about a year ago too, down Newton.”
Despite the mystery surrounding the origins of the shoes, Beach Academy stresses that the focus of the project remains firmly on environmental restoration. The organisation pointed out that the shoes form only a small part of the wider problem, stating that more than 12,000 items of litter have already been removed from the coastline, and that this work has “barely scratched the surface”.
The project at the beaches is focused on restoring the rockpool habitats there back to their original state (Image: John Myers)
“We wish to restore rockpool habitats back to their original natural state by removing marine litter that has been there for some time, either embedded in sediment or trapped in the rocks,” the spokesperson said.
Beach Academy is now appealing for more volunteers to join the effort. “Volunteers are needed,” the spokesperson added. “People can join us.”
Those interested in taking part in beach cleans and rockpool restoration sessions can find more information and sign up here.