These interesting items of footwear are called pattens, and date to the 18th or early 19th century. Streets were not paved and animals ran freely, so women needed a way to protect their shoes and silk slippers. Pattens were made of a wooden platform attached to a metal ring and had leather straps to attach to the ladies feet. With the introduction of vulcanized rubber, and rubber galoshes, in the 1830s, pattens fell out of favor. These pattens are 10 1/2 inches long, 3 1/4 inches wide, and the wooden platform sits 2 inches above the ground.