A Home's Hidden Sole

Concealed shoes found in walls, chimneys, and floorboards are unveiled as historical talismans, warding off evil for hundreds of years

In 1991, renovations began at Knebworth House, a sprawling Tudor-gothic estate about an hour outside of London. One year prior, the mansion had celebrated its quincentennial, five hundred years of history having passed within its walls. Knebworth House had seen it all—visits from Queen Elizabeth I and Winston Churchill, performances by Charles Dickens a…