Permanent exhibition
On display daily - four galleries celebrating our shoemaking history. Meet the people, the shoemakers and the stories behind Clarks shoes in the place where it all began in Street, Somerset. From its Quaker origins in Somerset to its influence around the globe. Find out how shoe making and shopping has changed over 200 years and step into life as a shoemaker.
Welcome to our permanent galleries
Welcome to Street
Discover the remarkable story of Street, how Clarks shoemaking company transformed Street from a farming village into a centre of footwear production that reached around the globe. Find out how this part of Somerset was shaped by the business and its Quaker roots through stories of education, suffrage, abolitionism and tales from our shared past. A small village with a big heart!
Welcome to street highlights
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Shoemaking
Step into the world of shoemaking and discover how a local craft became a global industry. Making Shoes explores the journey from hand-stitched shoes made at home to large-scale factory production that reached customers around the world.
Learn how innovations in machinery, materials, and manufacturing transformed the way shoes were made — and how these changes shaped the lives of the people who made them. From life on the factory floor to the community beyond its gates, this exhibition brings the human story of shoemaking to life.
Buying and selling
A celebration of shoes! Relive the experience of shopping for shoes in the 1950s and 1980s. Be inspired by 200 years of advertising and influencing and discover how design, display, and advertising have captured the imagination of different generations. From elegant heels fit for royalty to everyday styles crafted for comfort, this gallery showcases the full spectrum of footwear fashion.
Fossils
What lies underneath the factories? Echos of an undersea kingdom inhabited by sea dragons! Somerset is linked to the Jurassic coast by fossil rich layers of rock. Meet the Ichthyosaurs and plesiosaurs that called Street home 200 million years ago. An internationally renowned collection of marine reptile fossils uncovered and collected by Alfred Gillett a member of the Clarks shoemaking family.
Fossils highlights
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