Dick Turpin (the highwayman robber) was known to ride through these parts, I'm wondering, could the shoe have belonged to his horse, Black Bess?
I never heard of the horseshoe being hung on the 'back' door or bedroom door. I found a horseshoe too but I can't remember where I found it my guess is at the flea market in a box I was digging through. Anyhoo, I have mine hanging inside on our 'front' door. Only my grandson noticed it.
I did research the legend of the horseshoe and found various ways it's applied. A horseshoe that was buried under the cornerstone of a building/business was said to bring it good fortune. That sounds on point to @Bert Davies' discovery in his garden.
It's more likely that a shoe came off the mule that was pulling the plow that was plowing the garden that the farmer was plowing.
Yes, I think this is what happened. Maybe you'll find some loot that Dick Turpin dropped buried in the garden, too.
While I love your theory, @Shirley Martin , I am going to disagree with it being correct. Mules have very hard and tough feet, and they would not need to be shod to plow the garden. Even if they were being driven on dirt roads they would be fine, so only on rocks or hard pavement would they need shoes, and maybe not even then. Even the horse does not need shoes for walking in the dirt. However, if he did already have shoes on, then he might be more likely to overstep and pull a shoe if he was walking in soft dirt, so there is still that possibility.
I seem to remember that the mules that Daddy had had shoes. I could be wrong. Memory is not always accurate.
Beth, I did find a rusty footpump a few years ago at the other end of the garden, do you think that belonged to Dick?
Good luck depends on it not being attached to an equine skeleton hoof. If still attached, this could indicate bad luck especially if the horse has a bullet hole in its skull. If the skeleton of the rider is found near by, then this indicates bad luck was experienced by someone many years ago. Such finds are best left laying and covered back over and never spoken about.
Well, I am unsure what codswollop is, but I say best to leave it since it adds iron to the soil. Cod is an excellent fertilizer when buried and decaying fish does have a wallop, so leaving the iron in the soil as a fertilizer, might be considered codswallop.