The manufacture of shoes became the principal feature of the economy of the small Somerset market town of Street during the nineteenth century. A Quaker, Cyrus Clark began a leather-working business in the town in 1829 and the following year began to make shoes. Later in the century his descendants applied the sewing machine and other new technology to the trade, and developed a substantial factory-based enterprise, which is still a powerful brand, although most manufacturing now takes place in the Far East. In the late nineteenth century the Clarks built a model village for their workpeople, with terraced housing in the Gothic style focussed on a Gothic community centre that takes its name from St Crispin, patron saint of shoemakers. The shoe museum, which is part of the Clark complex, has a large collection of footwear both from Britain and other countries, but shows particularly the kinds of boot and shoe that have been made in Street.