A letter found at Vindolanda fort, near Hadrian’s Wall, sent by a mother to her (doubtless shivering and grateful) soldier son, says ‘I have sent you … woollen socks .… two pairs of sandals and two pairs of underpants.’
It seems the Bronze Age boat found at Dover a few years ago was once saved from sinking by having someone’s underpants shoved in the hole — the ultimate sacrifice.
The excavation of Kingston-upon-Hull’s Augustinian Friary unearthed the shroud burials of six men of 1410–30 who were fashion victims — they were all wearing ‘boxer shorts’, underpants of good-quality wool. This was a new fashion, brought about by the adoption of canvas breeches, which chafed terribly — hence these underpants ‘for chaps’.
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