However, what was unacceptable then, and is still now, is treading into homes with muddy boots.
But a simple doormat was not enough to get rid of the filth that stuck to ones shoes.
What was needed was a shoe scraper.
Visitors would scrap the mud off their shoes on these simple devices before stepping into the building.
The French called them decrottoir.
Others called them simply boot scraper.
An antique boot scraper in a German city.
A boot scraper in front of house entrance in West End area of Edinburgh city, Scotland.
Sometimes a small niche was built into the wall with the scarper across it.
Once there were thousands of these scrapers across Europe.
But during the Second World War, many scrapers were removed and melted to recover the precious metals.
Photo:Bilal Kocabas / Dreamstime.com
This old fashioned cast iron boot scraper has decorative squirrels on each end.
Photo:Rosemarie Mosteller / Dreamstime.com
A cast iron boot scraper outside a Georgian house in England.
Photo:Gary Perkin / Dreamstime.com
A quirky design for a shoe scraper, with shoes at either end.
Photo:Plazaccameraman / Dreamstime.com
A boot scraper in York, England.
Photo:Michael Livsey/Flickr
A boot scraper in Luxemburg.
Photo:Jwh/Wikimedia Commons
A boot scraper in Brussels.
