1) The vamp was that part of a boot which covered the front of the foot, from French <i>avant pied</i>, and the verb referred to cutting and shaping the leather used in making or repairing it.
n.d. Item pro la vaumpedyng xij parium ocrearum lowsed aretro xiijd ob
1582 Agreed that the shomakers of this Cyttie … may sole and vampett all manner of bootes as well ould as newe with blacke leather onelie and not with bend or reade leather … and shall not in any wise … coble any manner of bootes but onelie sole and vampet them … upon paine of vjs viijd, York. They were expressly forbidden from using ‘clouts’ or ‘spetches’ for that purpose
that is from doing the cobblers’ work. Similarly, in Beverley in 1627 no person was ‘to work both old and new wares … or mix old and new leather together except in vamping or soling of old boots or shoes’.