More ancient shoes found at British fort

A surprising discovery in a millennia-old site has raised questions about the soldiers who were stationed there.

Archaeological finds from the ancient Roman military fort of Magna in northern England have provided an amazing insight into the men, women and children who occupied this northern outpost of the Empire almost 2,000 years ago.

This year, the Vindolanda Charitable Trust’s archaeologists, supported by teams of volunteers from across the world, have been excavating the fort’s northern defensive ditches. When the semi-anaerobic low oxygen deposits within the ditches were reached, the first of 32 shoes were uncovered.

It soon became apparent that some of these shoes were very large. One leather shoe sole was reported to be 320 mm long, its length making it one of the largest in the Trust’s collection. The team continued to discover more ancient shoes, several of them being of an exceptional size. Eight shoes from the Magna site are now recorded as 300 mm or over in length, with one holding the current record for being the Trust’s largest shoe at 326 mm long.

Many large shoes found in one place

From the shoes uncovered to date at Magna, 25 per cent are classed as ‘XX-large’, being 300 mm-plus in length. In comparison, of the shoes uncovered at the fort of Vindolanda, 7.8 miles west of Magna, and of which the size can be determined, the average shoe size is a much smaller length of 240 to 260 mm.

The Vindolanda Charitable Trust now has a collection of around 5,000 ancient leather shoes uncovered from sites under its care. These include very small baby’s booties, elaborate summer sandals and marching boots. The Trust’s excavation at Magna Roman fort, which is a significant five-year project supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, is now adding to that tally.

Dr Elizabeth Greene, associate professor at the University of Western Ontario and Vindolanda’s shoe specialist, has seen and measured every shoe in the collection. She commented: “I think there is something very different going on here at Magna. Even from this small sample uncovered, it is clear that these shoes are much larger on average than most of the Vindolanda collection.”

Dr Andrew Birley, the Trust’s chief executive and director of excavations, added: “It reminds us that not every population was the same, that wide variations between the regiments and people who served along Hadrian’s Wall could be cultural and physical. Without artefacts like these wonderful shoes from Magna and Vindolanda, it would be almost impossible to know information like this.” 

The photograph at the top of this article shows the 326 mm long Roman shoe sole from the Magna fort.

Publishing Data

This article was originally published on page 4 of the July/August 2025 issue of SATRA Bulletin.

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