Size 14 Roman shoes found at fort in Northumberland

Archaeologists have been left baffled after unearthing “unusually large” 2,000-year-old Roman shoes in Northumberland.

- ALEXANDER BUTLER

Eight shoes at least 30cm (11.8in) long - the equivalent of a UK size 13 to 14 - were discovered at Magna Roman Fort earlier this year. Archaeologist Rachel Frame said the leather shoes had all been found in a defensive ditch, which the Romans also used as rubbish dumps.

“We have to assume it’s something to do with the people living here, having bigger feet, being potentially taller, but we don’t know,” she told the BBC. “Are the people living there from a specific region? Could that be why their shoes are so much larger? But at the moment, it’s sort of, well - this is unusual.”

Due to low oxygen conditions in the soil at the sites, the leather shoes have been preserved for centuries, according to Dr Frame.