A fragment of a leather sole from a shoe in The Armitt museum’s collection may come from within the fort and likely belonged to a child or woman due to its narrow size. Finds like this from other Roman forts have helped to change archaeologists’ understandings of who lived in fort spaces. Shoes for women and children have been found not only in the residences of commanding officers, but even in ordinary barracks blocks. They suggest that the families of rank-and-file soldiers may also sometimes have lived in the fort, not just in the civilian settlement outside its walls.

In the Roman world, clothing and footwear were markers of class and status, visually announcing someone’s role in society. Even children would be expected to dress according to the family’s status. Soldiers’ boots were heavy affairs with thick soles and hobnails. Other shoes could vary from simple one-piece coverings of leather to dainty sandals with punched decorations that would not look out of place in a shoe shop today.

Now move on a few metres to the headquarters of the fort. This is the central building of the surviving visible structures at the centre of the fort.