Once I was a clever boy learning the arts of Oxford... is a quotation from the verses written by Bishop Richard Fleming (c.1385-1431) for his tomb in Lincoln Cathedral. Fleming, the founder of Lincoln College in Oxford, is the subject of my research for a D. Phil., and, like me, a son of the West Riding. I have remarked in the past that I have a deeply meaningful on-going relationship with a dead fifteenth century bishop... it was Fleming who, in effect, enabled me to come to Oxford and to learn its arts, and for that I am immensely grateful.


Tuesday, 22 July 2025

Putting one’s big feet in it on Hadrian’s Wall


Recent excavations at the site of the Roman fort of Magna, which is close to the residential town of Vindolanda, in the hinterland of Hadrian’s Wall, have yielded more leather Roman shoes similar to those from Vindolanda. Preserved in the particular soil conditions of the area, what is especially notable about these new finds are the sizes of many of these military sandals in that they were the equivalent of a modern British size 13.

The finds are discussed in an online article from Live Science at 8 ancient Roman shoes of 'exceptional size' discovered at Roman fort near Hadrian's Wall

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