Roman Leather

The information here is taken from the thesis A Comparative Study of Roman-period Leather
from Northern Britain by Charlotte Douglas.

Evidence of Roman leather in Scotland has been found primarily at military forts and civilian settlements (vici), as well as in isolated bog deposits. Over 14,000 individual leather finds are known from northern Britain, surviving almost exclusively in waterlogged contexts

Key Archaeological Sites

• Bar Hill: This fort yielded 585 published leather items, including a significant proportion (approximately 31%) of women’s, youths’, and children’s shoes. A unique sewn shoe sole featured an incised inscription within a bulla-shaped frame.
• Camelon: Excavations revealed shoemaking waste, including a distinctive cut-out for a one-piece shoe. A substantial assemblage of 78 shoes was found in the southern annexe ditch, with nearly 70% belonging to women or children.
• Rough Castle: Findings included leatherworking offcuts and shoemaking waste. Notable items include a child’s shoe with nails protruding through the insole and another elegant child’s shoe featuring a pelta-shaped stamp
• Newstead: Although much of the material remains unpublished, it is known to contain significant proportions of women’s and children’s shoes. It also yielded a piece of tentage with a “S.D.V” stamp, matching a similar find from Carlisle.
• Inveresk: The fill of a well in the vicus (civilian settlement) produced several offcuts derived from shoemaking.
• Cramond: A well within an industrial complex yielded a child’s shoe sole and leather fragments indicative of salvaging or small-scale repair
• Castlecary: The assemblage here includes 87 footwear items, with approximately 8% identified as belonging to women or children.
• Elginhaugh: Discoveries included a triangular leather offcut and fragments of a child’s shoe from a ditch, as well as a potential woman’s shoe from a well within the principia.

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