Black Romans, the first Africans in Lancashire | Blog Preston

Who were the earliest Black settlers in Lancashire? An ancient skeleton of African descent was discovered in East Kent in 1953. PicturesshowhowBrockholesBrowA59worksareprogressing SignatureLivingPrestonbehindShanklyHotelenteradministration Broughton’sD’UrtonLanemosquepublicinquirylivestreamdetails RingwayroadworksupdategivenbyLancashireCountyCouncil BrockholesBrowdiversionroutesconfirmedaheadofseven-weekclosure BlackRomans,thefirstAfricansinLancashire Postedon-24thOctober,2021-7:00pm|Author-GeoffreyWhittaker|Postedin-Fulwood,FyldeNews,Grimsargh,History,Kirkham,PrestonNews,RibbleValleyNews,SouthRibbleNews,Walton-le-Dale TheRomanEmpirewasethnicallydiverse WhoweretheearliestBlacksettlersinLancashire?AnancientskeletonofAfricandescentwasdiscoveredinEastKentin1953.Thebodydatedfromaround250AD.TheRomanEmpireincludedethnicallydiversepeopleandnotallthosewithAfricanlinkswereslaves.Somelivedhighstatuslives. Advertisement Atitspeak,theRomanEmpireruledawideswatheoftheknownworld,fromConstantinople,intheEast,totheAntoninewallintheNorthofScotland.TheNorthofAfricaincludingEgyptwasalsointheEmpire.BritainwasfirstinvadedbyJuliusCaesarin54BC,However,hedidnotoccupythecountry.Later,theemperorClaudiusinvadedinearnestandtheoccupationofBritainbegan.By84ADtheconqueringexpeditionswerelargelyover. AgricolagraduallymovedNorthPic:Wikimedia RomansinLancashire Inthe70sAD,AgricolagraduallymovedNorth,passingtheareathatwastobecomePreston. TherouteusedbyAgricolabecametheRoadfromWigantoLancasterPic:Wikimedia HeestablishedamilitarysupplybaseclosetotheRibble,atWalton-le-Dale.TheareawasruledbytheBrigantestribe.Additionally,twofortswereconstructedatRibchesterandKirkham.ItisprobablethatsomeAfricanswereamongsttheRomansettlers. AlargenumberofRomanskeletonshavebeenexcavated,datingfromthethirdcentury,andaproportionofthemhaveAfricanlinks. Pic:HistoryExtra RomanfindsinGrimsarghandPreston TheoccupationintheNorthdidnotaffectrurallifeasmuchasintheSouth.Romanroadswereusedtorapidlymovetroopsandgoodstothefortsandsupplycentres.Localsandmerchantsalsousedtheroadstodeliverfoodandluxuryitemstotheciviliansettlementsaroundtheforts. TheroadsaroundGrimsarghatRedScarwerefoundtobeingoodconditionunderathinlayerofgrass.Forexample,thecamberanddrainageditchesoneithersidecanbeseeninthelandscape.Romancoinshavealsobeenfoundinthearea. Pic:RomanRoadsOfBritain Below,themapshowstherouteoftheroadalongtheRibbleValleypassingthesupplybaseatWalton-le-DaleandpassingwhatwouldlaterbecomeFulwood.Prehistoricroadstendedtofollowhighgroundandridgesinthelandscape. TheRomanroadfromRibchestertoKirkhamiswellpreserved,inplaces.EspeciallyaroundGrimsargh.TantalisinglythereareafewremainsofwhatmayhavebeensignallingstationsalongtheRibbleValley. FindsinPrestonitselfarescant,onlyafewcoinshavebeenfound.WatlingStreetRoadfollowsthecourseoftheroadtoKirkhamFort.Nopotteryhasbeenlocated.ThereforeitcanbeassumedthatnoRomansettlementexisted. TheIvoryBangleLady KnownastheIvoryBangleLady,askeletonfoundinYorkprovedtobeofNorthAfricanorigin.Shewasburiedinasarcophaguswithamixtureofjewelleryandamirror. TheIvoryBangleLadyPic:YorkshireMuseum NewHistoriesstates:“Shewasnicknamedthe‘IvoryBangleLady’duetoherbraceletsthatepitomisedthediversityofRomanBritain.OnebraceletwasmadeofYorkshirejetandtheotheronewasformedfromAfricanivory.Shewasayoung,richBlackwomanwhoheldapositionofpowerinthecity”. Readmore: SeethelatestPrestonnewsandheadlines Share Tweet Prestoninpictures Viewmore Advertisement Subscribetothenewsletter SignupbelowtoreceiveBlogPreston'sweeklynewsletter.ItwingsitswayintoinboxeseverySundayroundingupourbestcontentfromthelastweekandalookaheadtowhat'shappening. Emailaddress* Advertisement Newsbylocation Findnewsbylocation,selectanareaofyourchoicetobekeptuptodatewiththelatestgoingson. Ashton-on-Ribble Broughton Deepdale Fishwick Fulwood Grimsargh Ingol PrestonCityCentre Ribbleton Woodplumpton Advertisement Categories Findnewsbycategory,selectancategoryofyourchoicetobekeptuptodatewiththelatestgoingson. Arts Business Charities Competitions Crime Education Food&Drink FyldeLocations FyldeNews Health History InCaseYouMissedIt Opinion People Photos Politics Prestonbuildings&attractions PrestonLocations PrestonNews ProudPreston Recreation RibbleValleyLocations RibbleValleyNews SouthRibbleLocations SouthRibbleNews SponsoredFeatures Sport TV Videos What'sOninPreston WyreLocations WyreNews