Hadrian's Wall and its North African soldiers
Africans were in northern England more than 1,700 years before the Windrush. A unit of Moors guarded a fort on Hadrian's Wall, a freed North African man was buried with honour at South Shields, and an emperor born in Libya ruled the Roman world from York and died there.
Key facts
- Hadrian's Wall: begun in AD 122, about 73 miles from the Tyne to the Solway, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1987
- The African unit: the Numerus Maurorum Aurelianorum, the "Unit of Aurelian Moors", raised in North-west Africa (today's Morocco and Algeria) and based at Aballava, now Burgh by Sands in Cumbria, in the 3rd and 4th centuries
- Victor: a "Moorish tribesman" and freed slave, buried at South Shields aged 20 under one of the finest tombstones from the Wall
- Saturninus: a legionary soldier from Hippo Regius, now Annaba in Algeria, buried at Birdoswald
- Septimius Severus: born at Leptis Magna in Libya in AD 145, came to Britain in 208, ruled the empire from York and died there on 4 February 211
- Honest caveat: most soldiers on the Wall came from units raised in today's Spain, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Romania. Africans were a minority, but they were there
The Wall: a frontier of the whole empire
Hadrian's Wall was not built and manned by Italians. Rome guarded its frontiers with auxiliary units raised in the provinces, and it often sent them far from home so that they had no local loyalties. An estimated 15,000 soldiers served on the Wall at any one time, plus families, traders, servants and enslaved people. Over almost 300 years that adds up to a very mixed population.
The evidence comes from the names of units, from inscriptions and from tombstones. Only about 100 tombstones have been found in the whole Wall zone so far, out of what must have been tens of thousands of burials. So when two of them name African men, it is safe to say they were not the only Africans who came here.
The Aurelian Moors of Burgh by Sands
The only North African unit known on Hadrian's Wall was based at the fort of Aballava, at Burgh by Sands on the Solway west of Carlisle. Its Latin name was Numerus Maurorum Aurelianorum, the Unit of Aurelian Moors. "Mauri" was the Roman name for the peoples of Mauretania, the region of today's Morocco and western Algeria. The word "Moor" comes from it.
The name "Aurelian" suggests the unit was raised under the emperor Marcus Aurelius in the late 2nd century. Some historians link it instead with Septimius Severus. Sources disagree, and the honest answer is that we don't know for sure. The unit is named on a 3rd-century inscription found at Beaumont, near Burgh, and it appears in the Notitia Dignitatum, a late Roman list of commands, as stationed at "Aballaba".
Burgh is one of the least excavated forts on the Wall, so there is little to see of the fort itself. St Michael's Church stands on the fort site, and a plaque outside it remembers the African garrison. Some soldiers would have had families living outside the fort. After 200 years at Burgh, it is very likely that some of their descendants stayed in Cumbria.
Victor: a freed Moor at South Shields
At Arbeia, the Roman fort at South Shields at the mouth of the Tyne, stands the tombstone of Victor. It was found in two pieces in 1881 and 1885 in Cleveland Street and dates from the second half of the 2nd century AD. The carving shows Victor reclining at a funeral feast, and the inscription says who he was.
"To the spirits of the departed (and) of Victor, a Moorish tribesman, aged 20, freedman of Numerianus, trooper of the First Cavalry Regiment of Asturians, who most devotedly conducted him to the tomb."Roman Inscriptions of Britain, RIB 1064
Victor had been enslaved and was then freed by Numerianus, a cavalry trooper in a unit originally raised in Asturias in northern Spain. Numerianus paid for an expensive tombstone, most likely carved by a Syrian stonemason. Some historians think the warm words point to a close personal relationship. Either way, this stone is the clearest proof we have of a named African living and dying on Hadrian's Wall.
In the same museum is the tombstone of Regina, a British woman of the Catuvellauni tribe from around Hertfordshire. She was enslaved, freed and then married by Barates, a man from Palmyra in Syria. Side by side, the two stones show how mixed the frontier really was.
Septimius Severus: the African emperor who died in York
Lucius Septimius Severus was born on 11 April 145 at Leptis Magna, a rich olive-oil port in what is now Libya. His father's family were Punic, descended from Phoenicians who had settled in North Africa; his mother's family came from Italy. He became emperor in 193 after a brutal civil war, at a time when North Africans were rising to the top of the Roman Empire.
In 208 Severus came to Britain with a large army, his wife Julia Domna, who was from Syria, and his sons Caracalla and Geta. For three years the Roman Empire was ruled from York (Eboracum). His governors rebuilt much of Hadrian's Wall, and the fort at South Shields was turned into a supply base for his campaigns into Scotland. Those campaigns achieved little. Ill with gout, Severus died at York on 4 February 211. He was cremated there, and his ashes were taken back to Rome.
A famous story in the Historia Augusta says that while inspecting the Wall, Severus met a Black soldier of the garrison, a known joker, carrying a wreath of cypress. The superstitious emperor took it as an omen of death. The Historia Augusta is an unreliable source written long after, so treat the story as a legend, not a fact. But it shows that later Romans found nothing strange in a Black soldier on the Wall.
More Africans on the frontier
At Birdoswald Roman Fort in Cumbria, a tombstone found in 1961 names Gaius Cossutius Saturninus, a soldier of the Sixth Legion whose home town was Hippo Regius, now Annaba in Algeria. Victor was a freed slave; Saturninus was a Roman citizen and a legionary. Between them they show Africans at both ends of the military ladder.
Archaeologists have also found signs of North African cooking on the Wall, such as cooking pots of a North African style, which suggests African soldiers or their families brought their own food habits with them. North African culture was absorbed into the empire as much as Roman culture spread into Africa.
Where these Africans came from
Roman Africa was the rich south of the empire, not its edge. Leptis Magna in Libya, Carthage in Tunisia, Hippo Regius in Algeria and the cities of Mauretania in Morocco were wealthy, educated places that sent senators, writers and soldiers across the empire. Saint Augustine was bishop of Hippo Regius, Saturninus's home town. Roman Egypt fed Rome with its grain.
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Visiting: where to see the African story
Arbeia Roman Fort, South Shields
Victor's tombstone and Regina's stone are in the museum at Arbeia, on Baring Street in South Shields, with reconstructed gateway, barracks and commander's house. It is run by Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums and entry is free. Opening is seasonal, so check before going in winter. Take the Tyne and Wear Metro from Newcastle to South Shields.
Burgh by Sands
A small village about 5 miles west of Carlisle. There is nothing to see of the fort above ground, but you can visit St Michael's Church on the fort site and see the plaque to the African garrison. The Hadrian's Wall Path passes through the village.
Birdoswald, Housesteads, Chesters and Vindolanda
English Heritage runs Birdoswald, Housesteads, Chesters and Corbridge. Vindolanda and the Roman Army Museum belong to the Vindolanda Trust. In winter several sites cut their hours: from 2 November to 23 December 2026 Birdoswald opens at weekends only, while Housesteads stays open daily. It is free to walk along the Wall on the National Trail.
Getting there
The Tyne Valley railway between Newcastle and Carlisle stops at Hexham and Haltwhistle. From there the 122 Hadrian's Wall Country Bus (once called the AD122) runs daily all year, except Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year's Day. Show your bus ticket for 20 percent off at Housesteads, Chesters and Birdoswald and 10 percent off at Vindolanda and the Roman Army Museum.
York
Severus died in the legionary fortress at York, whose headquarters lay under today's York Minster. York is about an hour from Newcastle by train.
Tours and experiences
Entrance fees are included in the tour price; tips are not included but are always welcome.
The Aurelian Moors came from ancient Mauretania, today's Morocco:
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