The shoe was discovered around a fortnight ago in the Severan ditch at the fort by Vindolanda archaeologists and will now go on permanent display.

It is one of 420 shoes to have been found in the ditch, which was a Roman rubbish dump. Archaeologists have dated the shoe back to around 212AD and say it was been made from a single piece of leather.

There is a empty space where the shoe's laces would have tied the leather together. Sonya added: "Our discoveries at the fort mean we can start to piece together a real picture of how the Roman people lived.

"We think we have one shoe for every person who lived at the fort, and they differ in quality, showing disparities in affluence."

Vindolanda has a team of three archaeologists who are joined by around 500 volunteers each year.

It was a Roman fort situated just south of Hadrian's Wall, which it predates, and guarded the Stanegate, the Roman road from the River Tyne to the Solway Firth.

It was occupied by the Romans from around 70BC until the collapse of the empire.

The fort is noted for its wooden tablets, among the most important finds of military and private correspondence found anywhere in the Roman Empire.