In South Shields a persistent rumour has been going round for quite a while; the gist being that boatmen from mesopotamia were brought over by the romans to man the boats/ act as stevedores for the supply ships harbouring in Shields. According to some, a contingent stayed on and became britains first arabic community (possibly confused with the early yemeni immigrants) but there is no direct evidence of this that I've heard of.
The Roman harbour in Shields is yet to be found, although occasionally artefacts are washed up onto the beach.
|