This talk was given to the Nineteenth-Century Research Seminar at Oxford University. The talk documented the historical presence of people of African ancestry in Cumbria and the Lake District between the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries. Building on the foundational research of, among others, archivist Susan Dench, I spoke about the evidence that survives of these peoples’ lives. I also considered what that evidence reveals about the Lake District's longstanding links with other parts of the world.