Skinburness Mile Fortlet 9

Fortlet and Western Sea Defences

The Skinburness mile fortlet forms part of the co-called ‘Western Sea Defences’, an extension of the Hadrianic curtain wall, which stretched from the westernmost Wall fort at Maia (Bowness on Solway) south-westwards along the Cumbrian coast possibly as far as Glannoventa (Ravenglass). Its purpose, presumably, was to guard against raids across the Solway Firth from potential enemies in Dumfries and Galloway. In 1866 a fragment of a small Roman altarstone was washed-up on the seashore at Skinburness and now resides in the British Museum:

RIB 881 - Altar dedicated to the Mothers the Fates

To the Mothers the Fates ..

MATRIBV[...]
PAR VITI
VACI [...]

2. In view of RIB 951 (Carlisle) this altar from the same district may well have been intended to read Matribus Par(cis): see Bruce LS R.P.W.

References for Skinburness

  • The Carvetii by Nicholas Higham and Barri Jones (Sutton, London, 1985);
  • The Roman Inscriptions of Britain by R.G. Collingwood and R.P. Wright (Oxford 1965); 

Roman Roads near Skinburness

None identified

Sites near Skinburness Mile Fortlet 9