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Roman Altar,
Skinburness
... ...
Cumberland. - A portion of an inscribed Roman altar
has recently been discovered by Mr. Wilkinson of Kendal. It
was lying amongst boulder stones on the sea-shore, to the
south of a small haven called Skinburness, on the Cumberland
coast. It reads:
MATRIBV.
PARVITI.
VAC.IM ? ...
... ...
which Dr. Bruce reads, no doubt correctly, Matribus
Parcis, etc.
Inscriptions to the Parcae were heretofore so rarely found
in this country, that Horsley does not appear to give a
single example. Yet Dr. Bruce,for the third edition of his
"Roman Wall," has collected no less than three, including
the above. The others were discovered a few years since at
Carlisle, so that they seem somewhat confined to a
particular district. In one these deities are addressed
simply as the Parcae (PARCIS):
PARCIS PROBO
DONATALIS
PATER . V . S .
L.M.
In the third, as in the first, they are style Matres:
MATRIBVS . PARC . PRO . SALVT(e)
SANCTAE . GEMINAE
and all are dedications for the health, and well-being of
children or other relations. It is not strange that the
Fates, being three, should, in the north of Britain, be
addressed as mothers, considering how very common was the
worship of the Deae Matres, and how very pliable the Roman
mythology could be made, especially in the provinces. They
were styled also Dominae and Victrices. Upon
the gold coins of Diocletian and Maximian, the Parcae are
represented standing, each holding a torch upon a rudder in
their right hands joined together, and they are here
inscribed FATIS VICTRICIBVS.
The whole of these interesting inscriptions are engraved,
and will appear in the forthcoming new edition of Dr.
Bruce's "Roman Wall," which contains a considerable number
of new inscriptions and sculptures, which cannot be fully
understood without the help of correct drawing and
engraving. The discovery of the first of these altars is
also of some topographical interest. In a private letter Dr.
Bruce writes: "In the second edition of my book on the Wall,
p.347, I say:- 'A military way ran along the coast from this
station (Moresby, near Whitehaven), by way of Maryport, to
the extremity of the Wall at Bowness.' This altar is
confirmatory of my statement. I have no doubt that the
Romans used the creek or harbour of Skinburness. in the 13th
century, Skinburness was a considerable market-town
(founded, I have little doubt, upon Roman remains); but in
1301, by a great irruption of the
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