Old Cumbria Gazetteer

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	roman fort, Moresby
	Gabrosentum
locality:-	Moresby
civil parish:-	Parton (formerly Cumberland)
county:-	Cumbria
locality type:-	roman fort
coordinates:-	NX98212101 (? etc)
1Km square:-	NX9821
10Km square:-	NX92
evidence:-	old map:- OS County Series (Cmd 61 10)
source data:-	Maps, County Series maps of Great Britain, scales 6 and 25 inches to 1 mile, published by the Ordnance Survey, Southampton, Hampshire, from about 1863 to 1948. "CAMP (Remains of)"
evidence:-	old text:- Camden 1789 (Gough Additions)  placename:-  Arbeia item:-  roman inscription; inscription, roman
source data:-	Book, Britannia, or A Chorographical Description of the Flourishing Kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland, by William Camden, 1586, translated from the 1607 Latin edition by Richard Gough, published London, 1789.   goto source Page 181:-  "..." "Mr. Ward places MORBIUM at Templeburgh on the Don in Yorkshire, and ARBEIA at Moresby, where, in the Crofts, a field between the town and Barton, they continually plough up stones and cement, which have all the usual appearance of being Roman, though it seemed rather the site of the town than the station. Something like two sides of a fort appeared near the church: the rest may have been washed away by the sea. The three inscriptions given by Mr. Camden are not now to be found; but there is another and a relief at a style in a field called Ingclose, a little east of Moresby hall. Mr. Camden had placed Arbeia at Iresby, but there are no remains, nor at Harbybrow or brough two or three miles off. Horsley gives this inscription, Cumb. LXXV." "D. M. SMERT [C] MAC M Co H I H RAC [triangle]Q[triangle]STII X VICSIT XXX[triangle]QV" "Diis Manibus Smerius Tomacius miles cohortis primae Thracum qui stipendiorum decem vixit annos triginta quinque. Also a half figure in relief holding a scroll, Cumb. LXXVI."
evidence:-	old text:- Camden 1789 placename:-  Morbium item:-  roman altar; altar, roman; inscription, roman; roman inscription; Picts holes
source data:-	Book, Britannia, or A Chorographical Description of the Flourishing Kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland, by William Camden, 1586, translated from the 1607 Latin edition by Richard Gough, published London, 1789.   goto source Page 169:-  "..." "... Here is Moresby, a little village, where, from these fortifications, we may conclude was a station for ships. Here are many traces of antiquity in the vaults and foundations, many caverns called Picts holes, many fragments of inscriptions are here dug up, one of which has the name of LVCIVS SEVERINVS ORDINATVS; another COH. VIII. I saw there this altar, lately dug up, with a small horned statue of Silvanus:" "DEO SILVAN.. COH. II. LING CUI PRAEAES.. G. POMPEIVS M... SATVRNIN.." "Deo Silvano Cohors 2da Lingonum Cui praeest G. Pompeius M. Saturninus." "The following fragment was copied and transmitted to me by J. Fletcher lord of the place:" "......... ......... OB PROSPE.."   goto source Page 170:-  "RITATEM CVLMINIS INSTITVTI." "But none has yet been found that determine it to have been MORBIUM, where the Equites Cataphractarii were stationed, which the name in some sort insinuates. ..."
evidence:-	old text:- Gents Mag placename:-  Morbium item:-  inscription, roman; roman inscription
source data:-	Magazine, The Gentleman's Magazine or Monthly Intelligencer or Historical Chronicle, published by Edward Cave under the pseudonym Sylvanus Urban, and by other publishers, London, monthly from 1731 to 1922.   goto source Gentleman's Magazine 1853 part 1 p.123  book review  "..." "... To inscriptions we cannot attach too much importance, and the careful manner in which Mr. Bruce has collected them, and authenticated their discovery, adds much to their value. The following, for instance, an unpublished one copied by Stukeley, seems to fix the heretofore undecided situation of Morbium at Moreseby. Its preservation is fortunate, and its history is the more curious as Stukeley does not seem to have been aware of its peculiar value. Mr. Bruce, speaking of Moresby, remarks:-" "Considerable uncertainty exists as to the ancient name of this place. Camden says, "There has been no inscription yet found to encourage us to believe that this was the MORBIUM where the Aquites Cataphractarii quartered; though the present name seems to imply it." This difficulty no longer exists. Horsley saw an inscription (LXXV Cumb.) in a field, a little east"
evidence:-	old text:- Gents Mag 1853 item:-  inscription, roman; roman inscription
source data:-	goto source Gentleman's Magazine 1853 part 1 p.124  "of Moresby Hall, "but pretty much effaced and broken." He says, "'Tis sepulchral, and has contained the name of the person deceased, with his age, and the years he has served in the army." His copy of it, however, differs from one which Stukeley made upon the spot, and whose original note is in the possession of Mr. C. Roach Smith. The two readings are these:-" "Horsley's" "D M SMERT [O]MAC MCoHI HRAC Q STII XVICSIT XXX QV" "Stukeley's" "D M S.MERT O.MACS M.CATAP HRACTAR Q STI X.VICSIT XXX D.V." "I cannot but think, with Mr Roach Smith, that Stukeley's reading is the correct one, and that a prima facie case is made out for Moresby to be the MORBIUM of the Notitia. Horsley, for reasons which have not been generally acquiesced in by antiquaries, places ARBEIA, which follows MORBIUM in the Notitia, at Moresby."
evidence:-	text:- Rivet and Smith 1979 placename:-  Gabrosentum placename:-  Gabrocentio placename:-  Gabrosenti placename:-  Gubrosenti
source data:-	Cohors II Thracum was stationed here in the 3rd century.

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