Skinburness, Silloth, Cumbria

Roman Mile Fortlet
of the 'Western Sea Defences'

NGRef: NY1256 OSMap: LR85 Type: Fortlet
Roads
Western Sea Defences: NE (3¼) to Cardurnock (Cumbria) Western Sea Defences: SW (1) to East Cote (Cumbria)

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:

See: 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);
All English translations, including any inherent mistakes, are my own.

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