Bribra

Identification: the Lowca Beck, Cumbria

This odd name – that of the Roman fort at Moresby in Cumbria (for an explanation of this identification see Chapter 15 (Navione to Alavna (187)) - has two elements which look the same, but one is a place-name element br in the hill-letter r meaning ‘high hill’ and the other is a compound river-name in the river-letters b and r. It is not clear which element is which, but the name as a whole was that of the stream now called Lowca Beck, the name having been transferred by the Romans to the fort, which stands on high ground immediately south of the stream. One sees the same river-letter compound used as a prefix in Abravannus, but there are other river-names in which a river-element is used as a suffix to a place-name, for example Canubio and Anderelionuba, though in these two names the river-suffix comprises only the river-letter b. One cannot therefore be sure which br in Bribra is the land-name and which the river-letter compound.

 [NB. Detailed information as to the different river-letters and as to how they were combined to form compound river-names, together with information as to the four categories of Celtic river-names, is given in Chapter 19: the rivers of Roman Britain. Detailed information as to the different hill-letters is given in Chapter 1 and information as to how the hill-letters were combined to form compound place-names is given in Chapter 2]

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