What did people do there?
Roman temples are places where you would go to ask for something. You would approach a statue of a god or goddess in a dark room lit by oil lamps. You would have an offering of money, jewellery, food or drink, in the hope that the spirit of this place would answer your wish.
Some Romans wrote down what they offered, and what they wanted in return, on a small piece of lead. These objects archaeologists call ‘curses’ as sometimes they can ask for the god or goddess to punish someone “whether man or woman, slave or free” who has done them wrong.
Only one lead curse has been found at Brean, and it was on the beach. The writing on it was worn, but it does tell us that this temple was dedicated to a goddess, but not which one.
Who was the goddess?
It has been suggested that it might have been the goddess of the river Severn, the source of the waters which churn around the down. To the Romans she was known as Sabrina, but her Celtic name was Hafren.
One Celtic story goes that there were three river goddesses high in the mountains of Wales. The first wanted to take the most direct route, and so the river Ystwyth ran westward to the sea. The second loved valleys and hills, so she carved a route south to the sea and made the river Wye. The third wanted to explore and meet people, so her river, the Severn, roams for 180 miles through cities, towns and villages, before reaching the sea. Each did things their own way. Such is often the case with sisters.