The Digital Ark: Early Modern Collections of Curiosities in England and Scotland, 1580-1700

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Matthew Bird ( - fl. 1693)

A shipmaster Relevant locations: Lived at or near Caerleon , South Wales
 References in Documents:
MS Book of Benefactors (MacGregor, ed.)

Matthew Bird, a ship's master from Caerleon in Monmouth-shire, gave the Museum a figure in a coat of mail, sculpted from alabaster, which was once covered in gold leaf, holding a sword, still fully preserved, in its right hand and, in its left, a pair of scales. The right pan of the scales, which is the heavier, shows a girl's face, the left one shows the globe of the Earth. It was dug up in about 1660 near the town of Caerleon or, in Latin, Isca Legionum (where the Second Augustan legion used to be stationed) near the spot known as Porth Siny Kran.

MS Book of the dean of Christ Church (MacGregor, ed.) 639a Statua loricata &c. propè Iscam Legionis [Caer Lheion ar Wysc] effossa. Hanc statuam (de quâ consule Camdeni Brittaniam p. 607 & 697) dedit Ds Matthias Bird, Navarchus Kaerleionensis in argo Monemuthensi. Statue of an armed man excavated near Isca Legionis (Caerleon at Usk). This statue, (for which see Camden's Britannia, pp. 607, 697) was given by Matthew Bird, a ship's captain of Caerleon in the county of Monmouthshire.