Wroxeter
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Coordinates: 52°40′12″N 2°38′53″W / 52.670°N 2.648°W
| Wroxeter | |
 St Andrews Church, Wroxeter |
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 Wroxeter
Wroxeter shown within Shropshire |
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| OS grid reference | SJ5608 |
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| Civil parish | Wroxeter and Uppington |
| Unitary authority | Shropshire |
| Ceremonial county | Shropshire |
| Region | West Midlands |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | Shrewsbury |
| Postcode district | SY5 |
| Dialling code | 01743 |
| Police | West Mercia |
| Fire | Shropshire |
| Ambulance | West Midlands |
| EU Parliament | West Midlands |
| UK Parliament | Shrewsbury and Atcham |
| Website | Wroxeter & Uppington Parish Council |
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Wroxeter (pron.: /ˈrɒksɨtər/) is a village in Shropshire, England. It forms part of the civil parish of Wroxeter and Uppington and is located besides the River Severn, about 5 miles (8.0 km) south-east of Shrewsbury. It is at the site of the Roman city of Viroconium Cornoviorum, which was the fourth largest civitas capital in Roman Britain.
History
Wroxeter is on the site of the Roman city of Viroconium Cornoviorum, which was the fourth largest civitas capital in Roman Britain. In Old Welsh it was called Caer Guricon and may have served as the early post-Roman capital of the Welsh kingdom of Powys. Mercian encroachment forced the Welsh to move to Mathrafal castle sometime before AD 717 after famine and plague. The main section of the Watling Street Roman road runs across England between Dubris (Roman Dover) and Wroxeter.
Pengwern and Powys may have been divisions of the pre-Roman Cornovii tribal federation whose civitas or administrative centre was Viroconium Cornoviorum (now Wroxeter). The minor Magonsæte sub-kingdom also emerged in the area in the interlude between Powys and Mercian rule. Some substantial standing ruins from Viroconium are just outside the village, where there is also a small museum. The Roman city was rediscovered in 1859 when workmen began excavating the baths complex.[1] A replica Roman villa was constructed in 2010 for a Channel 4 television program called Rome Wasn't Built in a Day and was opened to the public on 19 February 2011.[2]
Parish church
At the centre of Wroxeter village is Saint Andrew's parish church, some of which is built from re-used Roman masonry. The oldest visible section of the church is the Anglo-Saxon part of the north wall which is built of Roman monumental stone blocks. The chancel and the lower part of the tower are Norman.[3] The gatepiers to the churchyard are a pair of Roman columns and the font in the church was made by hollowing out the capital of a Roman column.[4] Later additions to the church incorporate remains of an Anglo-Saxon preaching cross and carvings salvaged from nearby Haughmond Abbey following the Dissolution.
St. Andrew's was declared redundant in 1980 and is now managed by The Churches Conservation Trust. St. Andrew's parish is now united with that of St. Mary, Eaton Constantine.[5]
Literary reference
A.E. Housman visited the site and was impressed enough to write of "when Uricon the city stood", the poem ending "Today the Roman and his trouble Are ashes under Uricon."[6]
Bernard Cornwell has the main character of the Saxon stories visit Wroxeter in Death of Kings, referring to it as an ancient Roman city that was "as big as London" and using it as an illustration of his pagan beliefs that the World will end in chaos.[7]
References
- ^ English Heritage: Wroxeter Roman City
- ^ BBC News Reconstructed Roman villa unveiled at Wroxeter
- ^ Pevsner, Nicholas, Shropshire, 1958, p. 327
- ^ Aston & Bond, 1976, page 53
- ^ Archbishops' Council (2010). "Eaton Constantine S.Mary, Eaton Constantine". A Church Near You. Church of England. Retrieved 30 January 2011.
- ^ A. E. Housman, A Shropshire Lad, poem XXXI, 1896
- ^ Bernard Cornwell, Death of Kings, Part Two - 'Angels', 2012
Further reading
- Aston, Michael; Bond, James (1976). The Landscape of Towns. Archaeology in the Field Series. London: J.M. Dent & Sons Ltd. pp. 45–48, 51–54. ISBN 0-460-04194-0.
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Wroxeter |
- Photos of Wroxeter and surrounding area on geograph.org.uk
- English Heritage: Information for teachers
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