What to See in England
By Gordon Home

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Wroxeter and the Roman City of Uriconium, Salop

=How to get there.=–Train from Euston. L. and N.W. Railway. =Nearest Station.=–Upton Magna via Shrewsbury (Wroxeter lies 2-1/2 miles south of Upton Magna). =Distance from London.=–159 miles. =Average Time.=–Varies between 3-1/4 to 5 hours.

                     1st        2nd       3rd
=Fares.=–Single  23s. 10d.  15s. 9d.  12s. 7d.
          Return  44s.  0d.  27s. 6d.  25s. 2d.

=Accommodation Obtainable.=–At Shrewsbury, “Raven Hotel,” “Lion Hotel,” “George Hotel,” etc.

The village of Wroxeter would not be of exceptional interest but for the proximity of the site of the Roman city of Uriconium. It is owing to this fact that the churchyard gate is composed of Roman pillars and capitals. A summer-house in an adjoining garden is also made of Roman materials, and the church contains a font in the form of an adapted Roman capital, obtained with the rest from Uriconium. The church is chiefly Norman, but probably a portion of the south wall of the chancel is Saxon.

The little village occupies the southern extremity of the Roman city whose circumference measures about 3 miles. One can trace the limits of the place by the indications of the vallum and fosse.

There is no doubt that Uriconium was the Romanised capital of the Cornavii, a British tribe, and it is equally well known that the town became the centre of a network of great roads leading in different directions. The walls enclosed an area more than twice the size of Roman London, and one may easily gauge its importance and its princely style of buildings from the traces of its forum and its amphitheatre, as well as from its wide streets.

The huge destruction brought about when the city was overwhelmed by the West Saxons left the place a mass of ruins, for there are evident signs that the place was plundered and burned. During the Middle Ages there must have been, however, more than mere rubbish heaps, and the many walls then standing were probably destroyed by monks in order to furnish cheap material for ecclesiastical buildings. There is, notwithstanding this, a great piece of wall 72 feet long by 20 feet high. The other remains consist of a blacksmith’s shop and the site of a market-place. A warming apparatus under one of the floors is even more perfect than is usually discovered in Rome. The key of the enclosure containing the chief portion of the remains is obtainable at the neighbouring cottage.

[Illustration: Valentine & Sons, Ltd. WROXETER.

Remains of the Roman city of Uriconium at Wroxeter. The wall is 20 feet high in places. A warming apparatus in the foundation of one of the houses is more perfect than those usually found in Rome.]

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Preface  •  Ham House and Petersham  •  Walton-On-Thames (scold’s Bridle)  •  Harrow  •  Holwood House, Keston  •  Chigwell, Essex  •  Waltham Abbey and Cross  •  Downe  •  Epsom: Its Races and Its Salts  •  Epping Forest  •  Hampton Court  •  Rye House, Broxbourne  •  Hatfield House, Herts  •  Runnymead, the Signing of Magna Charta  •  The Oldest Brass in England  •  St. Albans  •  Stoke Poges Church, Bucks  •  Windsor  •  Jordans and William Penn  •  Knole House and Sevenoaks  •  Greenstead Church  •  Chalfont St. Giles  •  Westerham  •  Guildford, Surrey  •  Gad’s Hill  •  Ightham Mote, Kent  •  Penshurst  •  St. Michael’s Mount and Marazion  •  Rochester Cathedral  •  Tunbridge Wells  •  The Quintain Post At Offham and Malling Abbey  •  Eversley  •  Farnham, Surrey  •  Hindhead, Surrey  •  Shottermill  •  Penn’s Chapel At Thakeham, Sussex  •  Chawton the Home of Jane Austen  •  Selborne  •  Elstow  •  Lewes, Sussex  •  Bodiam Castle, Sussex  •  Colchester, Essex  •  Layer Marney  •  Battle Abbey  •  Cambridge  •  Arundel Castle  •  Olney, Bucks  •  Wantage and the Country of Alfred the Great  •  Canterbury and Its Cathedral  •  Reculvers  •  Oxford  •  Midhurst  •  Pevensey Castle  •  Savernake Forest  •  Ely Cathedral  •  St. Ives, Huntingdonshire  •  Winchelsea and Rye  •  Blenheim Palace  •  Peterborough Cathedral and Crowland  •  Peterborough  •  Southampton  •  Helmingham Hall  •  Stonehenge, Wiltshire  •  Netley Abbey  •  Salisbury and Its Cathedral  •  Sandwich, Kent  •  New Forest, Hampshire  •  Osborne House  •  Carisbrooke Castle  •  Lutterworth  •  Compton Wynyates  •  Kenilworth Castle  •  Belvoir Castle  •  Bath  •  Boston and the Pilgrim Fathers  •  Warwick  •  Gloucester and Its Cathedral  •  Norfolk Broads  •  Norwich Cathedral  •  Lichfield  •  Sherborne and Its Abbey Church  •  Newark  •  Wells and Its Cathedral  •  Stratford-On-Avon  •  Burnham Thorpe, Norfolk  •  Lulworth Cove, Dorsetshire  •  Corfe Castle  •  Lincoln and Its Cathedral  •  Somerset, the Birthplace of Tennyson  •  Glastonbury Abbey  •  Walsingham, Norfolk  •  Cheddar Caves, Cheddar, Somerset  •  Newstead Abbey  •  The Wessex of Thomas Hardy’s Romances  •  Tintern Abbey  •  Chesterfield, Derbyshire  •  Dukeries  •  Haddon Hall, Derbyshire  •  The Isle of Athelney, and Sedgemoor  •  Raglan Castle  •  Dovedale  •  Wellington and the Wrekin, Shropshire  •  Wroxeter and the Roman City of Uriconium, Salop  •  Buildwas Abbey, Shropshire  •  Ludlow and Its Castle  •  Shrewsbury  •  Buxton and the Peak District  •  Tewkesbury  •  Exeter and Its Cathedral  •  Market Drayton, Salop  •  Chester  •  Exmoor  •  Knutsford  •  Torr Steps On the Barle, Somerset  •  Cleeve Abbey, Somerset  •  Hawarden  •  York Minster  •  Coxwold, Yorkshire  •  Llangollen and Valle Crucis Abbey  •  Knaresborough, Dripping Well  •  Fountains Abbey  •  Ripon Cathedral  •  Dartmoor  •  Haworth  •  Rievaulx Abbey  •  Brixham, Devon  •  Conway Castle  •  The Doone Valley, Exmoor  •  Llandovery, South Wales  •  Dartmouth, Devon  •  Richmond, Yorkshire  •  Tintagel  •  Whitby  •  Carnarvon Castle  •  Plymouth  •  Durham and Its Cathedral  •  Raby Castle, Durham  •  Snowdon  •  Harlech Castle  •  Grasmere and Rydal Mount  •  The Lake District  •  St. Davids Cathedral  •  Furness Abbey, Lancashire  •  Monkwearmouth, Near Jarrow  •  The Isle of Man  •  Brantwood  •  Fowey  •  Hexham and Hadrian’s Wall  •  The Lake District  •  Keswick  •  Alnwick Castle  •  Lanercost Priory, Cumberland  •  Lanercost Priory and Stepping-Stones.]  •  St. Ives, Cornwall  •  Bamborough Castle, Northumberland

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What to see in England;: A guide to places of historic interest, natural beauty or literary association,
By Gordon Home
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