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1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Uriconium

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15369191911 Encyclopædia Britannica, Volume 27 — UriconiumFrancis John Haverfield

URICONIUM (more correctly Viroconium), a large Romano-British country town, chef-lieu of the Cornovii, now Wroxeter on the Severn, 5 m. E. of Shrewsbury. At first perhaps (A.D. 45–55) a Roman legionary fortress, held by Legio XIV. Gemina against the Welsh hill tribes, its garrison soon removed and it became a flourishing town with stately town hall, baths and other appurtenances of a thoroughly civilized and Romanized city. It was larger and probably richer than—for example—Silchester. The lines of its walls can still be traced, enclosing an area of 170 acres, and parts of the town hall and baths have been uncovered. Its originally Celtic name seems to have survive in the names of Wroxeter and the neighbouring hill, Wrekin.

See Victoria History of Shropshire, i. 215–56.

(F. J. H.)