Wroxeter Roman City Guidebook

Wroxeter Roman City – Viriconium Cornoviorum – was the fourth largest city in Roman Britain. It was founded in the mid first century AD as a legionary fortress and the city was established in the 90s AD. For more than 300 years as many as 10,000 people lived, worked and traded in this bustling Roman metropolis, enjoying its markets, baths, shops and temples. In the fifth century it was abandoned, apart from the area around the Church of St Andrew where an early Christian community may have survived to become the later village of Wroxeter. Eventually only a ruined wall, known as the ‘Old Work’ and the circuit of defences showed that there had once been a roman city here. The city reverted to farmland, its fields producing crops and revealing stone and artefacts, which eventually attracted the attentions of antiquarians. In 1859, archaeologists began excavating by the Old Work, uncovering remains of a large public baths, and later excavations located houses and the forum, now mostly reburied. A modern recreation of a Roman building suggests how Wroxeter’s town houses may once have looked. Today, use of the latest archaeological technology has allowed us to see through the soil, revealing details of the city and its hinterland and revolutionizing our understanding of this complex and important site. This new guide presents a complete tour and history of Wroxeter Roman City, and through new site photography, reconstructions, maps, plans and features, it tells the story of the site from earliest times to the present day. Published: April 2023 ISBN: 978 1 910907 74 0 Paperback: 19 x 22 cm 40 pages