Wroxeter

"WROXETER, a parish in the Wellington division of South Bradford hundred, county Salop, 6.1 miles S.E. of Shrewsbury. The parish, which is bounded on the W. by the Severn, comprises the townships of Donnington, Dryton, Eyton, Norton, and Rushton. The soil is generally a rich loam, alternated with gravel, and the substratum contains coal, which is partially worked. The village appears once to have been a place of importance, and takes its name from an ancient British town called Caer Vrauch, and by the Saxons Wrekinceastre, from its situation near the Wrekin mountain. It is the Uriconium of Antoninus, and the Viriconiurn of Ptolemy, an important Roman station on the north-eastern bank of the Severn, at Wroxeter Ford, where the Roman way Watling Street crossed the river, and near which may be seen at low water huge blocks of stone, supposed to have once formed a bridge. The remains which still exist show that the city walls were 9 feet in thickness, and extended for 3 miles in circumference, surrounded by a rampart and fosse; it flourished for a considerable time as the capital of the Cornavii, but was devastated by the Saxons and Danes. In 1752 several Roman inscriptions, now preserved at Shrewsbury, were found here, also urns, a seal, and silver coins of Vespasian, Antoninus, Trajan, and later emperors; and important excavations have been going on for some years, under the direction of Thomas Wright, Esq., who has published a "Guide to Uriconium." The living is a vicarage* in the diocese of Lichfield, value £400. The church, dedicated to St. Andrew, contains monuments to Chief Justice Bromley and the Newport family. There is a free grammar school, situated at Donnington, in this parish, founded by Thomas Alcock in 1627, and presented by Mrs. Careswell with two exhibitions at Christ Church College, Oxford. The charities produce about £58 per annum, including the school endowment. The Duke of Cleveland is lord of the manor and patron of the living, and Lord Berwick has a large property in the parish."[Transcribed from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland 1868 by Colin Hinson ©2015]