Shrewsbury - The Town That Was Not Built By The Romans is the subject of our first video for this blog.
Watch our video and then scroll down for more info.
Many much loved UK towns of today date back to the Roman occupation of Britain.
But not Shrewsbury.
The town of Shrewsbury did not even exist in Roman or pre-Roman times.
It was simply an area of wild shrubs and alder trees, on a raised mound above a loop of the River Severn.
It's a geological feature which has formed naturally, since the last ice-age, by a coincidence of geology and erosion by water.
The Romans had no need of a town here. Why?
Because, only eight miles to the south-east, lay Uricon City (Wroxeter).
For several centuries Uricon was an important place.
At its peak, it was the fourth city of the Roman Province of Britain.
But in the year 410, the Roman Emperor Honorius told the Britons that he could no longer safe-guard them.
The Empire was failing, and they fell prey to the ravages of the Picts, the Scots, the Saxons and other foreign invaders.
Without Roman legionaries to protect it, Uricon, with no natural defences, was not easily guarded.
At length Uricon was attacked, and burned to the ground.
Those who escaped from the flames were not foolish enough to rebuild on the same site.
Instead, the citizens of Uricon thought of that river bend, not far away.
A place that would be so much easier to defend.
They saw that the River Severn looped back on itself so much that it was almost an island.
To avert a surprise attack, they had only to prevent a river crossing by fencing off the narrow neck of land where the loop started, and keep a watch on the river and fence.
The fence was easy to build across the narrow neck of land as it was (and still is!), no more than three hundred yards wide.
The Britons called their new town Pengwern, meaning simply the fenced-in hill-top with alders.
It was not to be called Shrewsbury for over 100 years, but that's another story...
Credit: This video is based upon the book "The Story of Shrewsbury" by Richard Graves (Hardwick House, Ellesmere 1993)
Watch our video and then scroll down for more info.
To watch this on the YouTube site click here.
Many much loved UK towns of today date back to the Roman occupation of Britain.
But not Shrewsbury.
The town of Shrewsbury did not even exist in Roman or pre-Roman times.
It was simply an area of wild shrubs and alder trees, on a raised mound above a loop of the River Severn.
It's a geological feature which has formed naturally, since the last ice-age, by a coincidence of geology and erosion by water.
The Romans had no need of a town here. Why?
Because, only eight miles to the south-east, lay Uricon City (Wroxeter).
For several centuries Uricon was an important place.
At its peak, it was the fourth city of the Roman Province of Britain.
But in the year 410, the Roman Emperor Honorius told the Britons that he could no longer safe-guard them.
The Empire was failing, and they fell prey to the ravages of the Picts, the Scots, the Saxons and other foreign invaders.
Without Roman legionaries to protect it, Uricon, with no natural defences, was not easily guarded.
At length Uricon was attacked, and burned to the ground.
Those who escaped from the flames were not foolish enough to rebuild on the same site.
Instead, the citizens of Uricon thought of that river bend, not far away.
A place that would be so much easier to defend.
They saw that the River Severn looped back on itself so much that it was almost an island.
To avert a surprise attack, they had only to prevent a river crossing by fencing off the narrow neck of land where the loop started, and keep a watch on the river and fence.
The fence was easy to build across the narrow neck of land as it was (and still is!), no more than three hundred yards wide.
The Britons called their new town Pengwern, meaning simply the fenced-in hill-top with alders.
It was not to be called Shrewsbury for over 100 years, but that's another story...
Credit: This video is based upon the book "The Story of Shrewsbury" by Richard Graves (Hardwick House, Ellesmere 1993)
