WROXETER: Geographical and Historical information from the year 1824.

"WROXETER, a parish in the Wellington division of the hundred of Bradford South, a vicarage discharged, in the diocese of Coventry and Lichfield, the deanery of Salop, and archdeaconry of Salop. 112 houses, 659 inhabitants. 5½ miles south-east of Shrewsbury.

This place is, on several accounts, one of the most interesting places in the county. Its high antiquity, the many remains of its ancient importance, and the circumstance of its having contributed very much to enlarge, if not even to produce, the present capital of the county itself, all tend to press its history and description on the notice of the antiquary, the medalist, the historian, and the topographer; nor have these claims been urged in vain: few persons, curious in antiquarian research, have overlooked this rich and valuable source; yet no regular and connected account of it has been given to the publick, and the impenetrable obscurity of its ancient history now precludes the possibility of any detailed description of its real form, origin, and splendour.

It has been disputed whether this place be the same as the Uriconium, mentioned by Antoninus; but the general opinion, and probably the most correct one, is in favour of the affirmative side of the question. The town, notwithstanding its present confined limits, was once very large, and the fortified ground extensive. It is seated on the north- east side of the Severn, and on the other side of the place runs a small rivulet.

A rampart and ditch, with remains of walls three yards in thickness, and as many miles in circumference, still mark out the ancient boundaries of the city and fortress.

The most probable conjecture concerning the origin of Wroxeter is, that it owes its foundation to the Britons; and that the Romans, who probably adopted a British name in their pronunciation of Uriconium, Wriconium, synonymous with the present Wrekin, q.d. Wrekincester, very much enlarged and strengthened it. It was a principal city, probably the capital, of the Cornavii, and was succeeded in that distinction by Shrewsbury. The exact period of its destruction is involved in nearly as much darkness as that of its origin. Leland says, " The destruction of Roxcester, by all likelihood, was the cause of the erection of Shrewsbury: for Roxcester was a goodly walled towne until it was destroyed by the Danes." But Bishop Gibson asserts he had it from an eye witness, that none of the coins dug up at this place were Saxon, whence the city is supposed to have been destroyed before the Saxon, and consequently, not in the Danish times. Baxter, on the other hand, from a forced derivation of the Saxon word, wrackt, or destroyed, draws a different inference. Whatever, however, may have been the period of its origin, or that of its destruction, Wroxeter has long been celebrated for the many Roman and British antiquities that have, from time to time been discovered in the town and neighbourhood; and with a concise account of some of the most remarkable ancient remains, we must close our notice of it.

A piece of the old wall is yet standing, nearly eight yards high, and twenty in length, which has in it, three regular strata of Roman brick. A square Sudatory, with four rows of brick flues, under its floor, was discovered, but destroyed. There are models of this, and of one of the brick flues, as also part of the tesselated pavement, preserved in Shrewsbury school library. The remains of the walls, or old buildings, are called, by the present inhabitants, the Old Works of Wroxeter. They are a mixture of British and Roman architecture. Where these remains appear, it is thought the citadel stood; which opinion is supposed to be favoured by the unevenness of the ground, and the rubbish of walls lying thereabouts.

In 1721, Mr. Carte, of Leicester, gave the Society of Antiquaries the following account of the Old Work, with a rude draught:

" The main wall now standing is thirty yards long, and the foundation from it westward forty yards, so that the whole was twenty yards long. The middle arch six yards high from the ground; but from the floor much higher, and six yards broad, the other two, only four yards broad, but of the same height. The hole in the middle arch is supposed to he broken through, and so is the other. At each end are smooth walls coming out of the end of the arches; the foundation answering the main wall and arches ten yards high from it. Two rows of tiles go through the wall. The stones are laid exactly across each other; in the middle rubbish and pebbles. The arches seem covered with the same as the wall. It is now eight yards from the ground; the north side smooth, except some holes, as for scaffolds." In Mr. Lloyd's time, this piece of wall was twenty feet high and a hundred long.

The Roman coins found here, are chiefly of the lower empire. and are usually called Dynders, most likely a corruption of Denarii. In 1752, were dug up, in a field about two hundred yards from the old walls, three sepulchral inscriptions, of which mention is made in a former part of this volume. Another has been found since, and fastened against the vicarage house. A plate and description of it may be seen in the third volume of Mr. Gough's edition of Camden's Britannia.

Besides many urns, there have been found entire human skeletons, in deep and capacious graves, having red clay spread both over and under them, and covered with thin slabs of stone, over which were heaped, in some instances, five or six larger stones, with clay. These graves were also faced on their sides with thin slates. Here also have been found at various times, several moulds for forging Roman money; five of which have been amply described by Mr. Henry Baker, in No. 483, of the Philosophical Transactions.

The following list of coins, found at Wroxeter, and drawn up by the Rev. Francis Leighton, of Ford, near Shrewsbury, a gentleman of almost universal learning, the most profound research, especially in etymological studies, and of urbane and genuine English manners, is both curious and important:

SILVER. IMP. SER. GALBA AVG. S.P.Q.R. OB.C.S. in corona civica. IMP. TRAIANO AVG. GER. DAF. P.M. TRP. COS. S.P.Q.R. OPTIMO PRINC. Figura stolata stans dextra, laeva cornucopiae. ANTONINVS PIVS AVG. FELICITAS AVGG. Figura muliebris stolata stans, Iaeva cornucopia, dextra, IVLIA MAESA. FORTVNA REDVX. Figura sedens.

COPPER. IMP. CLAVDIVS AVG. Figura sedens, dextra hastam. IMP. CAES. VESPASIAN. AVG. COS. VIII. P.P. S.C. Victoria, dextra sertum. IMP. CAES. NERVAE TRAIANO AVG, GER. DAC. P.M. TR. P. COS. V.P.P. S.C. S.P.Q.R. OPTIMO PRINCIPI. Figura globo insidens sub trophaeo. IMP. CAESAR TRAIANVS NERVA AVG. Figura sedens. ANTONINVS PIVS. T.R... P. S.C. Mulier stolata stans, DIVUS M. ANTONINVS PIVS. .. NSECI .... S.C. Aquila rogo insidens, IMH. L. VERVS AVG. PROV. DEOR. T.R.P. III. COS. II. Figura stans, dextra globum, laeva cornucopiae, Severus. S.S... Figura stolata stans, IVLIA AVGVSTA. PIETAS AVGG. Figura ara adstans. IVLIA MAMMAEA AVGVSTA. S.C. Mulier stolata, dextra hastam D.N. CONSTA.... VS AVG. FEL. TEMP. REPARATI. Columba rostro ramum gerens. Diocletian. SACRA MONETA AVGG. ET. CAES Dea Moneta. IMP. CARAVSIVS.

IMP. C. ALLECTVS P.F. AVG. Another; rev. a galley. FL. CONSTA... GLORIA EXERCITVS. IMP. LICINIVS. P.F. AVG. SEN. POP. ROM. B.S. TRP. Genius stans, laeva cornucopiae CONSTANTINVS P.P. AVG. SOLI INVICTO COMITI. FL. IVL. CRISPVS.... CAES. CAES ALVMNO. NOSTRORVM. Sedum in quo VOTVM. D.N. MAGNENTIVS P.F. AVG. VICTORIAE DD. NN. AVG. ET CAES. VOT Duo figura alatae scutum tenentes in quo V. in exergue TRS. MVLT X.

At the bottom of the Severn, at low water, may still be seen foundations of stone, probably of a bridge; though the celebrated Roman road, now called Watling-street, went through the middle of the city, and through the ford, now called Wroxeter Ford, as is to be discovered by the old strait, or street, way, pointing exactly to it on each side of the river. The Roman Portway ran hence to the Strettons.

One of the last pieces of antiquity dug up at this place, is mentioned by Mr. David Parkes, in the Gentleman's Magazine. It is a seal, found in 1808, by a person ploughing in a field near the Roman wall. A correct representation of this curious relique, and also of an impression of it, are in the Magazine; but of the Legend Mr. Parkes observes, no one has yet been able to give a satisfactory reading, though several have attempted it. The letters, as nearly as we are able to delineate them in this work, are on a circular surface, as follows:

IBCLM
DIA LBA
IAD O M
NE VN
O EXO

This is an exact representation, except that in the fourth line, between the NE and VN is a Greek Delta.

There is, near the edge of the seal, on the surface, a small bent figure, somewhat resembling a single branch or stem of a tree. The diameter of the seal is one inch.

The present town of Wroxeter does not possess many claims on publick notice, besides what it derives from its ancient importance, and its almost inexhaustible source of antiquarian treasure. In the church is a monument of Sir Thomas Bromley, Lord Chief Justice of England, one of the executors of Henry the Eighth's will. He died 1555, and his daughter married a person of the name of Newport. There are also monuments of Sir Richard Newport, ancestor of the Earls of Bradford, 1570; Francis, the first Lord Bradford, 1708; his brother Andrew, 1699; and his son Thomas, Earl of Torrington, 1719.

About a mile from Wroxeter, between the Watling Street and the Severn, the lofty and venerable WREKIN, stretches " its slow length." The view from its highest point is delightfully awful. The vast plain of Salop, stretches like a carpet below, with its various inclosures and intersecting hedges, diminishing in apparent extent as they recede from the eye, till they appear like the meshes of a net; the bold outline of the Welsh hills; the romantick aspect of the Caer Caradoc, the Lawley, and the Stiper-stones, with intervening varieties of hill and dale; here and there a wood or a forest, which, from the towering height of this natural pyramid, seem to dwindle into an insignificant garden, are objects that here meet the eye in every direction, and fill the mind with admiration at the wonderful works of the mighty Architect of Nature. See Wrekin."

" DONNINGTON, a township in the parish of Wroxeter, and in the Wellington division of Bradford South. 4 miles north east of Wellington. See appendix.

The late Dr. John Douglas, Bishop of Salisbury was, early in life, master of Donnington school, He was born in 1721, and was the son of Mr. Archibald Douglas, a respectable merchant of the port of Pittenween, in Fifeshire. His grandfather, who was a younger brother of the family of Talliquilly, (one of the oldest branches of the house of Douglas now in existence,) was an eminent clergyman of the episcopal church in Scotland, and the immediate successor of Bishop Burnet, in the living of Salton in east Lothian; from which preferment he was ejected at the revolution, when presbyterianism was established in Scotland. The Bishop was for some years at school at Dunbar. In 1736, he was entered a commoner of St. Mary Hall, and remained there till 1738, when he removed to Baliol college, on being elected an exhibitioner on Bishop Warburton's foundation. In 1741, he took his bachelor's degree; and in 1742, in order to acquire a facility in speaking French, he went abroad, and resided for some time at Montreal in Picardy; and afterwards at Ghent, in Flanders. On his return to college in 1743, he took his master's degree, and having been ordained deacon, in 1744, he was appointed to officiate as chaplain to the third regiment of foot guards, which he joined when serving with the combined army in Flanders. During the time he filled this situation, be employed himself chiefly in the study of modern languages. He was not an inactive spectator of the battle of Fontenoy, which took place on the 29th of April 1745; on which occasion be was employed in carrying orders from General Campbell to the English, who guarded the village in which he and the other generals were stationed. He returned to England in September, 1745, with that detachment of the army which had been ordered home, on the breaking out of the rebellion; and having no longer any connection with the guards, he went back to Baliol college, where be was elected one of the commissioners on Mr. Snell's foundation. In 1747, he was ordained priest, and became curate of Tilehurst, near Reading; and afterwards of Dunstew, in Oxfordshire, where he was residing when, at the recommendation of Dr. Charles Stuart, and Lady Allen, a particular friend of the Bishop's mother, he was selected by Lord Bath as a tutor, to accompany Lord Pulteney on his travels. Of the tour which he then made, there exists a manuscript account in the Bishop's hand writing. It relates principally, if not exclusively, to the governments and political relations of the several countries through which he passed. In October, 1749, he returned to England, and took possession of the free chapel of Eaton Constantine, and the donative of Uppington, in Shropshire, on the presentation of Lord Bath. In November, 1760, he published his first literary work, "The Vindication of Milton from the charge of plagiarism, brought against him by Lauder." In the same year he was presented by Lord Bath, to the vicarage of High Ercall, in Shropshire; and vacated Eaton Constantine. He only resided occasionally on his living; and at the desire of Lord Bath, took a house, in a street contiguous to Bath house, where he passed the winter months. In the summer he generally accompanied Lord Bath in his excursions to Tunbridge, Cheltenham, Shrewsbury, and Bath; and in his visits to the Duke of Cleveland, Lord Lyttleton, Sir H. Bedingfield, &c. In September, 1752 he married Miss Dorothy Pershouse, sister of Richard Pershouse, Esq., of Reynold's Hall, near Walsall, in Staffordshire; and in three months became a widower. In the spring of 1754 he published "The Criterion of Miracles," in the form of a letter to an anonymous correspondent, since known to have been Dr. Adam Smith. In 1755, he wrote a pamphlet entitled "An Apology for the clergy," against the Hutchinsonians, Methodists, &c.; and shortly afterwards, another pamphlet, entitled "The destruction of the French, foretold by Ezekiel," against the same sects, being an ironical defence of them, against the attack made on them in the former pamphlet. In 1756, he published his first pamphlet against Archibald Bower; and in the autumn of that year, a pamphlet entitled, "A serious defence of the administration," being an ironical justification of their introducing foreign troops to defend this country, In 1757, he published, "Bowyer and Tillemout compared;" within a very short time afterwards, "A full confutation of Bower's three defences," and in the spring of 1758, "The complete and final detection of Bower." In the easter term of this year, he took his Doctor's degree, and was presented, by Lord Bath, to the perpetual curacy of Kenley, in Shropshire, In 1750, he published, " The conduct of a late noble commander, candidly considered," in defence of Lord George Sackville. No one ever knew that he wrote this, except Millar, the bookseller, to whom he made a present of the copy. This defence of Lord George Sackville was suggested solely by the attack so unfairly made on him by Ruffhead, before it could possibly be known whether he really deserved censure. In the same month he wrote and published; "A letter to two great men, on the approach of peace," a pamphlet which excited great attention, and always passed for having been written by Lord Bath. In 1760, he wrote the preface to the translation of Hooke's Negotiations. He was this year appointed one of his Majesty's chaplains. In 1761, he published, "Seasonable hints from an honest man," as an exposition of Lord Bath's sentiments. In November, 1762, he was, through the interest of Lord Bath, made canon of Windsor. In December of that year, on the day on which the preliminaries of peace were to be taken into consideration in parliament, he wrote the paper entitled "The sentiments of a Frenchman," which was printed on a sheet, pasted on the walls in every part of London, and distributed among the members of parliament as they entered the house. In 1763, he superintended the publication of "Henry Earl of Clarendon's diary and letters," and wrote the preface which is prefixed to those papers. In June of this year, he accompanied Lord Bath to Spa, where he became acquainted with the hereditary Prince of Brunswick (the late Duke,) from whom he received marked and particular attention, and with whom he was afterwards in correspondence. It is known that within a few years there existed a series of letters, written by him during his stay at Spa; and also a book containing copies of all the letters which he had written to, and received from, the Prince of Brunswick, on the state of parties, and the character of their leaders in this country, and, on the policy and effect of its continental connexions; but as these have not been found among his papers, there is reason to apprehend that they may have been destroyed, in consideration of some of the persons being still alive, whose characters, conduct, and principles, were the topicks of that correspondence. In 1761, Lord Bath died, and left him his library; but General Pulteney wishing that it should not be removed from Bath house, he relinquished his claim, and accepted £1000 in lieu of it. General Pulteney at his death, left it him again, and he again gave it up to the late Sir W. Pulteney, for the same sum. It was erroneously stated in some of the newspapers, that the valuable library of which he was possessed had been derived from this source, whereas it was entirely collected by himself. In 1764, be exchanged his living in Shropshire, for that of St. Austin, and St. Faith, Watling street, London. In April, 1765, he married Miss Elizabeth Rooke, daughter of Henry Brudenell Rooke, Esq. During this and the preceding year, as well as in 1768, he wrote several political papers, which were printed in "The Publick Advertiser," and all the letters which appeared in that paper, in 1770 and 1771, under the signatures of Tacitus and Manlius, were written by him. In 1778, he assisted Sir John Dalrymple in the arrangement of his manuscripts. In 1776, he was removed from the chapter of Windsor to that of St. Paul's. During this and the subsequent year, he was employed in preparing Captain Cook's journal for publication; which he undertook at the earnest request of Lord Sandwich, then first Lord of the Admiralty. In 1777, he assisted Lord Hardwicke in arranging and publishing his "Miscellaneous Papers," which came out in the following year. In 1778, he was elected a member of the Royal and Antiquarian Societies. In 1781, he was again applied to by Lord Sandwich, to reduce into a shape fit for publication, the Journal of Captain Cook's third and last voyage; the introduction and the notes were supplied by him. He was likewise chosen President of Sion College for the year, and preached the Latin Sermon before that body. In 1786, he was elected one of the Vice Presidents of the Antiquarian Society; and framed their address, on the King's recovery in 1789, both to his Majesty and the Queen. In March, 1787, he was elected one of the Trustees of the British Museum, and in September of the same year, he was appointed Bishop of Carlisle. In 1788, he succeeded to the deanery of Windsor, for which he vacated his residentiaryship of St. Paul's. In 1789, he preached before the house of lords; and of course published the sermon on the anniversary of King Charles's martyrdom. In June, 1791, he was translated to the See of Salisbury. In 1793, he preached the anniversary sermon before the Society for the propagation of the gospel, which is published and prefixed to the annual account of the proceedings. Having been often and very earnestly requested by many of his literary friends, to publish a new edition of the " Criterion," which had been many years out of print, he undertook in Autumn, 1806, to revise that book. He had, many years ago, collected materials for a new and enlarged edition of that work, but unfortunately they had been either mislaid or lost; or more probably been destroyed by mistake, with some other manuscripts. This circumstance, and his very advanced age, sufficiently accounts for his not having attempted materially to alter the original work. In this statement, all the avowed publications of the Bishop are enumerated; but he has been concerned in many others, in which he was never supposed to have had any part; and in some of no trifling celebrity, whose nominal and reputed authors he permitted to retain and enjoy exclusively, all that credit of which he could justly have claimed no inconsiderable share. During a great part of his life, he was in correspondence with some of the most eminent literary and political characters of the age. Few could have read more, if indeed any one so much as, with such habits of incessant application as those in which he persevered almost to the last hour of his long protracted life, he must necessarily have read. In the strictest sense of the expression, he never let one minute pass unimproved; for he never deemed any space of time too short to be employed in reading; nor was he ever seen by any of his family, when not in company with strangers, without a book, or a pen in his hand. The accounts which were inserted in many of the newspapers of the illness which terminated in his death, are as incorrect as most of those which have been given of his life and writings. Instead of falling a victim to the gout, he can scarcely be said to have had latterly any specifick complaint. He retained his faculties to the last; and during a great part of each day, amused himself with reading. After a life thus devoted to the cause of literature and religion, and not spent in solitary seclusion from the world, but in the midst of its most active and busy scenes, he died on Monday, the 18th of May, 1807, without a struggle, and without a pang, in the arms of his son; by whom the above particulars were hastily extracted, from an authentick document, now in his possession. He was buried on Monday, the 25th of May, in a vault in St. George's chapel, in Windsor castle. His royal highness the Duke of Sussex, with a condescension not less honourable to his own feelings, than such a tribute of respect could not but be to the memory of him to whom it was paid, attended at his funeral."

" EYTON (and DEYTON), a township in the parish of Wroxeter, and in the Wellington division of the hundred of Bradford South. 7 miles south-west of Shrewsbury."

" NORTON, a township in the parish of Wroxeter, and in the Wellington division of the hundred of Bradford South. 5½ miles south-east of Shrewsbury."

" RUSHTON, a township in the parish of Wroxeter, and in the Wellington division of the hundred of Bradford South."

[Transcribed information from A Gazetteer of Shropshire - T Gregory - 1824](unless otherwise stated)

[Description(s) transcribed by Mel Lockie ©2015]