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Wroxeter ( ) is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Wroxeter and Uppington, in the Shropshire district, in the ceremonial county of Shropshire, England. It is beside the River Severn, east-south-east of Shrewsbury. In 1961 the parish had a population of 657.
Viroconium Cornoviorum, the fourth largest city in Roman Britain, was sited here, and is gradually being excavated. In 2024, archaeologists uncovered a 2,000-year-old mosaic depicting dolphins and fish.
The village contains one of Shropshire's commercial vineyards.
Archaeology has shown that the site of the later city first was established about AD 55 as a frontier post for a Thracian legionary cohort located at a castra near the Severn river crossing.Rome Against Caractacus, G. Webster. , pp. 49–53 A few years later a legionary fortress ( castra) was built within the site of the later city for the Legio XIV Gemina during their invasion of Wales.
The local British tribe of the Cornovii had their original capital (also thought to have been named *Uiroconion) at the hillfort on the Wrekin. When the Cornovii were eventually subdued their capital was moved to Wroxeter and given its Roman name.
This legion XIV Gemina was later replaced by the Legio XX Valeria Victrix which in turn relocated to Chester around AD 88. As the military abandoned the fortress the site was taken over by the Cornovians' civilian settlement.
The name of the settlement, meaning "Viroconium of the Cornovians", preserves a native Common Brittonic name that has been reconstructed as * Uiroconion ("the of *Uirokū"), where * Uiro-ku ( "man"-"wolf") is believed to have been a masculine name given name meaning "werewolf".
Viroconium prospered over the next century, with the construction of many public buildings, including thermae and a colonnaded forum. At its peak, it is thought to have been the 4th-largest settlement in Roman Britain, with a population of more than 15,000.Frere, S. S. Britannia: a History of Roman Britain. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd., 1987. .
The Roman city is first documented in Ptolemy's 2nd century Geography as one of the cities of the Cornovii tribe, along with Chester (Deva Victrix).
Following the Roman withdrawal from Britain around AD 410, the Cornovians seem to have divided into Pengwern and Powys, although the territorial name may have continued into this period. The minor Magonsæte sub-kingdom also emerged in the area in the interlude between Powysian and rule. Viroconium may have served as the early post-Roman capital of Powys prior to its removal to Mathrafal sometime before 717, following famine and plague in the area. The city has been variously identified with the Newman, John Henry & al. Lives of the English Saints: St. German, Bishop of Auxerre, Ch. X: "Britain in 429, A. D.", p. 92. James Toovey (London), 1844. and Ford, David Nash. " The 28 Cities of Britain" at Britannia. 2000. which appeared in the 9th-century History of the Britonss list of the 28 civitas of Britain.Nennius (). Theodor Mommsen (). Composed after AD 830. Hosted at .
N. J. Higham proposes that Wroxeter became the eponymous capital of an early sub-Roman kingdom known as the Wrocensaete, which he asserts was the successor territorial unit to Cornovia. The literal meaning of Wrocensaete is 'those dwelling at Wrocen
On 1 April 1986 the parish was abolished and merged with Uppington to form "Uppington & Wroxeter".
St. Andrew's was declared Redundant church in 1980 and is now managed by The Churches Conservation Trust. St. Andrew's parish is now united with that of St. Mary, Eaton Constantine.
Bernard Cornwell has the main character of The Saxon Stories visit Wroxeter in Death of Kings, referring to it as an ancient Roman city that was "as big as London" and using it as an illustration of his pagan beliefs that the World will end in chaos.Bernard Cornwell, Death of Kings, Part Two – "Angels", 2012
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