The tiny UK village that used to be fourth largest city in the country

The UK is full of loads of tiny villages, each with its own unique centuries-long history. One of them, would you believe, used to be the fourth largest city in the country, despite its size today. Watling Street was a vital road built by the Romans used for trade, troop movement and communication, stretching all the way from Dover in the south west to London, then north west via St. Albans to the village of Wroxeter in modern Shropshire. Back then, however, it was a Viriconium. Founded in the 40s CE as a legionary fortress, the city was later established in the 90s.

Today, Wroxeter is a great place to visit if you're into your history, with excavated remains of the city centre to explore. These include a huge public bath house complex. English Heritage says that the site's museum highlights finds excavated in the area, which reveal fascinating insights into everyday Roman life.

This ranges from how people dined and shopped, to which medicines they used and everyday rituals they partook in.

An audio tour is available around the bath complex and market, and a raised platform offers views over the whole site.

There is also a recreation of a Roman house to tour, which was built for the Channel 4 series "Rome Wasn't Built in a Day".

In 2024, a mosaic floor depicting dolphins and fish dated to the early second century was uncovered in Viriconium, which was reburied afterwards in order to protect it.

"This discovery, alongside a large number of small finds such as coins and pottery, will go a long way in helping us to date the various phases of the city and indicate the kinds of activities that were taking place," Win Scutt of English Heritage said at the time.

Wroxeter's relatively remote location means that there has been little disturbance of the Roman remains by later occupation, experts say.

Archaeologists have therefore been able to use cutting-edge technology to reveal details of Viriconium, which have revolutionised their understanding of Roman life.

A fort for 500 cavalrymen was established around the year 47 south of Wroxeter, and a tombstone suggests that these included a cohort of Thracians, from modern Bulgaria or Greece, Dr Roger White, who has researched Wroxeter for nearly 50 years, writes.

About 10 years later, a fortress replaced the fort a kilometre to the north, which the city was then built around.

Before the Romans arrived, the Shropshire landscape had been settled and cultivated for more than 1,500 years by people known to the invaders as the Cornovii.

They were one of many groups that the Romans grouped together as "barbarians", but there is evidence of "sophisticated" metalwork, such as fittings from metal vessels, chariots and ornate brooches, which could have been owned by elite groups of Cornovii society.

After the Romans left Britian in 410, much of Wroxeter "gradually decayed", but people did not completely abandon it.