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ABSTRACT RECENT excavations on the site of the Roman city of Uriconium, which lies beneath the modern Wroxeter, five miles from Shrewsbury, were described by Miss Kathleen Kenyon, the field

director of the excavation, at ameeting of the Society of Antiquaries of London on May 12. Some years ago excavations were carried out with the object of determining the position and

character of the defences of the legionaries' camp, but without success, nor has investigation been more successful on the present occasion. Much information, however, has been obtained

about the history of the city. It would appear that Uriconium, which was the fourth largest Roman city in Britain, was founded about A.D. 48 as the headquarters of theFourteenth and

Twentieth Legions, of which it was the station while Wales was being subdued. When the legions were moved to Chester, Uriconium became the tribal capital of the Cornovii. Two successive

defensive systems of the city have been found, of which the earlier, dating from about the end of the first century of our era, enclosed a much smaller area than the later. This latter dates

from the middle of the second century, and encloses about 170 acres. It marks the largest expansion of the town.The structure known as the Baths Building, which was excavated in 1859, was

re-examined. It was found that originally it had not been intended for use as baths, but had consisted of two ranges of large rooms on either side of an enclosed courtyard, with a long

two-sided hall beside it. This was built about A.D. 140 and must have formed part of the public buildings, possibly the law courts, of the town. The Forum opposite was nearly contemporary.

Not very much later the whole was transformed into an elaborate and complicated bath of the usual Roman type. An interesting discovery was the body of an infant which had been placed below

the floorat the time of the alteration, possibly as a foundation burial. At the end of the third century the building was destroyed by fire, but was restored in a partial and slipshod

manner. It remained in use for a further hundred years. Access through your institution Buy or subscribe This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution ACCESS OPTIONS

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institutional subscriptions * Read our FAQs * Contact customer support RIGHTS AND PERMISSIONS Reprints and permissions ABOUT THIS ARTICLE CITE THIS ARTICLE Roman Wroxeter. _Nature_ 141, 965

(1938). https://doi.org/10.1038/141965a0 Download citation * Issue Date: 28 May 1938 * DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/141965a0 SHARE THIS ARTICLE Anyone you share the following link with will

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