Viroconium Cornoviorum

Haha, fooled you! Did you really think I was going to blog about the archaeology of Shropshire and not mention the Roman city at Wroxeter?  Come on now... this is me!

Pictured below is "The Old Work".  And just behind that is a pile of Roman ruins.

Seriously though, the Old Work is one of the stand-out ruins of Roman Britain.  In its heyday it was the north wall of the bathhouse, specifically the frigidarium or "cold room", one of the many rooms set aside for public bathing in the town centre.  Every major Roman town had a public bathhouse, but few survive to the same extent of Wroxeter (let's exclude the complicated situation at Bath from this statement!)  

It is also a place to which I have been trying to get for a number of years.  When I was a student (yes, that long ago), I put a ring around the three Roman places I most wanted to see - Verulamium; the Wall; and Wroxeter.  So it is with a touch of emotion that I allowed my hand to rest on the ruined wall here, because I've completed something of a long-held ambition, and I want to savour the moment and affirm the special memory I've created, when the rhythm of my heartbeat chimed with the pulse of this very ancient, very special place. Lovely!