History of Shrewsbury

style="mso-bidi-font-style:italic">Sloppesberie, which became Salop/Salopia (an alternative name for both town and county), and into Schrosberie, which eventually became the town's name, Shrewsbury. Its Welsh name Amwythig means "fortified place".

It is believed that Anglo-Saxon Shrewsbury was most probably a settlement fortified through the use of earthworks comprising a ditch and rampart, which were then shored up with a wooden stockade.

Nearby is the village of Wroxeter, 5 miles (8 km) to the south-west, site of the now ruined Roman city of Viroconium Cornoviorum. Viroconium was the fourth largest civitas capital in Roman Britain. As Caer Guricon it may have served as the early Dark Age capital of the kingdom of Powys. The Shrewsbury area's regional importance in the Roman era was recently underlined with the discovery of the Shrewsbury Hoard in 2009.

There is evidence to show that by the beginning of the 900's, Shrewsbury was home to a mint.

Medieval

Shrewsbury is known as a town with significant medieval heritage, having been founded c. 800 AD. It was in the late Middle Ages (14th and 15th centuries) when the town was at its height of commercial importance. This was mainly due to the wool trade, a major industry at the time, with the rest of Britain and Europe, especially with the River Severn and Watling Street as trading routes.

Over the ages, the geographically important town has been the site of many conflicts, particularly between the English and Welsh. Shrewsbury was the seat of the Princes of Powis for many years; however, the Angles, under King Offa of Mercia, took possession of it in 778. The Welsh again besieged it in 1069, but were