The north and east of the county lie almost entirely in the basin of the Severn, which enters from Montgomeryshire and flows eastward to Shrewsbury, after which it turns south-eastward to Ironbridge, and then continues in a more southerly direction past Bridgnorth, entering Worcester near Bewdley. The scenery is striking at some places, as near the finely situated town of Bridgnorth, but it is spoilt near Coalbrookdale by factories. Its principal tributaries within Shropshire are : the Rea, Cound, Borle, Vyrnwy (a well-known trout-stream forming part of the boundary with Montgomeryshire), Perry, Tern, which re ceives the Roden, and the Worf. The Dee and its tributary the Ceiriog touch the north-western boundary of the county with Denbighshire.
In the south the Teme, which receives the Clun, the Onny and the Corve, flows near the Herefordshire border, which it inter sects. Salmon are taken in the Severn and trout and grayling from the Teme. There are small lakes near the Denbighshire border, of which the largest is Ellesmere.
Examples crown the Wrekin, Gaer Caradoc and the two Clees. In the north are Bury Walls (on Hawkstone) and Old Oswestry (see OSWESTRY) with its six-f old embankment, but in prehistoric times swamp marsh and woodland must have seriously affected any attempt at permanent settlement. The "islands" of Haugh mond and Grinshill may have been used as stepping-stones in a trade route of the early metal age which followed the watershed between the Perry and the Tern.
The Romans built a city, Viroconium or Uriconium (q.v.) (modern Wroxeter) at the junction of roads from north, south, west and east (Watling Street). It is situated some five m. below Shrewsbury, whose functions as a route centre and border town it so remarkably recalls. The city wall, which has been traced, encloses 17o ac., excavated portions of which include the forum, basilica, baths and numerous houses. Hill camps were fortified by the Romans at Chesterton Walls, Nordy Bank and Norton. Villas have been partially excavated at the Lea near Pontesbury, Acton Scott and Linley Hall, while traces of square camps occur at Leintwardine ( ?Bravonium) towards Caerleon and at Oaken gates (?Uxacona). The discovery of pigs of lead stamped with
the name of the Emperor Hadrian (A.D. 117-138) proves that mining and smelting were carried on by the Romans in the Shelve district. The mines of Grit and Roman Gravels have considerable traces of ancient workings.
The district which is now Shropshire was annexed to the kingdom of Mercia by Offa, who in 765 constructed Wat's Dyke to defend his territory against the Welsh, and in 779 drove the king of Powys from Shrewsbury and secured his conquests by a second defensive earthwork known as Offa's Dyke, which, entering Shropshire at Knighton, traverses moor and mountain by Llanymynech and Oswestry, in many places forming the boundary line of the county, and finally leaves it at Bron y Garth and enters Denbighshire. (See Dr. Cyril Fox, "Archaeologia Cambrensis," June 1926, etc.) Anglo-Saxon village settlements occupy most of the county except the hills of the north-west and south-west. They are easily recognizable by the terminations "bury," "ton," and "ley," etc. The numerous Celtic place names in the hilly country of the north-west and south-west (e.g., frequently recurring elements like "bettws," "pentre," "llan," and "tre") are an interesting feature.
The Danes in 874 destroyed the famous priory of Wenlock, said to have been founded by St. Milburg. In 912 Aethelflead, the lady of Mercia, erected a fortress at Bridgnorth against the Danish invaders, and in the next year at Chirbury. Mercia was mapped out into shires in the loth century after its recovery from the Danes by Edward the Elder, and Shropshire is the sole Mercian shire which did not derive its name from its chief town. The Saxon Chronicle says that the king crossed the Thames in 1006 and wintered in Shropshire. In ioi6 Edmund Aetheling plundered Shrewsbury and the neighbourhood.
After the Conquest Shropshire was bestowed on Norman pro prietors, pre-eminent among whom is Roger de Montgomery, the 1st earl of Shrewsbury. At this period a large part of Shrop shire was covered by its vast "forests," the largest of which, Worf Forest, at its origin, was at least 8 m. by 6 m., and became a favourite hunting-ground of the English kings. The forest of Wrekin, or Mount Gilbert as it was then called, covered that hill and extended eastward as far as Sheriff Hales. Other forests were Stiperstones, the jurisdiction of which was from time immemorial annexed to the barony of Caus, Wyre, Shirlot, Clee, Long Forest and Brewood.