74 THE TROUT ARE RISING 
Three and three-quarter miles from Shrews- 
bury, and a comparatively short distance from 
Severnside, is the site of Uriconium (Wroxeter), 
a Roman city, which was destroyed by the West 
Saxons, A.D. 584. It is said in olden days to have 
had the beautiful name of “ The White Town in 
the Woodland.” There is still much of interest 
to be studied amongst the ruins. 
You can wander and wonder among the ruins 
of these Roman cities. And there is a romantic 
fascination about following some old, forgotten, 
straight Roman road. Had one, perchance, some 
remote ancestor among those mighty Romans, 
who were in Britain for centuries ? 
Between Wroxeter and Shrewsbury is Atcham, 
where close to the parish church is an imposing 
bridge over the Severn. In Capetown one after- 
noon I saw a picture of this scene hung on the 
walls of an Adderley Street café. It brought me 
back to Severnside in a trice. The proprietor, it 
seemed, was a Birmingham man, and he told me 
that he happened to be at a party at Shifnal on 
the night in 1883 when news came of the tragic 
death of Captain Matthew Webb in his daring 
attempt to swim Niagara Rapids. Webb was a 
Shropshire man, and his sister was at that Shifnal 
party. She resolutely refused to believe the 
message. ‘Matthew could never be drowned 
when swimming,” said she. Her words showed 
what a pride in him those had who knew him 
best. Alas! the message was true, 
Shrewsbury itself, if history appeals to him, 
