[Uriconium: 40.jpg]
Where the ruins of Uriconium are still exposed to view. Here, after a
lapse of 1,500 years, the visitor may tread the streets and pavements,
handle the implements which the old Romans used, admire their well-turned
arches, and see the paint and plaster upon the walls of their apartments.
The "Old Wall," so long a sphinx by the roadside, suggesting enigmas to
passers-by, has found an interpreter in revelations which the spade and
pickaxe have made within its shadow. From the time when its walls first
fell down, it has furnished plunder to the country round. The old monks,
finding it easier to take down its stones than to quarry now ones, built
their churches with its spoil, whilst the "old wall" left standing served
as an advertisement of the treasures buried around it. The Romans who
selected the spot no doubt did so on military grounds; but, looking at
its position on the river, and the scenery surrounding it, one can
readily imagine that an eye for the beautiful, and a love of nature, had
some influence in the choice.
[Trout: 41.jpg]
The Severn, near Wroxeter, is famous for grayling, which seldom exceed
three-quarters of a pound, but which have here been caught two pounds and
a half in weight. The ford has a marly or shaly bottom, and the stream
is quick and clear, conditions such as this famous fish, described by Dr.
Fleming as the "grey salmon," has a liking for. It has grey longitudinal
lines--hence its name--and a violet-coloured dorsal fin barred with
brown; it is best in the winter and early spring months, and spawns in
those of April and May. The French, who denounce the chub as "_un
villain_," pronounce the grayling "_un chevalier_." And Gesner says,
that in his country, which is Switzerland, it is accounted the choicest
fish in the world. As bait, grass-hoppers or large dun flies are used,
and hooks covered with green or yellow silk; in July, black and red
imitation palmer worms are recommended; in August, the artificial house
fly, or blue-bottle; and in winter, black or pale gnats are often used.
The fords, too, from here to Buildwas are good for trout, that near
Cound, from the entrance of Cound Brook into the Severn, being best.
On leaving Berrington, we come in sight of the wooded steep of Haughmond,
Shakspere's "bosky hill." It commands the field where Falstaff fought
"an hour by the Shrewsbury clock;" and has still a thicket, called the
Bower, from which Queen Eleanor is said to have watched the battle in
which the fortunes of her husband were involved. A castellated turret
crowns the summit of the rock next the Severn; beyond, is Sundorne Castle
and the ruins of Haughmond Abbey.