Viroconium Cornoviorum believed to have been a masculine given name meaning "werewolf". The term "Cornoviorum" distinguishes the site as the Viroconium "of the Cornovii", the Celtic tribe whose "civitas" the settlement became. The original site of the Cornovian capital (also thought to have been named *Uiroconion) was a hillfort on the Wrekin. The site at Wroxeter was strategically located near the end of the primary Watling Street Roman trunk road that ran across England from Dubris (Roman Dover). During the early years the site was a key frontier position lying on the bank of the Severn river whose valley penetrated deep into
Dubris and garrisoned initially by the Classis Britannica, and later by troops based in a Saxon Shore Fort. At the start of his first attempt to conquer Britain in 55BC Julius Caesar initially tried to land at Dubris, whose natural harbour had presumably been identified by Volusenus as a suitable landing place. However, when he came in sight of shore, the massed forces of the Britons gathered on the overlooking hills and cliffs dissuaded him from landing there, since the cliffs were "so close to the shore that javelins could be thrown down from" them onto anyone landing there. After waiting