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
English Place-Name Society on names organised by region or by category (e.g. field-names), and some county dictionaries aimed mainly at a non-specialist audience. Most English counties are now covered by volumes in the place-name survey, although early volumes are not as detailed as the later ones. The Survey volumes for the North and East Ridings of Yorkshire and parts of the West Riding of Yorkshire are available free of charge on the English Place-Name Society website. From the 1960s there has been a change in the interpretation of some place-names, resulting from the detailed comparison of distributions of the place-name types which had