The little village of Atcham may be reached from here by a very pleasant
foot walk of about a mile through the fields. It is celebrated as the
birthplace of Ordericus Vitalis, chaplain to William the Conqueror, and a
famous historian of that time. The church is an ancient structure reared
on the little grassy flat round which the river bends; tresses of
luxuriant ivy conceal its walls, in which are found sections of a Roman
arch and a sculptured Roman column, part of the spoil of the city of
Uriconium. Among its relics is a reading-desk, carved, it is supposed,
by Albert Durer, with panels representing passages in the parable of the
Prodigal Son.

Lord Berwick's park adjoins the village, and in front of the mansion the
Tern comes down to join the Severn. From the Bridge it is one and a half
miles to



WROXETER,


[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,