Blue Sky Thinking (5) - Why Vriconian ?

So, why 'Vriconian' ? - well quite simply (not really, but I'll just say that to keep you awake), there's a hill called the Wrekin which, in standing proud of Shropshire plain, is said to be visible from 17 English & Welsh counties on a really clear day, although around 7 is more likely in normal conditions.

Whilst on their first century 'tour' of Britain, the Roman army built a fortress on a strategic river crossing on what is now the river Severn just a few miles from the 'Wrekin', which later grew into the city of 'Uriconium', taking the name of the nearby hill-fort settlement.

Now for the tedious bit for which I've indented & highlighted the relevant points so that you can read it in full, skip-read the highlights or even ignore the lot ....

Let's drift back in time to pre-Roman Celtic times, where for the inhabitants living around the 'Wrekin' would likely have recognised the hill as 'Uiroku', which translates into modern English as 'Man-Wolf' with the suffix 'ion' describing a hill settlement or hillfort, so we effectively have a hill with a fortified settlement which was known as the 'hillfort (/settlement)' of the Wolf, the name of which was adopted by the Romans and given to what would become one of their largest cities in Roman Britain, Vriconium .... It's relevant to note that, from certain directions, the Wrekin could be said to look like a wolf arching it's back (if you squint and have a vivid imagination!) ....

Anyone who suffered through tedious Latin lessons as part of their education would note & explain that in Latin the letter 'U' didn't exist with 1st Century Romans writing 'V', pronounced 'W', additionally the letter 'I' in this case would have been pronounced as an 'E' (Thank you Mr H, I did remember something which eventually proved useful!) ... so, the current 'Wrekin' is directly derived from the Ancient Britons name 'Uiroku', via the Roman 'Vricon', pronounced 'ReeKon', so a pretty historical place name in all respects..

Finally, in adding to the above the English suffix 'ian' (as in Canada/Canadian) we have 'Uriconian', as in 'of the Wrekin', which describes a group of hard volcanic rocks forming parts of the Wrekin and other nearby hills, but that's another ling story!. Using the form 'Vriconian' to represent 'of the Wrekin', helps prevent browsers returning geological hits and a recently formed VR company .... I'm happy with that ....

So, if you're still awake: why the connection to 'The Wrekin' ? - well it was the hill chosen for the 'Blue Sky' walk and was a favourite quiet place for the person being commemorated on that gorgeous spring day ...