Editing Shropshire (section)

=== Prehistory and antiquity ===
Evidence of [[Neolithic]] occupation of a religious form dating back before 2,000 BC, was discovered in 2017 in the grounds of a church, the medieval Church of the Holy Fathers in [[Sutton Farm|Sutton]], Shrewsbury, making it Britain's oldest place of worship.<ref>{{Cite web |date=18 May 2017 |title=Shropshire church found to be UK's oldest sacred site still in use |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/05/18/shropshire-church-found-uks-oldest-sacred-site/ |publisher=The Telegraph}}</ref>

[[File:Shropshire Sun Pendant.jpg|thumb|The [[Shropshire bulla]] or sun pendant]]

The [[Shropshire bulla]] ("bulla" is Medieval Latin for "a round seal", Classical Latin for "bubble, blob", plural bullae), also known as the Shropshire sun pendant, is a Late Bronze Age gold pendant found by a metal detectorist in 2018 in Shropshire.<ref name="Portable Antiq Scheme">{{cite web |title=BULLA |url=https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/902916 |accessdate=19 January 2020 |website=Portable Antiquities Scheme}}</ref> At [[Mitchell's Fold|Mitchel's Fold]] there is a Bronze Age stone circle set in dramatic moorland on [[Stapeley Hill]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Mitchell's Fold Stone Circle |url=https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/mitchells-fold-stone-circle/ |access-date=23 July 2023 |website=English Heritage}}</ref>

[[File:Mitchell's Fold 1.jpg|thumb|[[Mitchell's Fold]] prehistoric stone circle]]
[[File:Hilfort d'Oswestry. Vue sur l'entrée de la colline fortifiée.jpg|thumb|[[Old Oswestry]] Hillfort (aerial image)]]

The area was once part of the lands of the [[Cornovii (Midlands)|Cornovii]], which consisted of the modern day counties of Cheshire, Shropshire, north Staffordshire, north Herefordshire, and eastern parts of Powys. This was a tribal [[celtic people|Celtic]] [[Iron Age]] kingdom. Their capital in pre-[[Roman Empire|Roman]] times was probably a [[hill fort]] on [[the Wrekin]]. There is an important Iron Age Hill fort at [[Old Oswestry]] earthworks, this has been linked to where [[King Arthur|King Arthur’s]] [[Guinevere]] was born and called "the [[Stonehenge]] of the Iron Age."<ref>{{Cite news |last=Stummer |first=Robin |date=27 June 2015 |title=Hill fort said to be where King Arthur's Guinevere was born has lasted 3,000 years: now it's under siege |language=en-GB |work=The Observer |url=https://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/jun/27/old-oswestry-hill-fort-housing-development |access-date=23 July 2023 |issn=0029-7712}}</ref>

[[File:Ruins of Viroconium bath house, Wroxeter - geograph.org.uk - 4039967.jpg|thumb|Ruins of [[Viroconium Cornoviorum]] bath house, (location now known as Wroxeter). This was once the 4th largest city in Roman Britain.]]

According to tradition, [[Caratacus|Caracticus]] made his last stand against the Romans in Shropshire.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Roman Military Campaigns - Caratacus ap Cunobelin Catuvellaunum |url=https://www.roman-britain.co.uk/the-roman-conquest-of-britain/roman-military-campaigns-caratacus-ap-cunobelin-catuvellaunum/ |access-date=23 July 2023 |website=Roman Britain |language=en-GB}}</ref> [[Ptolemy]]'s 2nd century ''Geography'' names one of their towns as being [[Viroconium Cornoviorum]] ([[Wroxeter]]), which became their capital under [[Roman Britain|Roman rule]] and one of the largest settlements in Britain.
{{Further|Hollandophyton|label1=Hollandophyton, the extinct plants}}