Sometimes our modern age is widely seen as an era that is characterised by unprecedented technological breakthroughs and advancement.

And to some extent this is true. Today, many people across the globe take inventions such as central heating, double glazing and say spas and public baths for granted.

But to think they say are products of our times would be entirely wrong. In fact, just under 2,000 years ago, when the Roman Empire was at the height of its powers, such inventions were proliferating across Britain at a startling and amazing rate.

And at what is now a small, but impressive relic of a town near Shrewsbury, there is ample evidence of just how forwarding thinking and innovative Romano-Celtic Britain could be.

Wroxeter, near Shropshire's famed hill, the Wrekin, and the impressive River Severn, was supposedly the 4th largest town when Rome controlled much of the British Isles.

Begun as a military outpost into the Midlands by the Roman General Quintus Veranius, in 47AD, the resident Cornovii, who were outflanked and outmatched, duly complied with their new Roman overlords. They also it would seem quite enthusiastically embraced the new lifestyle and culture they imported.

Perhaps the overwhelming changes, which typified this age, were the progression and evolution into a much more civilised and advanced society. Iron age Britain was built around a quite basic and subsidence-style tribal lifestyle and existence.

The Romans brought with them a system of government, administration and cultural influences the like of which had never ever been seen before by Britain's native peoples (such as writing, Latin and a currency).

Taking a tour of Wroxeter today, there are some impressive relics of this bygone era, which amazingly still stand in spite of fires, deliberate levelling of the site and large-scale pilfering of its antiquities and stonework.

But with at least 5000 Roman soliders garrisoned here at the height of General Suetonius Paullinus' incursion into Britain from 58AD onwards, a relative peace and calm was introduced, thereafter, by the establisment of a local council (which would have been run by wealthy local people and possibly retired Roman soldiers).

And perhaps the overwhelming boost to the lives of the locals was the transformation of their local economy. Now, they were able to trade with the troops garrisoned here, who were in need of food primarily and their labour.

Moreover, pottery, jewels, trinkets and glassware were imported en masse from the four corners of the Roman Empire, and allowed people to use cooking utensils, cloth and storage utitilities for example that they had never used on such a scale in their lifetimes.

Early excavations since the mid 19th century, have seen at least 1.5 tonnes of pottery excavated from ditches at the side of the ruins of the Basilica (the large entrance area to the Roman public baths). Samian wear (red-tinged bowls and pottery) from central France was found in abundance as were white mixing bowls from Warwickshire in England.

3,400 coins were also uncovered throughout the extensive excavations, in addition to 1 tonne of animal bones and another 8,000 artefacts such as jewellery, tombstones and fragments of statues.

Much of all of these findings can now be seen at the site museum, which is located at the entrance to the ancient site of Wroxeter.

Unfortunately, however, much of what went before is now buried deep beneath farmland and pasture. But aerial photographs have shown that on the far side of the lane away from the current ruins, there was a massive forum, which would have acted as a meeting place and market site for much of the town.

Known as Viroconium Cornoviorum in Roman times, as in all fledgling citadels, it started out primarily as a military site. But once the invasion was complete and Roman rule had been established throughout England, Wales and the Scottish lowlands, the military elements at Wroxeter were seriously diminished.

A fort here was levelled, and from the 90s onwards a civilian town was brought into being, which for example developed a public baths, and other such facilities that became central to local life in Romano-Celtic Britain.

As you tour the ancient site today, it's quite hard to believe that our ancestors did not strive to keep the town functioning and make sure it was better preserved.

With the onslaught of the Dark Ages and the Saxon invasions, all of the technologies and systems that the Romans had brought with them were soon forgotten and became rapidly extinct.

But as you traipse across the once mighty Basilica, which would have been the grand entrance to the public baths, you can get a good indication of its size and grandeur from one of the sturdy walls that are still standing nearly 1900 years later.

Now dubbed the Old Work, it is part of the southern wall that once made up this massive entrance hall.

And perhaps the secret to its longevity, is the way in which it was constructed. Typically the outer sides of Roman walls were built first in brick or stone, and then they were filled with either concrete or mortared rubble.

From 2nd to 4th centuries, this Basilica would have been used as a general meeting place or as perhaps a type of gym, where people exercised and played games to build up a sweat before going through the bathing rites and rituals.

Soap had not been invented at this time, and people would go through a series of rooms, the frigidarium, the tepidarium and the calderium to build up a sweat, rather like a Turkish bath.

Each of the abovementioned rooms had a function to play in people's cleansing rituals. All of them would have plunge pools within them, so people could wash after going through a sauna like atmosphere. The tepidarium room was kept at a medium heat and the calderium was the hottest. Olive oil was used to cleanse the skin and was scraped off with a strigil.

Women typically used the baths in the morning and men congregated here in the afternoons and evenings.

Cleanliness was seen as being of great importance in this classical age, and was again, something that was largely dispensed with when Rome fell and the Dark Ages came into being.

But perhaps what is most impressive is how in these relatively primitive times, the Romans managed to keep the baths hot and air circulating throughout the various rooms.

They achieved this by the way of a hypocaust system, whereby pillars of tiles or pillae were constructed to leave a substantial air space beneath any floor. Then hot air was channelled here by way of a furnace, which was kept alight at all times to regulate the heat.

The Romans were able to work out satisfactorily the type of tiles and building bricks they needed to ensure that the heat would rise, but not destroy the said building materials.

They were also able to double-glaze the heated, bathing rooms to ensure heat loss was minimised. And I'm sure no-one could be anything other than impressed at the innovations they brought about for their time.

As you walk through the rooms, which are quite small in size, it's clear that other extensions to these heated rooms were also built over time.

Interestingly, there was an outdoor plunge pool constructed here, and this can be clearly seen today. However, it was apparently twice the size, but was rarely used because the British climate was unfortunately as unpredictable then as it is today.

However, some taverns and shops were also built to the far side of the plunge pool, and perhaps were able to give people some solace if they ever were downhearted at the often-times miserable and bleak British weather.

Finally, it should take people around 45 minutes to tour the site. The entrance fee also includes an audio-phone which gives a running commentary of the most interesting aspects of the ancient town of Wroxeter.

With Shrewsbury being only 3 miles away, people can then seek out its hallowed precincts for a refreshing light meal, pub lunch or some afternoon tea. Or they may wish to perhaps walk further at say the nearby Wenlock Edge, or at the Long Myndd or the impressive local hill, The Wrekin.