Ptolemy's 2nd-century Geography names two of their towns: Deva Victrix (Chester) and Viroconium Cornoviorum (Wroxeter), which became their capital under Roman rule.

Graham Webster in The Cornovii (1991) cites Anne Ross's hypothesis that the tribal name(s) may be totemic cult-names referring to a "horned god" cult followed by the tribe(s) and although there is no direct evidence of this, Webster points out that it is interesting that at Abbot's Bromley the "Horn Dance" which he believes survived from pagan ritual (something questioned by other folklorists[3])—Abbot's Bromley being only 35 miles (55 km) north east of the old tribal centre at Wroxeter (Virconium Cornoviorum).

In addition, Webster quotes Professor Charles Thomas as having made a "good case" for such totemic ethnonyms in Scotland.

Vedica may possibly have been the daughter of a chieftain "Viroco" of the Cornovii, who was killed during the western expansion of early 47 AD commanded by Publius Ostorius Scapula.

Some suggest[9] that a lack of metal and fine pottery finds may be indicative that the Cornovii were not a particularly wealthy or sophisticated British tribe and that they depended mostly on a pastoral economy even though some cultivation of cereal crops appears to have occurred in the river valley areas.

These aforesaid lowland areas seem to have been populated by rural peasants who were obliged to pay tribute in cattle and grain to the local chieftains resident in the hillforts.

By the time the city had become fully established as a civitas capital, Viroconium had seen great expansion, with all the usual trappings of a classical Roman settlement including the forum basilica, shops and, of course, the baths.

Both the massive structural remains of the baths and exercise yard found during archaeological excavations and subsequent research indicate that Viroconium's most prosperous era was between the 2nd and 3rd centuries, and demonstrate the success of this regional economic centre.

Viroconium Cornoviorum and Calleva Atrebatum (Silchester) seem to be the only major Roman settlements in Britain that, subsequently, did not grow into larger towns or cities in the post-Roman period.

[citation needed] This may have been due to the foundation of Shrewsbury (probably in the 9th century) nearby, which was more easily defended, although the village of Wroxeter still continued to grow.

[10] Owing to little development in the Wroxeter area, much of the Roman material has survived reasonably intact compared to other parts of Britain.

As Caer Guricon it may have served as capital of the Kingdom of Powys during the sub-Roman period until Anglo-Saxon pressures in the form of Mercian encroachment forced the British to relocate to Mathrafal castle sometime before 717 AD.

Although not widely accepted by modern scholarship, John Morris's theory deals with the hypothetical link between the Midlands Cornovii and later Cornwall.

[15] In Roman times the settlement at Wanborough was known as Durocornovium and was a little north west of the current position, at a road junction mentioned in the Antonine Itinerary.

Being the last vicus on Ermin Way before the scarp slope of the Marlborough Downs, Durocornovium was a site where horses were watered before the steep climb off the Oxfordshire plain.