Skopin

Skopin lies on the Verda in the southern part of the Ryazan country. It arose as a watch post on the defensive frontier of the Muscovite state and is documented under its present name in 1597. Its wooden fort and earthworks guarded the approaches from the steppe. By the middle of the seventeenth century Skopin had become an estate of the Romanov dynasty, supplying grain and other provisions to the capital. It became a district town in 1778.