A chronicle of the history of the City of Worcester and the County of Worcestershire

History of Worcester & Worcestershire

Articles

The Volunteer Movement

The Volunteer Movement

The threat of a Napoleonic invasion of England at the end of the 18th century and at the beginning of the 19th , was the beginning of what was known as the Volunteer Movement. There was unparalleled enthusiasm for the vigorous prosecution of the war, and throughout the country some 4000,000 men enrolled - 722 in one week in Worcester City. Tuberville's history says .....


Worcestershire Regiment & The City

Worcestershire Regiment & The City

The story of the Worcestershire Regiment is deeply intertwined with the history of the county and its city. While the 29th Regiment of Foot was officially linked to Worcestershire in 1782 for recruiting purposes, its frequent overseas deployments meant that the connection remained somewhat nominal until later. A significant step in forging a stronger local identity occurred in 1877 with the establishment of depots for both the 29th and 36th Regiments at Norton Barracks. This ultimately led to their amalgamation in 1881, forming the 1st and 2nd Battalions of the Worcestershire Regiment, which proudly adopted the 36th's motto, 'Firm'......


The Local War Brides of Internationals

The Local War Brides of Internationals

The Second World War's arrival in the United States brought significant changes to at least 131 women in Worcester, who became the wives of American Gi's based in the surrounding areas. Official figures show that 38 Worcester women were married to American servicemen in the city's churches, with another 93 wedding GIs at the Worcester Registry Office. Beyond American soldiers, some Worcester women also developed relationships with German and Italian prisoners of war, though marriage to them was apparently not permitted until a year or two after the war ended.


From Secret Airfield to Museum: The Story of RAF Defford

From Secret Airfield to Museum: The Story of RAF Defford

Nestled within the tranquil landscape of Croome Court in Worcestershire lies a remarkable history, one that played a pivotal role in shaping the outcome of World War II and the subsequent Cold War. What appears today as a serene National Trust property was once the clandestine home of RAF Defford, a top-secret airfield that became Britain's leading center for the development of airborne radar technology.
The story of RAF Defford began in 1940, as the shadow of war loomed large over Britain. A significant portion of the land at Croome Court, then owned by the Earl of Coventry, was requisitioned to establish a vital military installation. This transformation saw swathes of parkland converted into an airfield, with numerous structures rapidly erected to support the war effort. Airfield facilities, accommodation for service personnel, a medical wing, an ambulance garage, and even a mortuary sprang up across the site. Initially operational in September 1941, RAF Defford first served as a training base for Vickers Wellington bombers. However, the airfield's destiny took a significant turn in May 1942 with the relocation of the Telecommunications Research Establishment (TRE) and its flying unit to the area. Responsible for groundbreaking radar research and development, it moved inland to Malvern College for safety reasons, and its flight testing arm, the Telecommunications Flying Unit (TFU), later renamed the Radar Research Flying Unit (RRFU), transferred its aircraft to the nearby Defford airfield. This strategic move positioned RAF Defford at the forefront of airborne radar innovation........


The Walkers of Norton & the Tragedy of the 'Captain'

The Walkers of Norton & the Tragedy of the 'Captain'

Norton Villa (The Firs) was occupied in the mid-19th century by the Walker family connected by marriage to the Havergals; Frances Ridley Havergal, whose hymns and poems enjoyed immense popularity. Mrs. Walker was a progressive lady, the village having no schoolmaster, held classes in her home till 1832, and thereafter established a day school, and formed a lending library for parishioners in her own home....


Tallow Hill Workhouse - Fighter Command H.Q & Sir Sholto Douglas

Tallow Hill Workhouse - Fighter Command H.Q & Sir Sholto Douglas

During the 1939-1945 War, Hillsborough Workhouse was a secret, but very important part of Britain's defenses. At the end of 1940, the German airforce were making nightly raids on Coventry, Liverpool and Birmingham, using the Severn as a navigation aid. To counter this, No 81 Group Fighter Command moved top Tallow Hill to track the bombers and direct our night-fighters to intercept them....


Sir Charles Hastings

Sir Charles Hastings

Sir Charles Hastings (11 January 1794 – 30 July 1866) was a medical surgeon and a founder of the British Medical Association, the BMA, (then known as the Provincial Medical and Surgical Association) on 19 July 1832.....


Two Families Hold Living for 300 Years

Two Families Hold Living for 300 Years

In Martley, two families held the living for over three centuries, benefiting from its substantial income. Martley was worth as much as £1,000 a year, and even more from tithes in prosperous years. From the mid-17th century, a junior branch of the Vernon's of Hanbury Park served as Rectors of Martley.....


Evesham Abbey

Evesham Abbey

Evesham Abbey, located in Evesham, Worcestershire, England, was established between 700 and 710 AD by Saint Egwin. Its founding is linked to a vision of the Virgin Mary reportedly seen by a swineherd named Eof.

Despite the Norman Conquest, Evesham Abbey prospered, largely.....


Some Early Religious Houses of Worcestershire

Some Early Religious Houses of Worcestershire

The following were of Saxon foundation, and all probably and all probably Benedictine Priories, Blockley, Daylesford, Fladbury, Hanbury, Kempsey, Ripple, Whitting (most likely Whittington), Sture-in Usmere (Kidderminster. Later were: Cookhill, (Cistercian founded 13th century), Elencester (Possible Alcester?, Augustine Canons), Westwood, Whitstones (Worcester), Westbury On Trim, f,992 Benedictine, Hadbury (Charlton?)......


A Penance ordered on a Sub-Deacon and his woman in 1303

A Penance ordered on a Sub-Deacon and his woman in 1303

Christian teaching was tacitly accepted as the basis of law. The control of the Church over its people and their morals, was complete. The Church not only taught, but punished when it was thought necessary. Below are the details of a penance ordered in 1303, on a Sub-Deacon and his woman. It comes from the Register of Bishop Geynesburg (Gainsborough), Bishop of Worcester, 1302-1307.....


The Enthronement of a Medieval Bishop of Worcester

The Enthronement of a Medieval Bishop of Worcester

The Enthronement of a Bishop in his cathedral church serves as a formal introduction to the clergy and laity of his diocese. The Enthronement of Bishop William Gainsborough in 1302 seems to have been a strange affair, and not without discord....


Introduction to the Provision of Education for the Poor in the City of Worcester during the 18th & 19th Century In

Introduction to the Provision of Education for the Poor in the City of Worcester during the 18th & 19th Century In

The provision of education for the poor in the City of Worcester up to the end of the 19th century was one of spasms of great individual effort, followed by periods of stagnation and neglect, leading eventually to the acceptance of municipal responsibility for education within the city.....

 


Malvern Celebrates the Marriage of Frederick Lygon 6th Earl Beauchamp, February 1868

Malvern Celebrates the Marriage of Frederick Lygon 6th Earl Beauchamp, February 1868

 Frederick Lygon 6th Earl Beauchamp was born on 10 November 1830, in Madresfield, Worcestershire,  he was the son of  General Henry Beauchamp Lygon 4th Earl Beauchamp, who was 46 and his mother, Susan Caroline Eliot, aged 29. He married Mary Catherine Stanhope on 18 February 1868, in St George Hanover Square, London, England, United Kingdom.  In 1885, his occupation is listed as he held the office .....


Widow's Re-Marrying

Widow's Re-Marrying

It was the practise in some parts of requiring widows, on re-marrying, to pay a fine to the Crown, but by the mid-19th century, it had become a thing of the past. Berrow's Worcester Journal reported a re-marriage at St. Swithun's (Swithin's) Chuirch, Worcester, in 1775, which points to the acceptance of another 'legal'practice:


Captain Michael Clements, R.N

Captain Michael Clements, R.N

Captain Michael Clements was a naval officer who greatly distinguished himself in the wars with France & Spain. Near Cadiz, in 1778 Captain Clements in the Vengeance, in sight of all the people assembled on the walls of the city, defeated two frigates sent out against him, and took on a whole Spanish fleet, receiving the fire of 24 ships of the ...


Barbourne Bridge

Barbourne Bridge

Until the 1880s Barbourne Bridge was a mere footbridge, almost at water level, with a ford for vehicles beside it. 


Barbourne Park- Gheluvelt

Barbourne Park- Gheluvelt

Gheluvelt Park in Worcester commemorates the 1914 Battle of Gheluvelt, where the Worcestershire Regiment halted a German advance. Opened in 1922...


Barbourne Lodge

Barbourne Lodge

Barbourne Lodge  The house stood on the south side of Barbourne Brook. Fanny Burney called it 'Barebones'. In the latter half of the 19th century it became a 'pest house' or fever hospital. When Newtown Road Hospital opened a fierce ...


The Plough  Fishing Club Outing - A recollection of the 1920s Bill Gwilliam recalled

The Plough Fishing Club Outing - A recollection of the 1920s Bill Gwilliam recalled

Bill recalls when he was about 12 years old, he had a school friend called George, who lived in a house built on the foundations of the old City Bridewell prison, at the bottom of Copenhagen Street, and through this connection, he saw much of the life in that part of the City. George's father, Mr. Blissett, was secretary of the Plough Inn Fishing Club, and Bill and his friend had privileged positions, they took part in the activities of the club, though strangely, when Bill reflected back he came to the conclusion that there was not a thing to do with fishing....


The Colorful Life of a Family of Showmen - Worcester Even News 3.97 Mike Grundy

The Colorful Life of a Family of Showmen - Worcester Even News 3.97 Mike Grundy

A article written by the late Mike Grundy in Worcester Evening News -3-97 

'Glorious glimpses are recaptured this week of a once famous local funfair which gave untold enjoyment to may thousand of Worcester and Malvern families for more than half-a-century. Strickland's Amusements toured constantly around central England, from village fetes to the grounds of stately homes, and from town squares to main leisure grounds - all from the family's home base, a large lodging house at 20 Newport Street, Worcester winter quarters for Strickland's Funfair were under the railway arches at Croft Road, Worcester.....

Mike wrote 'I've been learning all about the colorful Strickland family of showmen from Ray Hull of Bromyard.... 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Strickland's Galloper's

Strickland's Galloper's

Harry Strickland's grandson, Ray Strickland, came from Bromyard to see Bill Gwilliam following a article Bill wrote in Worcester Evening News...... 


Grimley Lido

Grimley Lido

In the 1930s a short stretch of the river bank at Grimley, known as the Grimley Lido, gave untold pleasure to the people of Worcester. It was hardly a 'Costa Brava' or a beach on the Cornish Riviera, just the length of a longish field, but it became the mecca of thousands of people who wanted a dip in the river, or a picnic , on a summer week-end, or a Thursday 'half-day closing'.....    


The Hunt Ball of 1896

The Hunt Ball of 1896

The hunt ball at the Shirehall was the high point of social life in Worcestershire at the turn of the 19th century. All the county nobility were there, and the company included 'all who was anyone', and numbered 4378. It was the fashionable function of the year and no money was spared to create a setting to show off the brilliant jewels and dresses, and the scarlet uniforms of the hunt. The Worcester Herald of January 18, 1896 reported the scene at some length.....  


Food & Drink - Official Eating & Drinking In Worcester

Food & Drink - Official Eating & Drinking In Worcester

In olden times, the High Bailiff and the Low Bailiff alike, were expected to give an annual feast, and when the Mayors came into existence nearly four centuries ago they improved upon the ancient traditions. On every occasion they made merry, no matter whether it was a Coronation, or the death of the King, whether it was a funeral or the discussion of bye-laws about the size of quart pots (946 ml). The feast was officially recognized as part of the long tradition.....


Dr Barnardo's Boys Who Came To Canada - Extract from the book & Bill Gwilliams b1888 Father connection

Dr Barnardo's Boys Who Came To Canada - Extract from the book & Bill Gwilliams b1888 Father connection

It is known that a building on the Shelsley Side of Woodbury Hill existed in the late 19th and early 20th Centurys, which was owned by Dr Barnardo's. On old maps it is shown as the reformatory, but the locals always spoke of it as 'The Home'..... 


Silk Shawel Manufactory in Kidderminster

Silk Shawel Manufactory in Kidderminster

About 1840, a silk factory was established by a Mr. Grovernor in Fish Street, making shawls, mostly black 2 yards square. The principal production of the factory was  however, furniture covering, and it won a prize ,edal at the ...  


Power Looms and Female Labour

Power Looms and Female Labour

Power looms saw an increase of female labour in the textile industry. Dixons brought in women to the looms in 1884, and this was believed to have been an attempt to cheapen labour. However, a standard of 35s. 0d a week was maintained, even though similar work was being done in Yorkshire by women for 15s a week. By 1901....


Beavers & Stouts

Beavers & Stouts

In 1854, George Price Simcox, (formerly Lea & Simcox) obtained a patent for printing twill fabric, which was woven plain, then printed with blocks, and called Beaver Carpets. Works were set up in Worcester Road, but the ....


The Pike Carpet Mills Fire 1886

The Pike Carpet Mills Fire 1886

The destruction of Messrs Watson's Pike Carpet Mills in Green Street, Kidderminster, on July 1, 1886, was one of the most disastrous fires ever seen in the town. The damage was estimated at the time as £80,000 and 500 workpeople were effected. One of the largest mills in Kidderminster was burnt to ruins, and the machinery reduced to a mass of twisted iron... 


The Emigration Fund of the Carpet Trade

The Emigration Fund of the Carpet Trade

Following a dispute in the carpet industry concerning 'the number of apprentices the masters shall allowed to be employ and the age at which apprentices shall be placed on the loom', the workers, led by Ben Adams, established an emigration society to aid 'those who are desirous of leaving the country'. He planned ....


Carpet Manufacturers Association founded 1864

Carpet Manufacturers Association founded 1864

In 1863, and association of power loom carpet weavers was to be formed in Kidderminster, but it was the manufacturers, in fact, who were the first to form a permanent association. The Power Loom Carpet Manufacturers Association was founded in 1864....


Tompkins & Adams on Mount Pleasant - Carpet Trade

Tompkins & Adams on Mount Pleasant - Carpet Trade

Typical of the development of a carpet manufactory is this account from 1919 of the firm of Tompkins & Adams:

Adams was an employee for 15 years, and for 35 years a partner. Tompkins was with Lea & Simcox as a boy of 13 on a handloom in a warehouse now occupied by Messrs. Hyles in Mill Street. Tompkins & Adams started with less than ...


Kidderminster Carpet Manufacturers

Kidderminster Carpet Manufacturers

An attempt in the 1880s to combine all factories under a 'syndicate' fell through, though it led to combinations and limited companies and limited companies. In 1890 the industry had expanded greatly, and the value of the Kidderminster carpet factories was established at .... 


William Ward 1st Earl of Dudley 1817-1885 & Witley Court connection

William Ward 1st Earl of Dudley 1817-1885 & Witley Court connection

William Ward, 1st Earl of Dudley, was a prominent figure in Victorian England. This wealthy landowner and art enthusiast transformed Dudley House, the oldest surviving aristocratic mansion on London's Park Lane, into a masterpiece.....


Room & Power System in the Carpet Trade

Room & Power System in the Carpet Trade

The power looms were much larger than the old hand looms, being 17ft tall, and the old premises in Mill Street and Church Street were insufficient. In 1852, Messrs Humphries adopted power looms at their premises in New Road, but gradually, there was no capital for new factories... 


Power Looms

In the early 19th century the domestic system began to break down and the industry moved to the premises of manufacturers. By 1838, there were 24 employers and 4,016 weavers. The manufacturers were not very enterprising. They refused Whylock's patent for a new fabric called Tapestry, or printed Brussels..... 


The Jacquard System

The Jacquard System

In France, in 1801, Joseph Jacquard perfected a device which when adapted to the carpet loom revolutionized the weaving industry. It was a pattern-selecting series of punched cards, which when laced together and fed into the loom, produced the .... 


Early Carpet Works

Early Carpet Works

Many of the early Kidderminster factories where cloth and carpets were made had once been the manufacturers back yard and garden - long narrow, rectangular plots of land, around three sides of which had been built dye-houses, stores, warehouses, and occasionally loom shops, though most loom shops were still scattered throughout the town and not collected into one factory. The forth side of the long narrow yard was usually the rear of the manufacturers dwelling house ...

Kidderminster Carpet Manufacturers in 1776

Kidderminster Carpet Manufacturers in 1776

The carpet mills of Kidderminster clustered in the centre of the town, and scattered on its outskirts. Offices, warehouses and dye-houses lined the banks of the Stour. The carpet weavers worked in a small handloom shops in the town, and frequently some distance from the employer's office, and the raw materials were fetched from the warehouses to the loo-shop which was where most weavers lived....

A Carpet Spy In Kidderminster

A Carpet Spy In Kidderminster

Oral tradition tells that John Brown travelled to Brussels, then to Tournai, where he persuaded a skilled weaver of Brussels carpets to return with him. Brown and the weaver secretly built a new loom in a house on Mount Skippet, but as they worked at night by candlelight, a spy paid by another manufacturer, watched night after night from the sky-light, and the new loom became common knowledge. In 1749, a partnership existed between John....

The First Carpets - Kidderminster

The First Carpets - Kidderminster

Carpets were first made in Kidderminster as one of the many new fabrics - cheyneys, rateens, etc., were introduced in the early 18th century to replace the old linsey-woolsey industry which was ...

Kidderminster before 20th Century

Kidderminster before 20th Century

Kidderminster's history likely predates the Norman Conquest, with a name suggesting religious origins. By the time of the Domesday Book, it was a small market town with surrounding settlements. Throughout the medieval period, Kidderminster grew as a hub for both market trade and cloth weaving, the precursor to its later dominance in carpet manufacturing....

First Spinning Mills

First Spinning Mills

Henry Lea had 66 looms in 1779 and employed yarn spinners in nearby towns. In each place he had an agent to whom he sent wool and from whom he collected homespun yarn. Comparatively few spinners were in Kidderminster. Possibly a shortage of female labour in Kidderminster and the concentration....

Kidderminster Spinners

Kidderminster Spinners

Wool was spun on spinning wheels until in to the late 18th century, when spinning mills were built around Kidderminster, and later in the town itself. It was women's work, and done at home. At the beginning of the 18th century, the population of Kidderminster was nearly 4,000 with 500 looms ....

Early Kidderminster Clothiers

Early Kidderminster Clothiers

John Leland visited Kidderminster in 1559 and wrote: 'This towne standeth most by cloathinge'. Clothing manufacture in Worcestershire was limited to only five towns; Kidderminster, Evesham, Droiwich, Bromsgrove and Worcester. More than 300 years ago, a master weaver had few employees, often his family, and one loom at which he worked. The trade was controlled by the Society of Weavers, consisting of master-weavers and journey-weavers. ABOUT ...

The Worcester Carpet Trade

The Worcester Carpet Trade

At the loss of the cloth trade Worcester looked for a new industry to take its place. It was thought that carpet weaving might fill the gap and for some time carpet weaving was considered set to form Worcester's most important industry...

The Worcester Cloth Trade - Teasels

The Worcester Cloth Trade - Teasels

When Worcester was the principal seat of the English cloth manufactory, teasels were widely grown in the county, particularly in the clay districts of the south-east...

The Clothier's Company Badge

The Clothier's Company Badge

The Clothier's Company Badge was a woolsack. In Copenhagen Street until about 1935 stood the ancient headquarters of the Clothiers and Wool Merchants .....

The Worcester Broadcloth

The Worcester Broadcloth

The Clothiers of Worcester made a broadcloth which had a high reputation in Europe and the Middle East for centuries. It was a woolen cloth of fine open twill-weave fabric which had been milled, (fulled and slightly felted). The cloth was smooth, velvety and dense, suitable for garments where the cloth needs to hang well. It was made ...

How Worcester Lost its Cloth Industry

How Worcester Lost its Cloth Industry

At Worcester the cloth industry was organized so that each process had its own guild and craftsmen, with their own rules and regulations as to prices, wages and quality, number of looms, journeymen and apprentices, all to prevent injurious monopoly......

The Worcester Cloth Guild

The Worcester Cloth Guild

The Clothier's Company of Worcester was in existence in the 13th century, and was subsequently incorporated by Henry V111 and Queen Elizabeth. The later charter was dated 23rd September, 1590. The...


The Trade Guilds

The Trade Guilds

Trade and commerce greatly developed in the 12th century. Town communities saw the need to control quality and prices, and craftsmen needed an organization to assist and protect their interests....


The Founding of Worcester, Mass

The Founding of Worcester, Mass

Two English settlers, Daniel Gookin and John Eliot, settled among the native Indians on Packachoag Hill (which is now more or less in the middle of Worcester), and in 1674, Gookin ought bfrom the Indians a tact of land eight miles square, and paid for it 12 pounds of the lawful money of New England. In token of good faith, two Indians who...


Worcester Quakers to America

Worcester Quakers to America

Worcester City and County contributed 14 persons to the founding of Pennsylvania, plus an unspecified number of children and servants. There were five Finchers, three Beardsleys, R.Toomer, George Mares, John Price, Seemerry Adams, Hannah Smith, and William Bronton of Dudley. This note deals mainly with Francis Fincher.

There were four branches of the Fincher family in the county, at Shell, Himbleton (where the name is still known of the historic family), Worcester City, and Upton Snodsbury. Francis Fincher, who was a glover and skinner, is the one who dominates. He is described in the American documents as being at 'Kinton', but he is thought to have been born at Himbleton, and to have spent the latter part of his life in Kington....  


Methods of Tanning

Methods of Tanning

The tanning of hides is a very ancient trade, certainly pre-Roman. Leather was made by drying and salting hides. After the Norman Conquest oak bark was used on cattle skins, alum and oil on the skins of horses, deer and sheep. The Severn had many tanneries on its banks; Bewdley for instance had everything needed for tanning, droves of cattle from the Welsh borderline, oak...


Skinners and Dressers

Skinners and Dressers

At an early date Curriers were ordered to work indoors and not to carry on their trade in the street, and there were penalties for creating nuisances when preparing skins. A local law clearly states that skins were previously dressed on the banks of the river was carried on .....


The Three Springs Leather Works

Leather dressing for centuries was carried on in the Blockhouse Meadows at the Three Springs where there was ample water supply from the streams which there unite to form the Frogging Mill brook. It was run by the Bevington family, prominent in local affairs....


John & William Dent

John & William Dent

John Dent was born in 1751, and served his apprenticeship with James Perkins, glover, and was given his Freedom to trade in Worcester in 1772. Shortly after this he married and had four children, John, Thomas, William and Benjamin. In 1792 he was living at 26 Sidbury, with his son Thomas until his death in 1811, and the business was continued by Thomas until his death in 1824.                                                                                                John Dent junior was born in 1777, and after serving his apprenticeship with his father, was granted his freedom to trade in 1798. He did not remain with John Dent senior, but started as a glove manufacturer on his own account.......


Statistics of Glovers in Worcester

Statistics of Glovers in Worcester

In 1835 there were 82 glove manufacturers; 6 of whom were leather dressers, also 6 curriers, 9 leather dressers, 2 tanners, 4 dyers, and 11 stainers, a total of 39 preparing leather sellers.....


Barbourne Leather Works

Barbourne Leather Works

Barbourne Leather Works originated in the late 1780s in St John's, and was a family concern of the Badgery's which went into the 6th, 7th, 8th, generations, but went into voluntary liquidation in 1956. The managing director and a nucleus of workers ...


Joseph Firkins - Glover

Joseph Firkins - Glover

Joseph Firkins succeeded to a glove business that had been started at the end of the 18th century, and while trading under the name of Joseph Firkins & Co did exclusive trade all over the country. An interesting reference in Berrows Worcester Journal of June 17, 1952, describes that in that ..., 


The Glove Trade in St Martins Ward, Worcester

The Glove Trade in St Martins Ward, Worcester

St Martin's was the Glover's district. The present New Street and Friar Street, were originally one street, and until 1557 was Glovers Street, but in that year was renamed New Street. Considerable trade (gloving) was carried in the area including in Nash's House by John Redgrave, the Hawkes family in Lich Street, which later passed to the Sanders family by marriage, in Lowesmmor, Fownes occupied a warehouse before the erection of their factory in the Blockhouse..... 


Punishments -1825 Two Leather Dressers

Punishments -1825 Two Leather Dressers

In 1825, two leather dressers were imprisoned for supporting apprentices when a strike was on (Guildhall, Feb 9 1825)                                                                                                                                                             Charles Smith and Thomas Badgery, in the employ of Mr. Whitehouse of this City, were this day committed to solitary confinement for 3 months for disobedience to their masters orders. Berrows Worcester Journal corrected the impression that imprisonment formed part of....


Combination & Saints Days

Combination & Saints Days

In 1810, Worcester tailors struck for a rise in wages, and 'An Impartial Observer' issued a handbill protesting against 'this daring combination' saying that men could earn £1 per week besides the enjoyment of 'Saint Monday', but they were ....


The Glovers Union

The Glovers Union

The Glovers Trade Union (for skilled workers) was founded in 1884, but was dissolved in 1904. Another Union Society continued to 1925, but the trade  situation had become worse ..


The Various Guilds

The Various Guilds

The ancient Guilds in the City were very strong. Their restrictions had driven the Cloth Trade out of the City; the carpe trade to Kidderminster, the needlers to Redditch, and was resisting combination moves in the gloving trade. In June 1807, the Master Glovers met to resist a combination of Grounders, Stoners, and White Leather Parers to obtain an advance in wages. 56 firms, including John Dent, signed a declaration of resistance.          An earlier ....


The Glove Trade Chronological Dates in Worcester - in Brief

The Glove Trade Chronological Dates in Worcester - in Brief

The Glover's Guild in existence in 1497 ...


The Glove Trade

The Glove Trade

No commentary on old Worcester can ignore the glove trade which here was very ancient. The first mention of a Glover's Guild dates back to 1497, but the trade existed in Worcester before that. Two Worcester glovers, Francis Fincher and Alexander Beardsley, were prominent Quakers who after much persecution sold all their possessions and emigrated in 1683 with several other local Quakers, and their... 


The Town Crier's Calls at Worcester

The Town Crier's Calls at Worcester

Worcester City employed a Crier who carries a silver topped staff, and walks a pace or two ahead of the mace-bearers when the Mayor and Corporation process. However, it is many a day since his traditional cries were last heard in the streets of Worcester...


The Priday Family of Gloucester & the  Castle Line Steamers

The Priday Family of Gloucester & the Castle Line Steamers

Charles Priday was born in Quedgeley in Gloucester in 1839, the only son of Richard Priday & Pamela Priday (nee Heaven) . Richard Priday was the son of William & Elizabeth Priday and through one of Richard's brothers Charles the boat builder was related to Charles Priday - the Priday Metford Mill owner in Gloucester Docks.                                                                                                                                                        Charles moved to Westgate area of Gloucester as a young adult where he married Harriet Steel around 1859 and had a son Samuel Richard Priday born 1863............ 

 


The Spring & Langan Championship Fight at Worcester

The Spring & Langan Championship Fight at Worcester

The greatest of the county matches, and one of the greatest prize fights of all times, took place on Pitchcroft on January 7, 1823; when Tom Springs and Paddy Langan fought for the Championship of England. .....


Cathedral Chimes & County Cricket & Cricket Interruptions at Worcester

Cathedral Chimes & County Cricket & Cricket Interruptions at Worcester

On the Worcester New Road ground you cannot get away from the Cathedral, The great clock-bell booms. There were occasions when the match is in progress, when the great peal of twelve bells rang out, the very ground seems to vibrate. Every three hours the chimes rang out in tumult of joy and daily blessing. There were seven barrels to the great music box, with a variety of 48 tunes to delight everyone, some with sacred setting, others secular. But 7 x7 made 49, The girl l left behind me was played twice, once as its own sad self, and again as Old English March. There is a legend that when Bradman was amassing his famous double centuries (1939, 11934, 1938) at Worcester, a dignitary of the Cathedral, a great cricket enthusiast, changed the ordered chime appointed for the day to Poor Tom Bowling.........


A Tall Cricket Story

A Tall Cricket Story

Mr. Herbert Jenner who played in the first Oxford v Cambridge match in 1827, tole the following story of a 'demon bowler' when he kept wicket: 'The bowler sent down a ball which broke the .....


Boughton Cricket Ground, W.G Grace & R.E.Foster

W.G. Grace made his first appearance in the Midlands at the age of 20, and though only 20, he was easily the greatest cricketer in the country. The occasion was at the Boughton Cricket Ground, Worcester, in 1870, with a Worcestershire 22, and the United South of England eleven. The home team won by 57 runs, which fields.....


The Porto Bello Gardens & the Dog and Duck

The Porto Bello Gardens & the Dog and Duck

On the high ground overlooking the Severn in Henwick Road, just north of the Dog and Duck Ferry, were the Porto Bello Gardens, pleasure gardens open to the public. There was a fine view from the 18th- century house to the cathedral and it was a very popular place with the young bloods of the city. In Regency days the gardens were famous and an enthusiastic writer of the time described them as superior to the London tea gardens. Sadly, they were closed in the 1850s because of maliciously spread 'rumours of evil reports'............  


The Severn, Storms,Floods and Periwinkles

The Severn, Storms,Floods and Periwinkles

The River Severn which separates St.John's from the rest of Worcester has played a crucial part in the beginning's and developments of the city. Its tidal bore enabled Worcester to flourish as an inland port and up until about 180 years ago this great waterway - once known as 'The King's high stream of Severn'- was alive with commercial traffic. Only the coming of the railway ended the city's dependency for prosperity on the river. But the Severn always has been, and always will be, a force to be reckoned with for Worcester people - to admire and enjoy, and from time to time to fear .... 


The Holy Well & Comer Gardens

The Holy Well & Comer Gardens

The Holy Well at Henwick was an exceptionally fine spring which in medieval times had been piped to the cathedral and which the prior had used in the baths he had erected for the monks on Holywell Hill (in return for the transference of St. John's tolls to the Worcester bailiff in 1461) The water was credited with possessing curative properties for the eyes, and was extensively used for that purpose. The lead pipes which conveyed the water to the cathedral were pulled up by the Parliamentary troops during the siege of Worcester and used for bullets....... 


The Roman Road from Birmingham to Worcester - In days gone by before Motorway Cnstructions

The Roman Road from Birmingham to Worcester - In days gone by before Motorway Cnstructions

I.D.Margary in 'Roman Roads in Britain' describes this road as follows; 

'It seems clear that a direct road to Gloucester through Droitwich and Worcester branched from Ryknild Street to the south of Birmingham, near the alignment angle by Selly Park. Its course is at first represented by the main road through Bournville and Longbridge, now a .....


The Foss Way

The Foss Way

This was the great artery of the Roman military system in the west, and touched the County only at the outlying 'island' part of the Hundred of Oswaldslow, near Shipston on Stour. Because of the changes in the County boundaries, this has now sadly been lost to us.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          The road ran from Lincoln to Exeter, and served as a .....


The Making of A Roman Road

The Making of A Roman Road

Roman roads were once thought to be of two kinds, Streets which were paved with granite sets, and Ways which were unpaved, but archaeological evidence does not bear this out. They were however, all constructed of several layers which raised the road surface well above the level of the surrounding land, forming a causeway known as an agger.

The usual road for the passage of two vehicles without collision had a width of about 14 feet, but the agger would be considerably wider, making what we would call now a 'hard shoulder' on each side............                     


The Britannia Brewery

The Britannia Brewery

The Britannia Brewery stood almost opposite Paradise Row. It later became Spreckley's Brewery. It was started by a Mr. Joseph in early Victorian times, but at first, Worcester did not take to large scale brewing, being content with home-brewed ale.But times were changing . Breweries began buying up public houses, which became.....


St Georges Chapel of Ease

St Georges Chapel of Ease

St George's Chapel or Claine's St. George's was built in Barbourne where, say's Noake in 1848, 'within recent memory, children gathered buttercups and daisies, and rioted in the tall grass'. The need for such a chapel was expressed by the minister of Claines, for the ..........


Barbourne Terrace

Barbourne Terrace

In the 1850's, Barbourne Terrace was a medley of Georgian villas and gravel pits. In the late 1850's one especially good house was built in Barbourne Terrace for Thomas Chalk by Henry Day. Henry Day loved towers, and this particular building is of ........... 


The Blanquets

The Blanquets

The area west of Bilford Road belonged to the Blanket family until the close of the War of the Roses, when for five generations it was in possession of the Freres. After the late Elizabethan period it was passed through .........


Worcester Regatta 1845

Worcester Regatta 1845

Worcester Regatta 1845  - Worcester Evening News 20-05-95

One of the more remarkable 'matchings' at the first ever Worcester Regatta over 150 years ago was when the crew from the then tiny village of Kempsey was drawn against Oxford University !

The David and Goliath clash did not, for some unaccountable reason, actually take place though Oxford rowed later at the regatta against a Bewdley crew, bumping their boat from behind under an arch of Worcester Bridge and claiming the race............... 


The Removal of Restrictions on Motor Cars

The Removal of Restrictions on Motor Cars

The year 1896 was Emancipation Day, and the London to Brighton run was organized. For some time expectations had risen, though doubts continued in the local press. The Worcestershire Advertiser of April 4, 1896, commented, 'In anticipation of removal of restrictions upon horseless carriages, manufacturers are busy ...........


Family-Run Firm On The Right Track

Family-Run Firm On The Right Track

A.E.Cleggs started this family-run business in 1929, which was sited on the village green in Hallow. The business moved in 1937 to a more suitable location in Hallow and became Vauxhall dealers in the late 1950s......

 


Advert: The Conflict of the Horse and the Horseless Carriage

Advert: The Conflict of the Horse and the Horseless Carriage

A new ease of travel was brought about by the internal combustion engine. The date of the above Country Life adverts, 1901, was still the age of the bicycle, and Humbers could use the slogan, 'The Kings of Europe Ride the Kings of Cycles' Cars had started to appear in 1898, and advertisements were often novel ...


Early Restrictions on Mechanical Vehicles

Early Restrictions on Mechanical Vehicles

The notorious Red Flag Act of 1865 had imposed speed limits of 4 m.p.h in the country, and 2 m.p.h in the towns, and required all 'road locomotives' to be attended by at least three persons, one of whom was to ....


Motorist Chased with Whips

Motorist Chased with Whips

John Tangye, of Stourbridge and Birmingham, was the first man to drive across Dartmoor in a car...


The Horseless Carriage

The Horseless Carriage

In Britain the pioneers of mechanical road vehicles had made an excellent start in the 1830s, but after the Locomotive Act of 1865, British engineers lost ground. There were two main reasons for this, Parliament was filled with landowners who were horse-orientated, and viewed the presence of mechanical vehicles on the roads as a nuisance and..


The first Motor Vehicle to Reach the Top of the Worcestershire Beacon, Malvern

The first Motor Vehicle to Reach the Top of the Worcestershire Beacon, Malvern

The first motor vehicle to reach the top of the Worcestershire Beacon, Malvern. The Hon ....


The End of the Tramway Service in Worcester

The End of the Tramway Service in Worcester

In 1926, the Corporation of Worcester obtained an Act of Parliament authorising it to purchase the tramways as a going concern, and leased the undertaking to the Birmingham and .....


The Company in 1914

The Company in 1914

In 1914, the combined tram, bus and motor-coach routes were 65 miles. The weekly milage covered was 8,250 and the number of passengers carried was put at 60,000 per week, or three million per annum, and the ....


Further Innovations

Further Innovations

Another innovation was the Tramway Parcel Express in 1907. Instead of one or two deliveries each day, parcels were dispatched by each car and bus. Parcels left at various agencies en-route were delivered to a Half-mile radius from the agency. Parcels weighing 14lbs were delivered for 2d, 28lbs for 3d, 42lbs for 4d and 56lb for 5d, with an ... 


Reduction in Fares

Reduction in Fares

With electrification came the rebuilding of the horse-tram depot in St. John's, and a reduction in fares. The fare on the horse-tram was two pence (2d). for any journey, and it took 15 minutes to go half a mile. Fairbairn reduced the fares to one and half pence, and later brought in a general penny fare. In 1908, a special ...

The Worcester Electric Tramway System

The Worcester Electric Tramway System

In 1898, the British Electric Traction Company acquired a controlling interest in the Horse-Tramway Service, Service, which became 'The Worcester Electric Traction Co. Ltd, and sought powers to electrify the tramways. For three or four years the matter was discussed at stormy meetings......


The Worcester Horse-Tram Service

The Worcester Horse-Tram Service

The first system of public transport for the City of Worcester was the establishment of a Horse-Tramway Service in 1881. It covered a distance of three-and-half miles on two routes. (1). From the Portobello Inn, Bransford Road, to ......


Flying Machines & Glass Machines - 'God Willing'

Flying Machines & Glass Machines - 'God Willing'

The public had to be persuaded that coaches were safe, and innkeepers advertised their new road carriages as 'flying machines', or if it had windows, as 'glass machines'. The first Worcester Flying Coach set off from Crown Inn, Broad Street, on June 11, 1733, for London. Passengers paid 25 shillings each, and .......


The State of the Roads

The State of the Roads

The roads in the 17th century were unbelievably bad, and for most of the 18th century they were in a worse state than had ever existed before. No new roads had been made since Roman times, and the existing roads were full of holes, sometimes.........


The First Stage Coach in Worcester

The First Stage Coach in Worcester

The first mention of a stage coach in Worcester was in 1674, when the City officers escorted Quaker Fox, who was under arrest, to London. By 1758, stage coached from Worcester to London had become well established, and in the ......


A Survey of Public Transport in Worcester

A Survey of Public Transport in Worcester

The First Public Transport

The first means of public transport in England came in the 17th century. Baggage wagons were used by the King and military forces in medieval times, where the roads permitted, but it was not until Elizabeth 1's reign that ...........


Salt Trows or Wich Barges

Salt Trows or Wich Barges

Between 1860 and the early years of the present century large numbers of new vessels were built for the salt trade. They were known among the Severn trowmen as 'Wich Barges', the name being an abbreviation of Droitwich. They did .........

 


Church Courts

Church Courts

The Church Courts exercised great power over rural life until 1860. They dealt not only with church affairs, but with matters affecting the whole life - marriage, -slander, drunkenness, schools, witchcraft, trading on Sundays and failing to observe Holy Days. Offenders were brought to the notice of the Church Court by a presentment made by the churchwarden, and the Court possessed the power of enforcement.......


An Eccentric Magistrates

An Eccentric Magistrates

Sir Thomas Phillips of Broadway.

'The worlds greatest book collector' In 1843, Sir Thomas, himself a magistrate, was fined at the local sessions for assaulting a tax collector. Shortly afterwards he was invited to appear in an engraved portrait group of Worcestershire Magistrates, by Richard Dighton. He wrote....


The Justices of the Peace

The Justices of the Peace

The chief agents of local government were the Justices of the Peace. They were unpaid, local gentlemen with considerable power and position. They dealt with all aspects of daily life, from crime and its punishment, through the endless disputes over poor relief, bastardy, unlawful gaming and drunkenness, to the licensing of  alehouses and the state roads and bridges. From Tudor times they played the central..... 


Changes in Police Uniform

Changes in Police Uniform

The top hat and swallowed-tail jacket were disregarded in favour of a helmet and tunic like those worn today. Re-equipment started in 1864, but not completed until the following year. The original uniform was chosen to be as .... 


Queen Street Police Station

Queen Street Police Station

In 1838, the old Militia Depot on the corner of Queen Street and St Nicholas Street was converted into a proper police headquarters. It had police hoses for an inspector and a constable, but parts were let out to tradesmen as a warehouse. There was little sanitary arrangements, and not until the second Cholera scare in 1849 were water closets erected in the depot. It appears that County prisoners were brought....


The First Police Force

Under the Worcester Improvement Act of 1823, which dealt with the lighting, paving and watching of the City, eight watchmen were appointed to work in parishes, all operating from the Watch House which was adjoined to City Gaol in Union Street, under the direction of the Gaol Governor, William Griffiths, who regarded his post......


Police Raid in 1822

Police Raid in 1822

That some attempt was made to clear the City of undesirables is shown in a report of 1822: 'Police made a raid at an early hour and visited certain obscure lodging houses in the City, and apprehended .... 


The Watch, or Charlies & the 'Lambs'

The Watch, or Charlies & the 'Lambs'

In most towns, night-man, known as 'Charlies', with warning rattles, kept an effective watch. They were often old, and always poorly paid, and there were complaints that when trouble started they were quick to avoid it and go to the other way. In rural districts the public .....


The Police - The Beginnings

The Police - The Beginnings

Crime in the first half of the 19th century was a very grave problem. The Watch, though called the Police, consisted of parish constables under the occasional direction of a magistrate. There was no police force in the modern sense of the word until the 1830s, and crime most went unpunished. The authorities....


Rushock Witch Trial, 1660

Rushock Witch Trial, 1660

It is recorded in the registers of Rushock Church of 1660, that Joan Bibb, at the instigation of the person, The Rev. William Shaw, was ordered to be tried and thrown into a pond as a witch, to prove...


Trial By Water

Trial By Water

Perhaps the most remarkable local survival of 'legal custom' was at Red Marley D'Abitot, a Worcestershire village before its transfer to Gloucestershire. William Lygon, the first Earl Beauchamp, was riding through his constituency in the 1820s, when he ......


A Tyrant Judge

A Tyrant Judge

The legal power of the Judge was great, and some let this be known clearly, Judge Hawkins, for instance was a tyrant in his court, and always refused to have any window open. The Mayor of Worcester was visibly... 


The Arrival of the Judge of Assize

The Arrival of the Judge of Assize

With the passing of the Courts Act of 1971, a form of justice which had existed for some 800 years, came to an end with the abolition of the Assizes. Usually twice a year, the Queen's Judge's set out from London and took the ...... 


The Arrival of the Judge of Assize & Mrs Henry Woods 'The Channings'

The Arrival of the Judge of Assize & Mrs Henry Woods 'The Channings'

With the passing of the Courts Act of 1971, a form of justice which had existed for some 800 years, came to an end with the abolition of the Assizes. Usually twice a year, the Queen's Judge's set out from London and took the ...... 


Escape from the City Gaol

Escape from the City Gaol

Version of the escape published in Berrows Worcester Journal 31.3.1951 which reads as follows:

'On one occasion a prisoner escaped from the prison. He climbed down from his cell by means of a rope of knotted blankets, and broke into the Governor's house and stole some of his silver. Years after, my grandfather met the man again, and got the whole story out of him... 


Courts at the Hundred House & at Cutnall Green

Courts at the Hundred House & at Cutnall Green

At the Hundred House at Great Witley there is still a Justices Room, for the inn occupied the site of the Hundred Courts of Doddingtree. It was built by Lord Foley, and was first used as a magistrates court in 1790. It was last used as such in 1872. The old cells under the building were later used a s a weigh-bridge. At Cutnall Green...... 


Worcestershire 'County Court' held College St. Inns

Worcestershire 'County Court' held College St. Inns

Before 1835 the parish of St. Michael's was out of the City's boundaries and jurisdiction. Both the Talbot and the Hare & Hounds were widely  used for County business, having all the amenities of the town, but officially out of it. The holding of the unreformed Court at the ...... 


The Custom of 'Borough English'

The Custom of 'Borough English'

Customs varied from Manor to Manor, and in some cases, the heir may not have been the eldest son. When this was so, the custom was known as 'Borough English', which was based on the ancient law of Mercheta, which gave to the Lord of the Manor, what was known as..... 


The Worcester Court of Common Pleas

The Worcester Court of Common Pleas

The Worcester Court of Common Pleas had its origin as long ago as 1554. The original charter of Philip and Mary gave the Court cognizance of all pleas whatsoever, and constituted a Court of Record to be held weekly. Also, a charter of James 1 provided for 'all manner of pleas', actions, suits and demands, as well ......


Courts held at Inns

Courts held at Inns

The practice of the gaoler selling drinks ceased with the building of the new Guildhall, and led to the Justices of the Peace adjoining to a nearby inn. The King's Head and the Golden Lion in High Street was widely used, but for the County Justices there was convenience in dealing with the minor cases at the Talbot Inn in the Cathedral precincts. Until 1835, the Cathedral area was outside the.....


Courts & Judges

Courts & Judges

For centuries, the Courts of Justice were held at the Town Hall, At Worcester, it was long been called the Guildhall. The original Hall was a timber-framed building with the body of the Hall open to the roof, with the Courts of Justice at opposite ends of the Hall, facing each other. Adjoining one of the Courts was the Gaoler's house, who was allowed to sell liquors to such of the prisoners as could afford to pay. The prison block was under the Hall, and was reserved for 'citizen' criminals, while .......


Plan of Worcester's Bridge from South Side

Plan of Worcester's Bridge from South Side

Plan of the New Worcester Bridge looking from South side..


Sketch Drawings of the Bridges on the Severn

Sketch Drawings of the Bridges on the Severn

Sketch's of Bridges on the Severn - From below Upton-On-Severn to Gloucester 


A Practical Remembrance at Ironbridge Gorge

A Practical Remembrance at Ironbridge Gorge

At the place where the first iron bridge was built, what better memorial than to erect an iron foot bridge as a war memorial. It spans the Severn between the villagers of Jackfield and Coalport. It has an iron plate at each end reminding walkers....


County Bridges in Tudor & Stuart Periods

County Bridges in Tudor & Stuart Periods

There was considerable building, or rebuilding of county bridges, some of stone, during this period. In the Quarter Sessions records from 1599 to 1642 (before the Civil War). In the Quarter Sessions records from......


The Old Welsh Bridge at Shrewsbury, by Paul Sandby, c.1778

The Old Welsh Bridge at Shrewsbury, by Paul Sandby, c.1778

The Old Welsh Bridge at Shrewsbury, by Paul Sandby, c.1778 

 


An Introduction to Worcestershire's Historic Bridges

An Introduction to Worcestershire's Historic Bridges

The destruction of many of Worcestershire's ancient bridges in the first half of last century on the grounds  that they were not suited to modern traffic, has been disastrous. Many were of great historical interest, and of great beauty, but the County authority, whose duty it was to maintain them, have in the past been induced either to destroy them and build a new bridge, or to transform the old one so that it bears little resemblance to the original. Only in recent times can it be said that much attention has been given to the ........


Roman Bridges

Roman Bridges

There was considerable iron-smelting at Worcester in Roman times, and it is most probable that a bridge existed across the River Severn to enable fuel and iron-cre from the western bank to reach the bloomery hearths on the east side. When the rail bridge at Worcester was being built in 1860, great stumps of ancient timbers were taken from the bed of the river. They could have been the remains of a medieval bridge, but in the ........ 


The First Bridges

The First Bridges

Originally there were no bridges, and the streams and rivers were crossed by fords and ferries. The danger of crossing in floods, or at night, and the inconvenience of waiting for the ferry led to the building of bridges. At first a crossing was by .... 


Joseph Berwick & Timberdine

Joseph Berwick & Timberdine

The manor house of Timberdine, a half-timbered building erected by the Mitton's over 300 years ago, lies almost opposite the Ketch Inn. The building today is partially late 19th century, and has been converted into a restaurant.  The ancient priory manor had been a key position at the battle of Worcester, extending from Duck Brook as far as the Ketch Ford....                                                                    


River Crossings

River Crossings

The Severn Tunnel between New Passage and Portskewett carries the railway under the estuary and forms the most direct railway route between the south of England and South Wales. The tunnel was completed  in 1886 at a cost of £2 million after many difficulties from flooding. It is the longest..........


Fisheries

Fisheries

Generally clean in quality, the Severn is a salmon river and also supports almost every kind of freshwater fish found in British rivers, including trout and barbel. The tidal waters of the river......


Navigation

Navigation

For centuries the Severn was the most important river for traffic to and from the West Midlands. It was almost certainly used by the Romans for trading purposes. An Act of Parliament in 1430 ......


Topography & Rainfall

Topography & Rainfall

The Severn Basin is irregular in shape, its topography and geology show great variety. Several geological systems are represented in the cathment area of the river..


River Severn Levels

River Severn Levels

The Severn is subject to large and rapid rises in water level. On the lower reaches of the non-tidal part of the river, the rise occasioned by flood is often of the order of 20 feet, while the maximum tidal variation at Avonmouth can be 48 feet. This is greater than that of any other river in the British Isles and is exceeded only in one other place in the world the Bay of Fundy in Canada....


The River Severn Information supplied By Severn Trent late 1980s

The River Severn Information supplied By Severn Trent late 1980s

The River Severn is a clean, fast-flowing river set in a pastoral background of picturesque countryside and rolling hills.

The name Severn is said to have been derived from Sabrina, a tragic water nymph reputed to have been drowned in its waters. In its upper reaches of Powy's, it is sometimes known as the Hafren.....

 

 

 


The Face of William Shakespeare

The Face of William Shakespeare

Following a simple enquiry from Canada in 1999, regarding a family by the name of Sanders living in Lich (Leech) Street in the early 1800's resulted in a twenty year intense research by Pam Hinks & CASP (Canadian Adaptions of Shakespeare Project)......


The Railway comes to Worcester

The Railway comes to Worcester

Most of the railway companies had their origins in the desire of country people to get access to London. By 1845, no fewer than 36 railway schemes were projected in Worcestershire, and 13 of them affected the City. Six only received legislative sanction.


St. Cuthbert's and Lower Wick

St. Cuthbert's and Lower Wick

In the farmyard of Lower Wick Manor Hose, (also known as Bennetts Dairy), is an ancient building of red sandstone, and some architectural merit, but which has long used as a farm building...


Hanley Quay Ferry

Hanley Quay Ferry

The only reference to a ferry at this point, known to the present day, is one by Mrs. Berkeley, who in 1924, wrote of a waterside inn called the Hanley Quay, as follows:..


Upper Lode Ferry Inn.

Upper Lode Ferry Inn.

In 1791, a Cameron (of Worcester) became tenant of the ferry with the public house adjoining. The license for the pub was granted in 1564. There was no bridge between Glos. and Upton and this was the.. 


Twyning Fleet Inn

Twyning Fleet Inn

Twyning Fleet Inn Ferry

'There is a ferry attached to this hotel which lands on the Bredon side, on which a rate is levied. The ferry right was granted by charter in 17c, and up until 1923 it was a distinct advantage to the house, but due to changes in transport' 

 


Ripple 'Lock-Stake'

Ripple 'Lock-Stake'

Ripple 'Lock-Stake' was the dividing line in regulations applicable to ..


Uckinghall Ferry, Ripple

Uckinghall Ferry, Ripple

This was the last of the Severn ferries in Worcestershire. In the hamlet of Uckinghall, the battered stump of a medieval wayside cross still stands to direct travellers to the river crossing here... 


Saxon's Lode Ferry, Ripple

Saxon's Lode Ferry, Ripple

The ferry here dates back many centuries, though the name 'Saxon' is said to have been the name of a distant ferryman. There is still a well-defined road leading to the crossing on the east bank from Stratford.. 


The Crossing at Upton-On-Severn

The Crossing at Upton-On-Severn

The crossing at Upton-on-Severn is on the ancient and very important route from the Welsh border to the Avon Valley, by way of the Hollybush Pass, at the south end of the Malvern Hills. It was a route long used, back in medieval times, by the drovers of Welsh cattle and sheep to English markets. The medieval ferry was ..


The Rhydd Ferry

The Rhydd Ferry

The name Rydd comes from the Welsh word rhyd, meaning a ford or ferry, and the ford here is thought to have been one of the principal crossings of the Severn on prehistoric times, on the route to the hill camps at Malvern Hills. From Malvern there are two very good roads converging  at Rydd Green, Both wre used by Drovers from Wales. The Guarlford road, especially, is a 'classic drovers' road, crossing..


Introduction:  Worcestershire Bridges and Ferries

Introduction: Worcestershire Bridges and Ferries

Long before there were bridges there were ferries, and in days long gone, landowners, ecclesiastical and municipal authorities maintained the crossings of the river. In days when labour was cheap, the ferries were a valuable source of income not only for the ferryman, who paid for his right to ply the crossing, but for the owners as well. For centuries ferries had an important place in the...


The Charlton House Ghost

The Charlton House Ghost

Charlton House, three miles from Evesham, was formerly the property of the Dineley family, and saw the commencement of the bitter family fued between Sir John Dineley Goodere and his...                                  


How to Exorcise a Ghost

How to Exorcise a Ghost

The Rev. W.H. Shawcross of Bretforton gave this recipe;..

 


Outdoor Ghosts

Outdoor Ghosts

These sometimes have strange names in the Vale of Evesham. Spot Loggins is a local name...


'Cut Rates - We've a Ghost'

'Cut Rates - We've a Ghost'

Mrs. l. M. Hopkins, who lived at Prior's Court, Callow End, 9March 1956), asked a Valuation Court that her rates be reduced because a ghost known as the Grey Lady is causing staff trouble...


Cropthorne and Hinton Ghosts

Cropthorne and Hinton Ghosts

A contemporary account (January 1899) goes as follows:

'At Cropthorne, a beautiful place stands vacant because successive owners have found it impossible to keep servants there. A booted something enters at the front door, crosses the hall, ascends...


Ghosts and Goblins

Ghosts and Goblins

Longfellow, who was saturated in thought and sentiment of New England, wrote: ...


Folk lore gives insight into Generations

Folk lore gives insight into Generations

Folk lore gives insight into generations of our ancestors, including forgotten religious rites long abandoned, and before the nature of diseases was understood, most believed in herbs and charms...


The Mandrake Root

The Mandrake Root

The mandrake plant has from the earliest times been associated with magical powers. It was believed that this 'semi-human' plant shrieked when pulled from the ground, a belief recorded by William Shakespeare in Romeo and Juliet;

'And shrieks like mandrakes torn out of the earth, that living mortals, hearing them, run mad'.


Cock Eagle Stone

Cock Eagle Stone

About 1647, Mr. Rowland Barlett's house at Castlemorton was plundered during his absence at Ledbury Fair, and among the money, plate and jewels they carried away was a 'cock-eagle stone', a variety of ergillaceous oxide of iron, then much valued by phsicians on...


Witchcraft Misc  17th century dtes

Witchcraft Misc 17th century dtes

  • 1601 Charge brought against John Genifer for threatening others and calling a 'poor wife' a witch
  • 1633 Widow Bellett of Stony Morton, charged 'for practicing the evil art'. 
  • 1660 Elinor Burt taken before magistrate, for taking on herself to cure several diseases and distempers by prayers and laying on her hands upon heads and...

The Pebworth White Witch

The Pebworth White Witch

At Pebworth, about 1850, there was a White Witch, who had the power of curing by incantation. She is remembered for two cures, one for ....


The Stourbridge Witch Case

The Stourbridge Witch Case

In the mid-19th century, half the inhabitants of Britain believed in witches, especailly in remote rural areas, but even in the Industrial Black Country many still...


The Hunting of Dame Cofield

The Hunting of Dame Cofield

The ability of a witch to turn herself into another creature is told in the story of the hunting of Dame Cofield of Leigh. John Spooner of Hopton Court, Leigh, kept a pack of hounds, which....


The White Witch & Black Witch

The White Witch & Black Witch

The difference in the practice of charms and of curses is shown in two notable Honeybourne characters. The beneficient activities of the White Witch were mainly in the... 


'Witchfinders'

'Witchfinders'

'Witchfinders' were long on the public payroll. Undoubtedly, torture of one sort or another was used sort or another..


Faeryland (Fairyland)

Faeryland (Fairyland)

'Walk out across the marsh when the water is out and the twilight falling and the wind leaping through the red boughs of the willow, and the rooks flying homeward through  the drifting rain, see the watery shaft of sunlight gleam on the flooded meadows, and the broad foundation of the rainbow spring from the veiled and distant hills - faeryland does not..


Edward . Corbett and the Telling of Folk Tales

Edward . Corbett and the Telling of Folk Tales

Edward C. Corbett was a solicitor who gave up his practice to travel rough around the world. He had a flair for languages and in the period after the 1914-18 War travelled as a overseas representative for Lea & Perrins promoting Worcestershire Sauce. At a time when ..


Folklore

Folklore

Folklore is the study of beliefs and practices once firmly held. Few now believe in charms, in giants and fairies, but less than a century ago people in lonely places believed in them In Worcestershire and 


The City Gaol

The City Gaol

The City has had a number of gaols including near the Trinity Gate/Queen Street, first known record is dated 1540, which was one of the smaller gateways within the City wall and had a Gaol Tower, is was a postern gate leading from the City towards....  


The Pack Horse, St. Nicholas Street.

The Pack Horse, St. Nicholas Street.

The Pack Horse was one of the staging houses on the Shrewsbury to London run, but dates earlier than the coaching ere, for it is said to have held a license since 1485. It had great accommodation, and on one September Hop Fair, the landlord..


St Nicholas Street and Percy's Alley

St Nicholas Street and Percy's Alley

The old name for St. Nicholas Street was 'Gaol Lane'. The deeds of an old house, which stood next to the Imperial Hotel, dated 1585, were in existence in 1910, though the house had gone with the widening of the road. The house was known as 'Ye Gaol Tower, close to ye Postern Gate leading to Losemoor (today known as Lowesmoor) near ye Garden Market' and 'within hail of the High Cross in Gaol Lane'. The old house used to have a doorway with some pretention to ornament, led up to by a flight of steps. The deeds and other old evidence show that it had been occupied by personages of distinction in local affairs. In the mid 19th century, there was a court in Lowesmoor called 'Percy's Alley'.... Read on below 


The City Walls

The City Walls

It is not known whether the City walls were built on the site of the Anglo-Saxon defences, but the first mention of them is in 1231, when Henry lll allowed the Bailiffs to..


A Medieval Custom at St. Nicholas's Church, Worcester

A Medieval Custom at St. Nicholas's Church, Worcester

St. Nicholas Church on The Cross was rebuilt in the 1730's, but a few courses of the medieval church can still be seen, the crypt being ancient. In olden days a delightful..


The Worcester City Gates

The Worcester City Gates

None were destroyed or removed after the 1651 battle. Foregate was the first to go in 1702-3. Sidbury Gate in 1768, and St. Martin's in 1787. At or near St. Martin's Gate was a small ..


Dr. Gott, Dean of Worcester

Dr. Gott, Dean of Worcester

Dr. Gott, famed at Worcester for his forgetfulness, was aggressively approached by a religious fanatic when on the London Underground going to Victoria Station..


The Cathedral Library

The Cathedral Library

The Cathedral Library is older than the present Cathedral. There is a record of a gift of a book to the Church of Worcester as long ago as 780 A.D by King Offa - ..


St. Oswald and the Little Devil

St. Oswald and the Little Devil

The first Cathedral at Worcester was built by St. Oswald in 983 A.D. but was almost completely destroyed when Wulstan built the great Norman Church in 1084. All that remains..


Saint Wulstan

Saint Wulstan

William of Malmesbury left us a fine description of the great Bishop of Worcester, St. Wulstan. Here it is translated by J.H.F. Peile, Archdeacon of Worcester; 


Monks & Friar's Feud at Worcester 13c Report Worcester Berrows Newspaper 2 Jun 1977

Monks & Friar's Feud at Worcester 13c Report Worcester Berrows Newspaper 2 Jun 1977

Article By Canon G.H.Browning - Berrows 2.6.77

We are familiar with reading about the Saturday skirmishes between supporters of the 'Rovers' and the equally ardent supporters of the 'United'. Our Monday morning papers tell us only too often, of casualties sustained by the fans of the 'Blues' or the shop windows and railway fittings smashed by the invading troops of the 'County'.

It comes as no surprise however, to read of hooliganism which was rampant in the City of Worcester about the year 1300 and which took an unusual form...


Old Worcester - Architectural Miscellaneous Information

Old Worcester - Architectural Miscellaneous Information

Until 18c, the carpenter was most important in the building of Worcester, but then gave way to the mason and bricklayer, just putting in parts of roof timbers. The City Corporation helped with grants to rebuild the churches damaged in the Civil War. Worcester became.. 


Old Worcester - Miscellaneous Information of Interest -  ongoing

Old Worcester - Miscellaneous Information of Interest - ongoing

 

  1. Prison Schoolmaster, Ariel Constable, lived at No 1 Easy Row
  2. Holy Trinity Girl's School erected 1834 by subscription on site gifted by the Bishop of Worcester.
  3. Boer War Memorial by W.R. Colton, ARA, unveiled Sept 26, 1908.
  4. Fall of Chimney at White Hart, College Street, Feb 3, 1960..
  5. Lord Napier at Guildhall, back from Abyssinia, in company of Sir John Pakington, Sec for War and USA. Ambassador. 1868.
  6. Fred Corbett (Stroller), died Dec. 1939 aged 97, was Mayor 1882...

Water Gate at Worcester Cathedral

The Watergate was built in 1378 in the reign of Henry V, 'Frater William Power, cellerer made ye gate'. The boatman was paid a salary of 16s. 8d a year....


Potato Rationing

Potato rationing during the 1914-18 War at Worcester


Bread Dole art the Cathedral

Bread Dole art the Cathedral

The Receiving of the Bread Dole in the Chapter House of the Cathedral..


Beating the Bounds at St. Helen's Parish 1908

Beating the Bounds at St. Helen's Parish 1908

The Parishioners of St. Helen's Parish about to set off to beat the Parish bounds in 1908. The ladies in the front have maps of the route and ..


Worcester College, Oxford

Worcester College, Oxford

In the 13th century the Benedictine Order taxed their foundations in England to establish a college at Oxford. In 1283, John Gifford of Brimsfield made a presentation to the Gloucester community of a site of what is.. 


Worcester Crosses

Worcester Crosses

Walcott's Memorials of Worcester, 1866 records the following:

The High Cross (defiled 1529); The Grass Cross (demolished 1578), The Sanctury Cross in Cathedral Yard, Whitesone Cross and wayside crosses on.. 


St Godwald's Chapel

St Godwald's Chapel

Godwald was an abbot-bishop in Brittany of great virtue and high birth. He had a monastery of clergy on an island called Locoal, and a retreat on a small ...


Prince Arthur's Tomb

Prince Arthur's Tomb

Prince Arthur was laid to rest on the night of April 26, 1502 in Worcester Cathedral. The legend inscribed on the four sides of his marble-topped tomb in the new Gothic style typeface used by..


St. Andrew's  Spire

St. Andrew's Spire

The original top of the spire was first taken to Mr. Rowley Hill's residence at St. Catherine's, London Road, but in 1918, Canon Phillips, got ..


First City Organ or Chimes

First City Organ or Chimes

It seems that St. Swithun's parish was the first to have an organ or chimes. A record records 'July 17, 1661, agreement between Richard Beddoes and....


The Trinity Wake

The Trinity Wake

Every year, on the eve of Trinity Sunday, garlands were suspended from the balcony of Queen Elizabeth's House, each person in the ...


Earl Lying in State at the Crown Inn

Earl Lying in State at the Crown Inn

The Worcester Herald of January 26, 1901, featuring items of news from it's archives of one hundred years before, reported the following:


The Horns of Dr. Jenner's Cow

High on the north wall in Anderson & Virgo's chemist shop, which was in the Foregate Street, over the shelves, was displayed the horns of a cow. It had this place of ..


The Butts

The Butts

The City authorities were bound by an Act of Henry VIII (33.19) to maintain a place for archery practice, and to train the City levies in the use of the bow. This required a place where the butts could be ...


Shewringe's Hospital, The Tything

Shewringe's Hospital, The Tything

Thomas Shewringe was the celebrated Mayor of Worcester, who with the members of the Corporation, accompanied King James ll to the door of the Roman Catholic Chapel, but declined the invitation to attend Mass in their...


Lea's Almshouses and St Nicholas School

In 1864. John Wheeley Lea endowed an almshouse in Infirmary Walk for six poor women, and adjoining, defrayed the cost of erecting a school for St. Nicholas parish. The cost was around £2,000, The six houses were in a charming gothic ...


Hebb's Charities

Hebb's Charities

Another hospital or almshouse near the Tything were the Hebb's Charity for 'decayed members of the Council and their widows'. The houses were at the back of Albany Terrace. Dr. Christopher Hebb, an eminent.....


Perry Wood

Perry Wood

Pirie or Perry Wood is the last fragment of the forests that once closely surrounded Worcester. In Elizabethan times, the wardens of Feckenham Forest met at the...


Elbury Mount & Trotshill

Elbury Mount & Trotshill

Edwin Lee's found that in Cary's Map of Worcester, the hamlet of Trotshill, near Elbury Mount was then shown as Toothill.

Toothills are rounded hills rising beside ancient trackways, and were pre-Roman places of ..


St Clements Church

St Clements Church

St. Clements Church was formerly on the east bank of the Severn, at the bottom of Dolday. It suffered badly from ..


Berkeley Hospital & The Elms

Berkeley Hospital & The Elms

In the Foregate is the Berkeley Hospital, founded by Robert Berkeley of Spetchley. In his Will of 1692, he left £2000 to....


Hospital or Almshouses

Hospital or Almshouses

The care of the aged who were without friends or resources was fully provided for in the Middle Ages by numerous 'hospitals', which were not then , as later they became, places where the ....


The Curfew at St. Helen's, Worcester

The Curfew at St. Helen's, Worcester

The curfew bell at St. Helen's was rung nightly without a break until 1939, when the ringing of bells was the official warning that enemy parachutists had landed. The parish had a ...


A common Hall to save the Arboretum

A common Hall to save the Arboretum

A common Hall is a public meeting of citizens. When half of the 3,000 ratepayers showed no interest in the saving of the Arboretum, a Common Hall was called. There had been Common Halls called for before, but probably none as so rough...


The Arboretum Fountain

The Arboretum Fountain

A newscutting in the Foley Scrap book (W.o.r)) describes the fountain which formed the centrepiece of the Arboretum Gardens:                                                                                                                         'The fountain was designed by Barron, and is similar to the one at Witley Court. The diameter of the kerb is 48ft. There are...


The Loss of Sansome Fields and the Arboretum

The Loss of Sansome Fields and the Arboretum

In April 1931, MR.J Mayglothling, a well-known Non-conformist local preacher, then 82, making a speech which was reported in Berrow's Worcester Journal, said.....

  


Noake's Recollections

Noake's Recollections

Noake, the Victorian historian, wrote: 'Ancient names are the key-stones of history and should be scrupulously preserved'... The original name of Warmstrey Slip was Cowell's Lode. (This was the pre-1570 , Lode is the old name for a river crossing, but even Warmstrey Slip is none gone). Sansome was the name of the ...


The Demolition of St. Andrew's Church, Worcester

The Demolition of St. Andrew's Church, Worcester

In 1947, St. Andrew's Church was in a bad state, having been made redundant for some years. The parish was unable to repair it or keep up the churchyard, which was 'neglected and overgrown'. The council acquired the church for...


Memories of Worcester in the 1880s - What would they think today one must wonder !

Memories of Worcester in the 1880s - What would they think today one must wonder !

John Fletcher, in 1908, recalled the changes at Worcester from when he last visited in the City in the 1880s. Three in particular are mentioned; The ford at Barbourne Brook, the loss of the Inglethorpe Almshouses in Taylors Lane, and the removal....


The Bull Ring

The Bull Ring

Bull Baiting was from medieval times to the 19th century, an English pastime. John Noake quotes authority for statements that at Worcester, it was a recognized duty of the Mayor to secure.....


The Two Bridges

The Two Bridges

Old Powick Bridge is thought to have been built in the early 15th century. It was certainly standing in 1550. It is divided into two parts; the eastern with two arches over the mill stream, and the west with three arches over the River Teme.....


Comer Gardens

Comer Gardens

Comer Gardens was once an isolated 'garden village', built in the 1850's, of detached houses on both sides of a lane, well set back with long gardens in front...


A Storm of Periwinkles in 1881

A Storm of Periwinkles in 1881

A phenomenal storm took place at Henwick in 1881. Mrs. Millward of Bromyard Road recalled the incident when she was a girl: 'I was 8 or 9 at the time. There was an awful storm. When we left school in the afternoon, as soon as we heard what had happened, we ran there and picked up shell fish, putting them in our pinafores wet and dirty. Mother said they were snails. There was much talk about it at the time........  


The Worcester Earthquake of 1896

The Worcester Earthquake of 1896

What was described by the local papers as a 'Severe Shock of Earthquake', took place at 5.30 am, on the 17th December 1896. They reported: 'People were awakened by a loud rumbling noise, accompanied by disturbance of the .....


Cold Comfort & Happy Land

Cold Comfort & Happy Land

In the mid-19th century popular names had a habit of sticking. 'Cold Comfort' was the name given to a group of cottages in Church Walk (later School Walk) off Tybridge Street. The name was not official but popular, and like Hungerpit Wlk, off Ombersley Road, was thought to have been due to poor soil or absence of amenities. Cold Comfort and Hungry Harbour or Hungerpit are almost as common as Love's Grove. The names were....


Tybridge Street

Tybridge Street

For centuries the street called Tybridge Street was the principal entrance into Mid-Wales, and consequently it was the scene of many bloody affrays with the Welsh and other medieval armies needing to use the ......


The Holy Well

The Holy Well

The Holy Well at Henwick was an exceptional fine spring, which in medieval times had been piped to the Cathedral, and which the Prior had used in the baths which he erected for the use of the monks on Holywell Hill, in return....


The Royal Albert Orphanage

The Royal Albert Orphanage

A relic of Victorian philanthropy stood in Henwick Road. In more more modern times was used as the Y.M.C.A hostel until 2021, then sadly demolished to make way for new homes. The original building was very large and costly, and though institutional inside, the exterior proclaimed proudly the good work which was done.


Edward Webb

Edward Webb

Edward Webb took a prominent part in the life of the City, He was Mayor in 1847-8, and was a strong supporter of Dr. Charles Hastings during the local battle for the Health of Towns Act, when even ..........


Webb's Factory School

Webb's Factory School

The only Factory School in Worcester was at the Horse-hair Carpet Mill. Children were used to supply hair to the weaver's hand, and they like others working in mills elsewhere, worked long hours for little reward. Yet, Edward Webb had a particular concern for the children, and he provided an evening school and library for some 40 poor female children. After  10 or more......


Webb's Horsehair Carpet Factory

Webb's Horsehair Carpet Factory

There was in Copenhagen Street until 1935 the last of the City Carpet Mills, all that remained of a trade which, in George lll's reign had a royal inspection and was considered likely to be the most important in the City's future.

In 1835, Edward Webb, then aged 27, bought a horse-hair weaving factory at 8 Copenhagen Street. The plant had 14 seating looms and 2 looms for cider cloth...............


The Old Sheep Market - After the Plague

The Old Sheep Market - After the Plague

When the plague died down no more burial were permitted at the Angel Street site. The cemetery was permanently closed lest any disturbance of the tainted soil might liberate germs of the deadly pestilence. Hence the land was kept as an open space, and in the days of street ........


St.Peter's Parish Workhouse

St.Peter's Parish Workhouse

In 1746, a parish workhouse was set up in a old half-timbered building in St.Peter's Street, which existed well into the 20th century. Here for £10 per annum, 'a proper person was employed to instruct young persons and others in working trades such as leather, gloving, etc'. At that time, Robert Tasker (a good name) was governor, and received £185 p.a. 'to keep, lodge and manage the poor'.....

 


St Peters Church

St Peters Church

In early times St. Peter's Church was known as 'the Great' to distinguish it from 'St. Peter the Little' , which was a chapel at the castle of Worcester. In the 1830's nit was picturesque, but in a ruinous condition.....


'Heaving' in Dolday

'Heaving' in Dolday

The strange custom of 'heaving' took place in Dolday on Easter Monday. A chair decorated with ribbons and coloured streamers was placed in the street and the women would wait for the unwary male to pass along the street...


Pitchcroft and the fight to get public possession

Pitchcroft and the fight to get public possession

Today, it is hard to believe that before 1899 the citizens of Worcester had not the privilege of roaming at will over Pitchcroft. 

Pitchcroft was owned by several people and there were no boundaries to the various properties, so they were not distinguishable but could only be delineated on the Tythe Map. There had always been footpaths giving access to ferries, which had been used for so long that the public had acquired the right to pass along them during what was termed the 'closed season'. The acquiring of the croft for public recreation was achieved by many steps against dogged and fierce opposition.


The Plague Pit, Old Sheep Market

The Plague Pit, Old Sheep Market

At the bottom of Angel Street was the Old Sheepmarket. It was an open space until 1920 when the present roofed structure was built, although built in since. Traditionally, it was the site of the plague pit, Bill Gwilliam  recalled how the piers for the roof was constructed and a mass of bones removed when the foundations were dug out...


Public Lavatories

Public Lavatories

The first public lavatories for women in Worcester were erected in land off Little Angel Street. After some years of compaigning, with appeals from the Brotherhood and Sisterhood of Worcester in 1913, they were eventually erected 1915, but were mot open on Sundays.


The Black Friars

The Black Friars

The Black Friars, or Dominican Friary, occupied the site between Broad Street and the City Walls at the Butts, and from the Sheep Market west to Dolday. Their habit was a black cloak and hood over a white cassock. They came to England in 1221, but when they settled in Worcester is not known, 


Isaac Gordon, Money Lender

Isaac Gordon, Money Lender

Money lenders in the past were often Jews, and one of the most notorious was Isaac Gordon, who kept a money lending office in Bridge Street in the 1880's. He was sentenced at Worcester Assizes to a term of imprisonment for defrauding a Herefordshire farmer and the exposure of his extortions contributed to secure legislative regulations of money lending.


The Jews Patch

The Jews Patch

There was undoubtedly a considerable number of Jews living in Worcester in the Middle Ages and, as at other places, they did not have an easy time here. In 1218, Henry lll issued a writ to the Sheriff ordering him to require all Jews wherever they walked or rode abroad within or without the city, to fix on the head of their outer garments two white patches of cloth.....


John Oswen, Worcester's First Printer

John Oswen, Worcester's First Printer

High Street was for many centuries the street of printers. The first of that craft to practice in Worcester began in 1548. He was John Oswen of Ipswich, which at that time, he had three printers, Worcester being the 9th place in the British Isles to take up the 'art'. Other places ranking in time before Worcester were Tavistock 1525, Cambridge 1521, York 1509, Edinburgh 1507, London and St Albans 1480 and Oxford between 1478 and 1486.  

 


The Spire & Curious Incidents

The Spire & Curious Incidents

Some curious incidents are connected with the repairing of St. Andrew's spire. In 1801, while some repairs were being made, a barber named Baylis, shaved several of his customers on the top of it, and about the same time, a china painter named Cotterill, took up a small cup, which he painted on the top. One of the men shaved on the top was Joshua Bridges, a Seven carrier, an eccentric, weighing when he died 21 stone. For two years he kept a massive stone coffin ready for his burial.


The King's Head Theatre

The King's Head Theatre

During the 18th century few places had a theatre that was not a barn or improved building. At Worcester, the theatre was a wooden building in the yard of the King's Head Inn, opposite the Guildhall in High Street. The first report we have of it is in the Worcester Postman of January 4th 1717, when 'Oedipus, King of the Thebes' was preformed...


The Austins - Another Worcester Musical Family

The Austins - Another Worcester Musical Family

When Elgar was leader of the Worcester Festival Choral Society's Band, J.W. Austin was his second, and Elgar on starting the Orchestral Society, entrusted the leadership to Austin, which led to a long and close association. When printer's proofs of Elgar's new works arrived they went ....


The Elgars - Father & Son

The Elgars - Father & Son

In the High Street, Mr W.H. Elgar (the father of Edward) had a shop which he founded in the early 1860's. He had come to Worcester in 1841 from Dover as a pianist and tuner for a London firm of pianoforte makers. He was joined by his brother, and the business was known as Elgar Brothers. It was later transferred to his son, Frank Elgar.


The Three Choirs Festival

The Three Choirs Festival

The Three Choirs Musical Festival is the oldest and most distinguished of its kind in the world. It started in 1715 as an itinerant music club, giving performances of church music. Later, concerts were given at the shirehalls, and it was not until 1759 that oratorios were performed in the Cathedral.


Ancient Assize Records

Ancient Assize Records

The earliest documents of Assize in the London Records Offices are those of Worcestershire. They date back to 1221. Assizes a word meaning sitting or session, is but a variant of a term which has been applied to judicial systems in Scotland and a number of European countries. There were Assizes of civil jurisdiction....


Court Leets & Court Barons

Court Leets & Court Barons

The difference between a Court Leet and a Court Baron was that the Court Leet was a criminal court and a View of Frankpledge, the Court Baron was a court for trying civil actions. The Court Leet was a Court of Record, held once a year in every manor before the Steward of the Leet, who was judge.... 


Bredon Hill Court Leet

Bredon Hill Court Leet

Legal customs were retained for centuries. There were still people living in the 1870s who could remeber the Court Leet being held on Bredon Hill, on the flat space before the King and Queen stones.....


A View of Frankpledge

A View of Frankpledge

This is an ancient term used at Court Leets. that neighbours were bound for each others good conduct. Hallam says, 'every ten men in a village were answerable for each other, and if one of the committed an offence the other nine were bound to make reparation. It was security given be free-men'.


Feckenham Court Leet

Feckenham Court Leet

Ancient manorial customs continued in some places well into the present century. The Evesham Journal of December 1, 1928, reported on Feckenham Court Leet; 'According to the old custom, the jury assembled under the oak tree on the village green...


Ancient Courts on the Hill Top

Ancient Courts on the Hill Top

Way back in the very distant past, long before there was centralized legal administration, justice was administered upon hill tops, and in some places, ancient stones still stand to mark those special places, and surprisingly, legal customs continued there until comparatively recent times. Two such places are at the King and Queen Stones on Bredon Hill, and the Kifts Gate Stone near Chipping Campden.


Social Power & Authority

Social Power & Authority

Today, the state controls all aspects of the legal system, but in the past there were three distinct legal authorities which controlled rural life...


Strange Happenings in the Cathedral Churchyard

Strange Happenings in the Cathedral Churchyard

There is an area between Collage Street and Edgar Street where curious and tragic events have taken place, all of which were well reported in the press of the day. In November 1718 the whole of Worcester was talking about a girl named Mary Bentall who was troubled with a poltergeist.........


Old and New St Michael's Churches

Old and New St Michael's Churches

The old church of St. Michael in Bedwardine stood very close to the Cathedral on the north east side. It had been founded in 826, the name Bedwardine meaning 'ground reserved for the supply of the Refectory, a close or a field to supply bread'. Around the church were a number of houses which blocked up the northern facade of the Cathedral. It had a tower, and at the west end of St. Michael's stood the ancient clochium or bell tower with it's lofty spire...


Cathedral Bell Stolen

Cathedral Bell Stolen

In 1863, the Worcestershire Chronicle published the startling announcement that one of the great bells of Worcester Cathedral, weighing five cwts, had recently been stolen, 'it was not known how or when but it must have been within the last few months'. A ring of eight bells had existed at the Cathedral, and an America, who had visited the Tower, guided by a young ringer, informed the Custos that there were only seven......

 


The White Ladies

The White Ladies

The present house incorporates fragments of the Cistercian Nunnery called White Ladies, founded by Bishop Cantelupe, the friend of Simon de Mountfort, in 1250. Bishop Gifford, Cantelupe's successor, added to the endowment's and gave land bought from the de Flagge family. Some accounts say that Alice Flagge  entered the Convent and brought to the Nunnery lands leading up to Perdiswell, part of which, after 700 years, is still called Flagge Meadow. The Nunnery was further endowed by 53 acres of land ................


H. H Lines, Landscape Painter

H. H Lines, Landscape Painter

H.H.Lines was a landscape painter and a draughtsman of singular merit, ranking among the 'Worcester School' as second only to B W Leader. Among his works in the possession of the city are the line-and-wash drawings of the cathedral and monastic buildings which were being destroyed in the mid-19th century. With modern day research Worcester had others artists who became Royal Academy painters including the Thomas Hales Sanders who followed a line of family artists including John Sanders who in 1603, painted the portrait of Shakespeare who was an aquaintance of  the Bard and also was related by marriage to John Heminges who was born at Droitwich on the 25 Nov 1566, actor and Shakespeare's fellow-player. (This is an long ongoing research project which will be added to this site on completion).......


The Execution of Father John Wall

The Execution of Father John Wall

For several centuries the public gallows for Worcestershire stood at Red Hill on a piece of wasteland, but long since enclosed by the Sebrights. It is still possible to place the site of execution, for two ancient roads crossed here and these roads are now very narrow footpaths. The one, the old London Road, runs up the hill at the back of the houses; the other goes from north to south, crossing the traffic roundabout, and has a sign marked 'Footpath to Upper Battenhall'. Like many other ancient roads, it has been used as a marker, or boundary of property, and so has remained.


Mrs Henry Wood

Mrs Henry Wood

 

The story of Mrs. Henry Wood is one of the great success stories of the 19th century. She was born during the great frost of 1814 and a century later 6,000,000 copies of her books had been sold (not counting pirate copies and her huge contribution to magazines).

She was born Ellen Price at 18 Sidbury (called Danesbury House but rebuilt in 1889). Her father was Thomas Price, one of the largest glove manufacturies, who lived near other glovers in Sidbury (Burlingham was at 23 and Dent at 26). Up to the age of seven, she was brought up in her home of her grandmother, but when the latter died she went to live with her father at St. Mary's Terrace, London Road. She was married in Whittington Church to the head of a large banking firm in India and left Worcester, only returning some years later to consult Henry Douglas Carden, the great Worcester surgeon. She suffered from spinal trouble and used a reclining chair to write. Just before her death, she was writing 'Oswald Cray ' and broke down in health as soon as it was finished........  


The old Talbot

The old Talbot

Before 1835 the parish of St.Michael's was out of the city boundaries and jurisdiction. Both the Talbot and the Hare and Hounds in College Street were widely used for country business, all the amenities of the town but officially beyond its limits.....


Bishop Gore

Bishop Gore

Facing the Tewkesbury Road is the Loch Ryan Hotel, a fine late18th-century house that was once the residence of Bishop Gore, Bishop of Worcester from 1902 - 1905. He was the first Bishop of the 20th century and a socialist who refused to live in Hartlebury Castle, preferring to live in closer contact with his people. 


The Cameron Family

The Cameron Family

The Commandery has been home to many notable families including the Camerons. Dr. Cameron, the celebrated Worcester physician and his wife (Anne Ingram) lived in part of it in the latter half of the 18th century. Their eldest son, Rev C.R.Cameron, married Lucy Littleton Butt who, like her sister Mrs. Sherwood, wrote books for children, and numbered among admirers the great Dr. Arnold of Rugby School who quoted from them in his sermons......  


The Commandery

The Commandery

It was founded by Bishop Wulstan at the end of the 11th century for a master, four brethren and a chaplain. The establishment was at once religious and charitable, one of the houses outside the walls (like Oswald's) which catered for the reception of wayfarers who arrived after the city gates had closed at night and who otherwise would have had to sleep in the open. It was never connected with the Templars as some have thought, and the name, Commandery, probably derived from the title of a former lay superior.

 


St Peter's Parish Workhouse

St Peter's Parish Workhouse

In 1746 a parish workhouse was set up in an old half-timbered building in St. Peter's Street. It existed well into the 20th century. Parish records show the kind of treatment the less fortunate met. In 1739, for instance; Leonard Darke was to have 'the badche put on his sleeve before the churchwarden relieves him or his wife', a reference to the enforced practise of wearing a large 'P' badge on the arm to show a person was in receipt of parish assistance.....


St Peter's Church

St Peter's Church

In early times St Peter's church was known as the 'Great' to distinguish it from St Peter the Little which was a chapel at the royal castle of Worcester. By the 1830s it was picturesque but in a ruinous condition; and it was demolished in 1838. A new church was built with the aid of a government grant.... 


The Affray at the Ferry

The Affray at the Ferry

After the dissolution of the priory, the ferry and the boathouse passed with the Severn meadows to the new dean and chapter of the cathedral; and in Elizabethan times were the scene of an affray which became a Star Chamber matter, for strong passions disturbed the peace of the cathedral close in the days of transition from the old order to the new.


Old and new St Michael's churches

Old and new St Michael's churches

The old church of St Michael in Bedwardine, founded in 826, stood very close to the cathedral on the north-east side. Around the church were a number of houses that blocked up the northern facade of the cathedral. St Michael's had a tower and at the west end stood the ancient clochium, or bell tower, of the cathedral with its lofty spire.  


Cathedral Bell Stolen

Cathedral Bell Stolen

In 1863, the Worcestershire Chronicle published the startling announcement that one of the great bells of the cathedral, weighing five hundredweight had recently been stolen. It was not known how or when but it must have been within the last few months......... 


The  Cathedral Library

The Cathedral Library

Over the south aisle of the nave is the cathedral library. It contains rare and valuable books and documents of great age, including King John's will and a book printed by Caxton who set up England's first printing press in 1477. It was not until 1461, in the time of Bishop Carpenter, that a library was erected, and then it was placed in the charnel house; but there were collections of books and manuscripts before that, some certainly kept in the cloisters.......  


The beginnings of Worcester

The beginnings of Worcester

The site of the present city was tidal and swampy, ut the ford by the high ground, where the cathedral now stands, was of great importance, for here was the first sure crossing of the tidal river for many a mile. Sometime before AD655, a small mission church was built within the former Roman enclosure and houses and merchants clustered around. Later, alongside it, was built the first cathedral and in 680 Bosel, a monk from St Hilda's Abbey in Whitby was sent to become the first Bishop of Worcester .......   


The Cathedral and Sidbury - Before Worcester

The Cathedral and Sidbury - Before Worcester

The beginnings of Worcester date from the Bronze Age when, some two thousand years before the birth of Christ, the first settlers arrived; but these were not on the banks of the Severn ut on the high terrace east of the city between Elbury Mount and Crookbarrow Hill. The high ridge still shows circles and squares where once stood early settlements - from Elbury Mount in the north, which retained its defensive terraces until the 1850s, to Crookbarrow in the south, with its steep sides making a defensive mound or lookout, man-made on a natural hill. Cuggan, or Round Hill, at Spetchley commanded the east, and the entrenchments on the precipitous western side of Red Hill (later used by Cromwell).........


St John's Charity School

St John's Charity School

The last of the endowed school's of the City was in 'the township of St. John in Bedwardine', on the west bank of the Severn.It was a combined charity of two ladies who lived in St John's; Milberrow Doelittle in 1719 and Mercy Herbert in 1722.....


The Endowed and Chrity Schools in the City of Worcester

The Endowed and Chrity Schools in the City of Worcester

Worcester has two ancient endowed schools. They were the Cathedral King's School, which was of pre-Reformation foundation and was re-founded in 1541 by Henry VIII, and is still prospering strongly to this day and the Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School. founded in 1561, known as the Worcester Girls Grammar School but sadly closed in more recent times.....


Faith Healer

Faith Healer

Noake tells of an early Victorian faith healer, a labouring man of Stoke Prior, practising the art of healing 'by a charm', cases of thrush in children. He would put his finger into his own mouth and then into the child's, rubbing the gums and mumbling something ending with 'Father, Son and Holy Ghost', then set the child down....


Healing by Charms

Healing by Charms

Belief in charms survived well into the present century, especially for the cure of mysterious troubles that poultices and physic did not seem to touch, such as warts, skin diseases and fits. The charmer blew three times round the head of the patient, made mystic passes with his hands over the part afflicted and repeated an incantation in a low mumbling voice with the express intention that the words should not be understood....


The Village Wise Woman

The Village Wise Woman

Until the coming of the motor-car there were many villages in Worcestershire hidden away among wooded hills where life went on seemingly unchanged, as it had done for centuries. They were insignificant, out-of-the-world little places, inhabited by quaint old-fashioned folk, whose manners and customs were traditional and superstitious........


The King and Queen, and Bambury Stones on Bredon Hill

The King and Queen, and Bambury Stones on Bredon Hill

Long before Christianity, the Celts worshipped at curiously shaped rocks, not in temples, but in the open air, and on hill-tops. These stones were believed to have magical properties, and on Bredon Hill two groups of stones, of great antiquity, were used for religious and super superstitious purposes..........


Folklore in Past Days

Folklore in Past Days

 

                                         

Folklore is the study of beliefs and practices once firmly held. Few now believe in charms, in giants and fairies, but less than a century ago people in lonely places believed in them....

                                                                                               

 


Early Fairground Stalls c.1870

The pictures on this page are among the earliest taken of a fair in the City, and date from around 1870. They are the work of F.C. Earl, who had a studio in Foregate Street........


Strickland's Gallopers

Harry Strickland's grandson, Ray Strickland of Bromyard visited Bill back in 1993, when he saw a article Bill had written in Worc. Evening News, (27.9.1993), Bill recorded the conversation which gave an insight to 


Two Worcester Showman's Roundabouts/Galloping Horses

Two Worcester Showman's roundabouts in Angel Place. Alf Peters stands in front of his Gallopers in Angel Place c.1930, and Stricklands Horse Gallopers in Angel Place c.1920.....


Dr Barnardos & William Gwilliam born 1888

 

It is known that a building on the Shelsley Side of Woodbury Hill existed in the late 19th and early 20th Century's, which was owned by Dr.Barnardo's. originally old maps shown it as the reformatory, ut the locals always spoke of it as 'The Home'.

Bill Gwilliam :

'My father, William Gwilliam lived in what he referred to as 'The Home' for four years. His father had died and his mother was unable to look after him and work. She was employed at Witley Court in the Parish Shrawley, England, as a maid. (although it is in the parish of Great Witley).......   


Captain Michael Clements, R.N

Captain Michael Clements, R.N

Captain Michael Clements was a naval officer who greatly distinguished himself in the wars with France and Spain. Near Cadiz, in 1778, Captain Clements in the Vengeance, in sight of all the people assembled on the walls of the city, defeated two frigates sent out against him, and took on a whole Spanish fleet, receiving the fire of 24 ships of the enemy, and having 40 holes in the hull, many between wind and water.

 


Nelson at the Hop Pole Inn, Worcester

Nelson at the Hop Pole Inn, Worcester

It was at the Hop Pole that Lord Nelson stayed on his memorable visit to Worcester. The Coming of Nelson had not been anticipated, but during the afternoon of Sunday, 26th of August, 1802, a rumor of his approach spread amongst the citizens, for which mine host of the Hop Pole was probably responsible, for it was there that Nelson had bespoken rooms.....  


An early view of Worcester Cathedral c.1789

An early view of Worcester Cathedral c.1789

An early north east view of Worcester Cathedral c.1789


Huddington Court home of the Wintours and the Gunpowder Plot

Huddington Court home of the Wintours and the Gunpowder Plot

Huddington Court home of the Wintours and the Gunpowder Plot....

 

 

 


Nightwatchman on duty outside St. Helen's Church c.1900

Nightwatchman on duty outside St. Helen's Church c.1900

Nightwatchman on duty outside St.Helen's Church c.1900


Blind Man c.1900

Blind Man c.1900

Blind man reading Braile near the Watergate c.1900


Grimley Lido

Grimley Lido

In the 1920/30s a short stretch of river bank at Grimley, known as the Grimley Lido, gave untold pleasure to the people of Worcester. It was hardly a 'Costa Brava' or a beach on the Cornish Riviera, just the length of a longish field, but it became the mecca of thousands of people who wanted a dip in the river, or a picnic, on a summer week-end, or on a Thursday 'half-day closing'...


Terrific troupe which danced for our troops

Worcester Evening News  August 1997

1940's photograph of a popular Worcester wartime dance and cabaret troupe paying tribute to a gifted local dancer who died recently (1997).


Fair Booths on Pitchcroft abt 1880

Fair booths on Pitchcroft about 1880, showing the elaborate painted canvas fronts and small mechanical organ. An original print found in the loft of the British School marked School Photographic Club

 

 


'Uncle' Ben Emblings Sweet Stall c.1909

'Uncle' Ben Embling's Sweet Stall in Angel Street at the Worcester Cheese and Hop Fair 19th September 1909


Angel Street Cheese & Hop Fair 1909

Stalls in Angel Street for the annual Cheese and Hop Fair, 19th September 1909


Worcester Pest House Barbourne

Worcester Pest House Barbourne

Worcester Evening News Remembers Article 13th Feb 1993

Stamping out infection took on drastic proportions at Worcester in 1905 when the city council deliberately devastated an historic house .. by setting it ablaze.....


Robert Whiston and the Worcester King School Endowments

Robert Whiston and the Worcester King School Endowments

Robert Whiston, celebrated headmaster at Rochester and reformer of Cathedral schools, was friend and life-long correspondent of James Knight, the Editor of the Worcester Chronicle. Robert Whiston was headmaster of Rochester Cathedral Grammar School from 1849-1853. He  examined records and found that funds for scholars, and for four scholars at Oxford, were going into the Dean and Chapter's pockets.


The Black Library

The Black Library

Mrs. Sherwood, the writer of children's books, who died at Britannia Square in 1851, was the daughter of the Rev. George Butt, Rector of Stanford and vicar of Clifton-on-Teme from 1771 onwards. When she was only seven years old, an event occurred which left an abiding memory with her. Many years later she described it :- 


The Old Worcester Book-worms

The Old Worcester Book-worms

Mention was originally made of James Coombs in Old Worcester People and Places, Volume 1 p.29. Edward Corbett wrote of him: 'James Coombs, l remember was a local institutional; a ig framed man of somewhat ungainly carriage, who kept a book-shop chiefly second-hand, on the west side of the High Street..... 


John Noakes, Historian

John Noakes, Historian

Under the pen-name 'Rambler' John Noakes was the senior reporter, and later sub-editor of the Worcester Herald. He came to Worcester when he was 22 years of age and died in Rose Terrace in 1894, in his 78th year, after 56 years devoted to local history researches. 


Tunnel Hill, Observatory

Tunnel Hill, Observatory

High up on Tunnel Hill stands a house on the highest part of the road with 'observatory' windows on the top floor. In the 1800's it had a huge telescope fixed in the windows and many tales were told of the power of the instrument:


The Garden Suburb, Tolladine Road

The Garden Suburb, Tolladine Road

In 1913, a Society called the Worcester Tenants Ltd, bought eleven acres of land from Christ Church, Oxford, just off Tolladine Road, on the south side which then, apart from the Railway works, was in completely rural meadows and hills..... 


Brickfields and Richard Spooner

Brickfields and Richard Spooner

Brickfields Estate was the property of Richard Spooner, an eccentric. He was M.P for North Worcestershire, and partner in the Banking house of Attwood and Spooner of Birmingham..


The Water Gate and the Ferry

The Water Gate and the Ferry

The Priory Ferry, or Cathedral Ferry, worked until the mid-20th century. It had originally been established for the convenience both of monks and milk-maids, who would otherwise have had to be taken the circuitous route through the City to the Severn ridge at the bottom of Newport Street, for there was no riverside walk as there is today. 


Old and New St. Michael's Churches

The old church of St. Michael in Bedwardine stood very close to the Cathedral on the north east side. It had been founded in 826, the name Bedwardine meaning 'ground reserved for the supply of the Refectory, a close or field to supply bread'. Around the church were a number of houses which blocked up the northern facade of the Cathedral. It had a tower, and at the west end of St. Michael's stood the ancient clochium or bell tower with its lofty spire.


Changes in the Cathedral Services

Changes in the Cathedral Services

The religious revival that came with church reform brought great changes in public worship. One of the influences for church reform came from the young men of the Oxford Movement, to whom the doctrine and ceremony of the early church were a precious heritage....


The Tomb of King John in the Chancel

The Tomb of King John laid to rest in the Chancel of Worcester Cathedral following his death in Newark in 1216. originally placed between Wulstan & Oswald which sadly was destroyed. 


Worcester Cathedral

Worcester Cathedral


Worcester City Football Club, St. George's Lane c.1928

Worcester City Football Club, St. George's Lane c.1928


Cathedral Bell Stolen

Cathedral Bell Stolen

In 1863, the Worcester Chronicle published the startling announcement that one of the great bells of Worcester Cathedral, weighing five cwts, had recently been stolen, 'it was not known how or when but it must have been within the last few months'.

 


Cages of Birds in Cathedral Pews

Cages of Birds in Cathedral Pews

In Walpole's Lord Orford's letters, there is a note about a Worcester lady, who believing that her dead daughter yet existed and might communicate with her as a singing bird, had cages of birds put with her in her pew in the Cathedral, hoping they might attract her.


The Cathedral Charnel House

The Cathedral Charnel House

Immediately north of the main entrance to the Cathedral, at a site where now the roadway widens before the North Porch, stood the Chapel of the Charnel House.........  


Guesten Hall

Guesten Hall

The ruins in the College Green are part of the Guesten Hall, built in 1320, which formed part of a chain of monastic buildings on the south side of the Cathedral......


Three Incidents at the Old Palace

Three Incidents at the Old Palace

The Council of War - James ll Rebuffs the Bishop - The Bishop Locked Out


The Old Palace, Deansway

The Old Palace, Deansway

Until the year 1842, the Old Palace was the official residence of the Bishop of Worcester. He also had Hartlebury Castle and a London House, but a Royal Commission looking into the Church Revenues with reforming zeal, concluded that the Bishop had no need for two palaces, and reduced his income.


Edgar Tower

Edgar Tower was, until the late 19th century, known as St. Mary's Gate, was the main gate to the royal castle and priory..... 


Eaton's Concise History of Worcester (1829) - Royal Tombs

Eaton's Concise History of Worcester (1829) - Royal Tombs

Eatons Concise History of Worcester, ends the account of the opening of the tomb with this macabre story: 'On the opening of the Tomb of King John in the Cathedral, a gentleman of this city took a hand-full of the skeletons of skins of maggots that were in and about the abdomen of the body and angled with them in the Severn, and absolutely caught a brace of bleak with them'. 

The King's tomb was moved in to a new location in the Cathedral  which in doing so destroyed the very reason for it being there at all. The last restoration in 1874 was done by the Board of Works, who are responsible for all the royal tombs, and insensitively destroyed the remnants of colour that remained and gilded the whole figure, placing on it's head a tin crown.

Arthur, Prince of Wales, the son of Henry Vlll, was as a boy of eleven, betrothed to Catherine of Aragon, of the same age, in a Machievellian attempt to control foreign affairs of state. Two years later, they were married by proxy, the ceremony on Arthur's side taking place in the chapel of Twickenhill Palace at Bewdley on Whit Sunday, 1449. Catherine came to England two years later, and she and Arthur both 15, were married in St. Paul's Cathedral, and went to spend their honeymoon at Ludlow Castle. At the end of two months, on April 2nd, 1502, Arthur died.

The body was embalmed and a great procession brought the young prince to Worcester Cathedral for burial. It was one of the greatest  scenes of pomp and ceremony ever witnessed in our Cathedral, and one of the most moving. The chronicler wrote:

"but to have seene the weepinge when the offringe was done, he had a hard heart that wept not".

 


The Royal Tombs

Two important royal tombs can be seen in Worcester Cathedral. That of King John, believed to bear the earliest royal effigy taken from life, and that of Prince Arthur, the eldest son of Henry VIII, often said to be the most beautiful tomb of all British Cathedrals.


The Dissolution

The Dissolution

On January 16th, 1540, the Priory of Worcester came to an end and after 580 years of occupation by the Prior and monks, the monastic buildings and estates were surrendered into the hands of the King.


The Shrines of Oswald and Wulstan

The Shrines of Oswald and Wulstan

The shrines of Oswald and Wulstan were the most popular of the Midland religious shrines in the 13th and 14th centuries. The great re-building of the Cathedral in the 13th century, the choir and Lady Chapel, were made possible by the fame of the Saints of Worcester.


Little Pitchcroft Riots, 1818

Little Pitchcroft Riots, 1818

The croft nearest the City walls (roughly the land cut off by the railway viaduct) was called Little Pitchcroft. It was taken up by the Cattle Market and other buildings, but not before there was considerable violence to stop the loss of what regarded as the citizen's common land.


Soup Kitchens

Soup Kitchens

The years following the wars with Napoleon were times of great distress among the poor. Charitable people opened soup kitchens in Bull Entry and Bank Street. The Bull Entry kitchen was established in 1817, with specially made equipment that made an average 15,000 quarts daily, and it was said could make three times as much if needed. 


The Cathedral and the City

The Cathedral and the City

From time immemorial the Prior and the monks of Worcester (the forerunners of the Dean and Chapter) were exempt from municipal authority. This was confirmed  y Henry VI, who in the year 1400, ordained that : 


The Sanctuary at Worcester

The Sanctuary at Worcester

The privileges of Sanctuary were granted to the Cathedral in 712. The area of the Sanctuary formed a circuit around the Cathedral, coming up from the river at Water Gate, between College Green and the site of the old Castle (now the King's School) including the north side of Edgar Street (which was called Knoll's End), across Sidbury to Lich Street, running up the south side of that street, and so down between the Bishop's Palace and the Cathedral to the river.


The Beginnings of Worcester

The Beginnings of Worcester

Worcester was the first ford, coming up the Severn, at the head of the tideway which was not unduly affected by the tide, but equally important, there was sharpe rising ground which provided a place of comparative safety for those using the ford.


The Early Cathedrals of Oswald and Wulstan

The Early Cathedrals of Oswald and Wulstan

Oswald became Bishop of Worcester in 961, at the time of the Danish raids, and when Christian life was well nign impossible. He saw the solution in the revival of monastic life, the monasteries being refuge where men could flee from the lawless and sensual world, and from which a Christian by religious discipline could influence the world around.


The Shambles

'Buy!  Buy!  Buy! Saturday night in the Shambles, after 9 o'clock, was like a medieval fair, with butchers vying with each other to auction unsold meat. Until about 1930, a few butchers had any form of refridgeration, and meat was sold off cheaply, rather than let it spoil over the weekend ...


Victoria House and Fashion in 1900

Victoria House and Fashion in 1900

The most famous of Worcester's drapery and millinery establishments in the 19th century was Victoria House. Its premises was part of the old Hop Pole Hotel, one of the most famous posting establishments in the Midlands.


Foregate Street

From the Town Gate in the Foregate to the Liberty Post at the top of Salt Lane (now Castle Street), was the northern Liberties of the City. The land was outside the walls, but under the control of the City Corporation. Before the Battle of 1651, it was a place of hovels, but in preparation for the attack, these were cleared away. 


The Cross

The Cross

In medieval times here the life of the City concentrated. An ancient cross with heraldry stood opposite the Trinity Passage. Here war and peace was declared, the royal proclamation made. 


How City Centre Could Be Improved WIEN 29.3.1996

How City Centre Could Be Improved WIEN 29.3.1996

  • A major re-think is needed for Worcester to flourish and become an important centre for shopping, business and tourism in the 21st century. That is the picture that has emerged after the Evening News invited its readers to take part in a survey of what they think of the city.....  

Article Credits; Pam Hinks would like to thank Worcester News formerly Berrow's for permission to reproduce copyright material 

Worcester Evening News 29.3.1996


Astwood Cemetery - Statistics @ 11th February 2019

Astwood Cemetery - Statistics @ 11th February 2019

The present  official statistics for Astwood Cemetery, @11th February 2019 stands at :

  1. Recorded burials to-date = 79,451
  2. Remainder of burial plots available = 600
  3. Current acreage of land = 85 acres 
  4. There are no plans at present to reuse previously used burial plots
  5. There are no further plans at present for a further Cemetery in Worcester or surrounding area 

 

 

 

 

 


The Shades Inn, Mealcheapen Street, Worcester

The Shades Inn, Mealcheapen Street, Worcester

This imposing house, almost opposite the Reindeer Inn, was the Shades Inn, but originally, it was the home of the Russell family, one of the principal families of the City. 


Fight to Save the Golden Lion  Finds 400 year Inventory Berrows 12.2.1984

Fight to Save the Golden Lion Finds 400 year Inventory Berrows 12.2.1984

Those battling to save Worcester's Golden Lion as a pub have made a remarkable discovery which adds weight to their campaign.

Article credits; Pam Hinks would like to thank Worcester News, formely Berrow's, for permission to reproduce copyright material  


The Plough Inn, Silver Street, Worcester

The Plough Inn, Silver Street, Worcester

The Plough Inn, off Cornmarket, which was demolished to make way for the new Walls Road in c1970, was well over 600 years old. It was originally a religious inn called the Archangel, and stood just outside St Martin's Gate, to accommodate traveler's that arrived too late to enter the City. 


Servant's Mop at Hadley Bowling Green

Servant's Mop at Hadley Bowling Green

A leaflet found in a chimney stack at Ombersley shows that the inn at Hadley was used for other than bowling, and that in the 18th century a 'Mop' was held there. The leaflet reads as follows:

 


At the Sign of the Dog, Sidbury, Worcester 1754

At the Sign of the Dog, Sidbury, Worcester 1754

In Berrow's Worcester Journal of May 1754, there was an appeal for a lost person, which mentions a tavern under the 'Sign of the Dog' outside the Turnpike gates, which then stood at the bottom of Wheatsheaf Hill, at the junction of the London and Tewkesbury roads. It reads:

 


Riot at the Crown Inn, Worcester

Riot at the Crown Inn, Worcester

The Crown Inn, Broad Street, Worcester, is a fine example of an old coaching inn of the 18th century, but in fact it is much older than that. There are references to the Crown in the City Chamberlains Account's of 1566, and again of 1578, under the heading 'Rentall of the Cities landes in St Nicholas parish' - 


Charles I and Cromwell at the Lygon Arms

Charles I and Cromwell at the Lygon Arms

This inn was originally the White Hart, and the first reference to this inn, now renowned throughout the country and to tourists abroad, is in 1532


The Crown and Sandy's Ombersley

The Crown and Sandy's Ombersley

Almost next door to the King's Arms is the Crown and Sandy's. This fine inn mentioned in the parish register in 1740, has a late Georgian front, but parts are older, and it was said previously to have been thatched. 


Charles II and the King's Arm's Ombersley

Charles II and the King's Arm's Ombersley

The Kings Arms is a very old, half-timbered inn, dating from the early 17th century, with parts going further back to the 15th.  


The Cross Keys Inn, Friar Street, Worcester

The Cross Keys Inn, Friar Street, Worcester

The Cross Key's Inn was one of a group of ecclesiastical inns near the Cathedral; the other being the Cardinal's Hat (almost opposite), the Angel de la Trompe, The Mitre and the Seven Stars, all of which have now gone . The Cross Keys did a large trade on market days till the end of the 19th century, but there were 30 licensed houses close around, and the Cross Keys, having had four tenants in 40 years, was the worst of the lot, and was closed about 1905.  


The Cardinal's Hat

The Cardinal's Hat

Worcester Cathedral in the period of 1100 to 1540 was one of the principal places of pilgrimage. Many ecclesiastical inns sheltered near the Cathedral catering for the traveler and pilgrim....

 


The Cardinal's Hat

The Cardinal's Hat

Worcester Cathedral in the period of 1100 to 1540 was one of the principal places of pilgrimage. Many ecclesiastical inns sheltered near the Cathedral catering for the traveler and pilgrim....

 


The Worcester White House,  - Held for 12 Pennies and One Red Rose

The Worcester White House, - Held for 12 Pennies and One Red Rose

The Worcester White House, Foregate Street, was until recent times known as the Star Hotel and in the mid - 19th century, the Start and Garter. It shares the distinction of being the oldest County inn with the Lygon Arms of Broadway, for it has had a licence since 1588, the year of the Armada.


From Workhouse to Tavern

From Workhouse to Tavern

To contrast to the Magpie above, the Farmers Arms on Kempsey Common was converted to a tavern when originally it was the parish Workhouse.


Pub Into School at Tardebigge

Pub Into School at Tardebigge

The Magpie Inn at Tardebigge was also in the churchyard in days past, but in 1830, it was converted to a school. Before that, when the parson went out to the vestry to exchange surplice for a black gown for preaching, he would step across to the pub for a quick glass of ale while the psalm was sung.


The Mug House, Claines

The Mug House, Claines

The Mug House is a rare example of a public house in a churchyard, some say, the only one today. Tombstones, flaking and grey, are within a few feet of the front door, and the church, is only 30 paces away. Calling for their evening pint, the villager's until recent times's had to approach by the churchyard path. 


Pubs in the Churchyard

Pubs in the Churchyard

For centuries church ales were regular features of medieval life, and taverns were not only near at hand, but often in the church yard itself. The Old Talbot, in College Street, Worcester was originally the Church House for St. Michael's Church, which stood in the Cathedral churchyard. It dates from the 13th century at least, and played an important part in baking bread and brewing ales for church occasions.


Misc Notes on Inns

Misc Notes on Inns

The following are various information notes which doesn't warrant a particular section, but a point of interest during my research etc. 


The Crown Inn, Evesam

The Crown Inn, Evesam

The Crown Inn was one of the inns sheltering beneath the walls of Evesham Abbey. It existed before the destruction of that great building, and probably found it convenient to change its name in those troubled times.

 


The Angel de la Trompe

The Angel de la Trompe

One of the earliest inns mentioned is the 'Hospice de la Trump' at Worcester in 1473.


Ecclesiastical Inns in Worcestershire

Ecclesiastical Inns in Worcestershire

The first reference to inns in Worcestershire come from documents referring to inns maintained by Ecclesiastic authorities. They all had religious signs, sheltering near the walls of great abbeys, offering refreshments and lodgings to pilgrims..


The Anchorite of St. Nicholas

The Anchorite of St. Nicholas

The old church of St. Nicholas was erected in the 12th century and part of the crypt and basement walls appear to date from that period.


More Street Characters

More Street Characters

The Shambles by day attracted the street musicians, if one could generously call them that, for a few could generally play or sing. One played a concertina outside the Butchers Arms (now the site of Marks & Spencers), and his repertoire consists of The Old Rustic Bridge and Abide With Me.


Nash's Almshouses

Nash's Almshouses

Off New Street are Nash's Almshouses, originally intended, like St.Oswald's and Berkeley's for the aged and to be known as Nash's Hospital. It still occupies the original site, and has given the name Nash's Passage to the narrow way by which it was approached. John Nash, in his will dated 1661, 'gave and devised to 16 trustees, property to be held in trust for pious and charitable uses' and with it was bought not only the land upon which the almshouses stand, but five acres of land, the site of the Royal Infirmary. Further almshouses were built on part of that land, which were demolished several years ago at the site of the Cattle Market. The 25 old folk lived rent free, with a small pension, free coal and light, and had other benefits.

 


Alderman John Nash

Alderman John Nash

In New Street there is a fine half-timbered building known as Nash's House. It takes its name from Alderman John Nash, Mayor, and twice representative of the City in Parliament during Charles 1 reign.


St. Andrew's Wesleyan Church, Pump Street

St. Andrew's Wesleyan Church, Pump Street

In 1795, four years after John Wesley's death, the Wesleyan's in the City bought an old chapel in Pump Street belonging to a branch of Independents. It was surrounded by tumbledown houses, and like all the early dissenter's chapels, was tucked away up an alley so not to invite trouble from the mob. 


John Wesley in Worcester

John Wesley in Worcester

The City's first Wesleyan Chapel was built in New Street in 1772, and a plaque on the wall commemorates the building. The first recorded visit of Wesley to the County was in 1761, when he preached in the 'Abbey Church' at Evesham.

 

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New Street Inns and Cock Fighting

New Street Inns and Cock Fighting

Twelve large inns catered for the trade in the Cornmarket in olden times, and four of them were in New Street. They were the Greyhound (later called the Old Greyhound) , the New Greyhound, the Swan, and the Pheasant. The Old Greyhound was the principal place of departure for Carrier carts. No less than nine carts left the Greyhound for outlying places on Saturday afternoons, around 4 o'clock. 


New Street

New Street

Originally, Friar Street and New Street was one street known as Glover Street; there was no break where Charles Street goes to the Blockhouse, Pump Street was a very narrow lane, the bottom of which was known as Vine Street. 


The Blockhouse

The Blockhouse

The Blockhouse was the immediate area outside the City Walls on the east and was part of the Liberties of the City. It was a network of ditches, much like Sedgemoor. Even in the 1850's one remained, with its path along, known as 'Withy Walk', now St Paul's Street. 


St Laurence's Church

St Laurence's Church

The site of St, Laurence's Church was outside the City walls, where the burnt-shell of Sigley's Sweet Factory stood in what then prior the Friar's burial ground. William de Beachamp, Earl of Warwick, was buried there in June, 1298, after much ecclesiastic argument and bad feeling.. 


Wyatt's Hospital

Wyatt's Hospital

Almost opposite Tudor House is Wyatt's Hospital, founded for six poor men, by Edward Wyatt, Mayor of Worcester in 1696.


Tudor House

Friar Street has retained more of its timber-framed buildings than any other street in Worcester. Many of these houses were of considerable size and were once occupied by citizens of substance, but in the 18th century most of them were divided into tenements and allowed to fall into a sorry state of dilapidation. Many of the brick-faced buildings are in fact, timber-framed behind the facade.


The Greyfriar's School

The Greyfriar's School

Previous to Schaffer's ownership, the prinicipal part of the building was in the occupation of Mr. Christopher Bardin, an old gentleman of venerable aspect, who conducted a private school at modest fees, in the days when public elementary education was in it's infancy.


The Greyfriars

The Greyfriars

The Greyfriars in Friar Street is the finest half-timbered building in the City. The building was only part of the Friary which took in all the ground occupied by the present building a and that of Laslett's Hospital.

 


Friar Street

Friar Street

Friar Street is the most interesting of the medieval streets left in Worcester, and this is due to one man, Mr Matley Moore, who by saving the Greyfriars building, when  the City authorities of the 1930-50 period had 1st the building deteriorate so badly that part of it fell into the street.

 


The Effect on Road Coaches

The Effect on Road Coaches

The effect of the railways on road coaches in the Birmingham area fluctuated from boom to disaster. Until 1835, six coaches set out daily in each direction to and from Birmingham and Worcester


150th Anniversary Astwood - And the twist to the turn of the tale .........

150th Anniversary Astwood - And the twist to the turn of the tale .........

As we congregated at the grave side of Baby Ryan, it was very peaceful and tranquil with the sun shining through the trees just as Father McGinley started his service, a sound took our attention to look to our left.....

Whilst we all started to arrive at the grave side, a elderly couple stood in the distance, on looking over l could see the lady was very distressed and upset .....


150th Anniversary of Astwood "Graveside Memorial Service Baby Ryan"  9-10-2008

150th Anniversary of Astwood "Graveside Memorial Service Baby Ryan" 9-10-2008

Astwood Cemetery 1858 -2008

Graveside Memorial Service for Baby John Ryan

9th October 2008 3pm

                                                    I am the resurrection and the life, Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live -                       


150th Anniversary of Astwood Baby Grave Marked after 150 Years BBC Ceefax

150th Anniversary of Astwood Baby Grave Marked after 150 Years BBC Ceefax

Ceefax 167 Thursday 9 October 2008 BBC West Midlands


150th Anniversary of Astwood Cemetery The First Burial & Sad Going On's

Not much is recorded about Bridget (nee Butler) or John Ryan, apart from we know John was a Stonemason's labourer and that they came over from Mayo in Ireland during the Potato famine, sadly Bridget became a Prisoner in Worcester's County Gaol, Whitstones. 


150th Anniversary of Astwood - The End of the Chapels (Transcript Page 19)

150th Anniversary of Astwood - The End of the Chapels (Transcript Page 19)

Unfortunately, through lack of repair by Worcester Council over the years, it was reported in the 1970's that the once so beautiful Chapel required a large amount of work and a considerable amount of money spent to restore them. At this time the Council could not justify spending so a decision was taken to demolish the Chapels which followed in the late 1970's 


150th Anniversary of Astwood - Berrows - Sat 2 Oct 1858 Part 3 - The Collation a t the Guildhall (Transcript of Page 17/18/19)

150th Anniversary of Astwood - Berrows - Sat 2 Oct 1858 Part 3 - The Collation a t the Guildhall (Transcript of Page 17/18/19)

The LORD BISHOP gave the health of the Mayor and Corporation, eulogizing their exertions and again expressing the gratification which he in common with others present bad experience at the day's ceremonial. (Cheers)

(Article Credits: Pam Hinks would like to thank Worcester News formerly Berrow' for permission to reproduce copyright material)


150th Anniversary of Astwood - Berrows - Sat 2 Oct 1858 Part 2 - The Collation at the Guildhall (Transcript of Page 14/15/16)

150th Anniversary of Astwood - Berrows - Sat 2 Oct 1858 Part 2 - The Collation at the Guildhall (Transcript of Page 14/15/16)

A collation was served at the Guildhall at three o'clock to which the Lord Bishop and Mr. Laslett, MP, were invited by the Mayor and Corporation. There were also present most of the members of the Corporation and of the clergy who had taken part in the proceedings of the morning, and a goodly number of ladies. The edibles were provided by Mr. Mountford, with his customary tact.

(Article Credits: Pam Hinks would like to thank Worcester News formerly Berrows for permission to reproduce copyright material)


150th Anniversary of Astwood - Berrows - Sat 2 Oct 1858 Part 1 - Consecration of the Cemetery (Transcript Page 12/13)

150th Anniversary of Astwood - Berrows - Sat 2 Oct 1858 Part 1 - Consecration of the Cemetery (Transcript Page 12/13)

The portion of ground which, through the liberality of Mr. Laslett, MP, and the meritorious exertions of the local Board of Health, has been appropriated for use as a Public Cemetery for the inhabitants of this city, was solemnly set apart for its intended purposes on Tuesday last. The Episcopalian Chapel with its burying ground was consecrated by the Lord Bishop of the Diocese, and that of the Congregational Dissenters of various denominations was solemnly inaugurated.

(Article credits: Pam Hinks would like to thank Worcester News, formerly Berrow's for permission to reproduce copyright material)


150th Anniversary of Astwood - Berrows 18 Sept 1857- Worcester New Cemetery    (Transcript Page 10/11)

150th Anniversary of Astwood - Berrows 18 Sept 1857- Worcester New Cemetery (Transcript Page 10/11)

"The works at the new cemetery are now nearly completed: the consecration of the Episcopalian portion will shortly take place. We have previously briefly noticed them as they progressed, but are now enabled to give more detailed description...

(Article credits: Pam Hinks would like to thank Worcester News formerly Berrow's for permission to reproduce copyright material, It also deserves a mention as to the attention to such splendid detail highlighted in the article by the reporter/editor of the day )


150th Anniversary of Astwood - William Laslett of Abberton Hall (Transcript Page 8/9)

For the establishment of an Orphan Asylum he gave £500 and towards building Holy Trinity Church he gave another £500. He built the grandstand at the Worcester County Cricket Ground and in 1876 funded the Worcester Music Hall upon terms very advantageous to the citizens.. But the gift for which William is most remembered, and which has now been linked together with the rest of his running bequests into Laslett Charities, is the purchase of the old Worcester City prison and it's conversion into Almshouses.


150th Anniversary of Astwood - William Laslett of Abberton Hall (Transcript Page 6/7)

150th Anniversary of Astwood - William Laslett of Abberton Hall (Transcript Page 6/7)

In 1843 Thomas Southall, later Town Clerk of Worcester, was articled to William Years after Thomas could remember how as a young man he was asked to dine with William at Thorngrove, house and furnishings were magnificent, William having brought the contents of the house from the previous owner. (Interestingly this same circumstances appears in East Lynne). The dinner silver and wines were of the very best but two dishes made an indelible impression on the young guest - two suckling pigs, one at each end of the table, one boiled and one roasted.


150th Anniversary of Astwood - William Laslett of Abberton Hall (Transcript Pg 4/5)

150th Anniversary of Astwood - William Laslett of Abberton Hall (Transcript Pg 4/5)

We have a description of Bishop Carr's funeral as it was reported in The Times. As said before he died at 9 pm on Saturday 24 April 1841 but was not buried until 10 am on Monday 3 May 1841. The face that nine days elapsed between death and burial is unusual, that it was a private funeral is most unusual for a Bishop of the Church of England. The Times of Thursday 6 May 1841 says:


150th Anniversary of Astwood - William Laslett of Abberton Hall (Transcript Pg 2/3)

William Laslett was baptised on 14 October 1799 at All Saints Church, Worcester the first born child of Thomas ans Sophia Laslett. Thomas was a banker whose father had settled in Worcester around 1850. The family were of Kentish yeoman stock originally.


150th Anniversary of Astwood - Forward - ' Our Quiet Citizens of Worcester' (Transcript Pg 1)

150th Anniversary of Astwood - Forward - ' Our Quiet Citizens of Worcester' (Transcript Pg 1)

In recognition of the 150th Anniversary to commemorate the first burial following the gift of land from William Laslett to the inhabitants of Worcester. Tuesday 9th October 2008 3pm Unveiling of Memorial Headstone for Baby Ryan followed by Grave Side Service

 


The Beginnings of Worcester

The Beginnings of Worcester

Worcester was the first ford, coming up the Seven, at the head of the tideway which was not unduly affected by the tide, but equally important, there was sharp rising ground which provided a place of comparative safety for those using the ford. This rising ground which Willis Bund called 'the Tump', is that on which the Kings School, Cathedral and the Old Palace now stand.


Public Toilets

Public Toilets

The first public toilet for women in Worcester were erected in land off Little Angel Street


The Cathedral Grates and Lich Street

The making of College Street through the Cathedral churchyard from High Street to Sidbury in 1792, followed the clearances of houses which had grown up in the shadow of the Cathedral and around St Michael's church. The fine terrace houses in College Yard were also built at that time. In a house on the south side of St. Michael's was born Lord Somers, one of Worcester's greatest sons


The County Gaol

The County Gaol

The County Gaol was built in 1813 in the style of a medieval castle, and because of this, the name of Salt Lane was changed to Castle Street. Mr. Sandy's was the architect, following the principals of John Howard. It contained 90 cells, and was enlarged in 1839 to give 80 extra cells. This was the time of great political agitation, when during the summer, the gaol was excessively crowded with Chartists from Dudley, with cells intended for one containing three.


The Charlies

The Charlies

As one would expect in the centre of the town, the City had a 'watch' here who had a sentry-type box for shelter in the churchyard of St Nicholas Churchyard. This was before there was any regular police force. They were known as 'Charlie's, and they were usually old men, and a very inefficient body.


Hardy and Padmore, the Worcester Foundary

Hardy and Padmore, the Worcester Foundary

The Worcester Foundary was in the Blockhouse, on the canal-side. It closed in 1967 after 153 years of business


William Laslett

William Laslett was a notable citizen and a Member of Parliament 


The City Gaol

The City Gaol

Over the centuries, the City had many prisons. There was the gaol at the east end of St Nicholas Street, a Bridewell at the bottom of Cucken Street (Copenhagan Street) and below the gatehouse of the Foregate were cells which, for a long period, were used as a prison for strangers 


The Eagle Vaults

The Eagle Vaults

On the corner of Pump Street stands the Eagle Vaults, a good example of 1890 city tavern


Tudor House

Tudor House

Friar Street has retained more of it's timber-framed buildings than any other street in Worcester. Many of these houses were of considerable size and were once occupied by citizens of substance, but in the 18th century most of them were divided into tenements and allowed to fall into a sorry state of dilapidation


St Laurence's Church

St Laurence's Church

The site of St Laurence's Church was outside the City Walls, where the burnt-out shell of Sigley's Sweet Factory stands in what was Friar's burial ground 


Cameron pledges to add mother's to marriage certificates

Cameron pledges to add mother's to marriage certificates

David Cameron has announced that mother's names should be added to 'outdated' marriage certificates, following the campaign by Alisa Burkimsher Sadler who started earlier this year 'the change.org...


Robert Whiston & the Worcester King School Endowments

Robert Whiston & the Worcester King School Endowments

Robert Whiston, celebrated headmaster at Rochester and reformer of Cathedral schools, was friend and life-time correspondent of James Knight, the Editor of the Worcester Chronicle. Robert Whiston...


Widows Re-marrying

Widows Re-marrying

It was the practice in some parts of requiring widows, on re-marrying, to pay a fine to the Crown, but by the mid-19th century, it had become a thing of the past. Berrow's Worcester Journal...


Two Unusual Marriages at Worcester

Two Unusual Marriages at Worcester

In the church records of All Saints Church, Worcester, is what looks like the usual details of a marriage which took place in the church in 1784. It reads: James Grubb of this parish batchelor...


Arley Ferry Boat

Arley Ferry Boat

Arley Ferry was the most northerly of the Worcestershire ferries, and the last to operate. The earliest reference to it is in the Close Rolls of 1323 when it was referred to as 'the Ferry'. In 1602...


Pershore New Bridge

Pershore New Bridge

When highway bridges became the repsonsibility of the County Council in 1920, it was decided that a new bridge had to be built at Pershore. Unlike as at Bransford, the old bridge was left standing,...


Worcestershire's Historic Bridges

Worcestershire's Historic Bridges

Introduction The destruction of many of Worcestershire's ancient bridges in the first half of the 19th century on the grounds that they were not suited to the modern day traffic at that time,...


The Tardebigge Witch Case

The Tardebigge Witch Case

Mrs Cartwright of Stourbridge bewitched led to Court hearing


Grave Stone Ovens

Grave Stone Ovens

In clearing churchyards, grave stones have sometimes to be removed, and in the last century, some stones were used in the making of bread ovens which were in almost every cottage and house of some size.

A Riotous Penance

A Riotous Penance

In a collection of Stourbridge newspaper cuttings of about 1950, there were items from a 'Century Old Diary' kept by a Mr. B Leadbetter. There was no identification as to the newspaper, but it was thought to be the County Express. The diary entry was for May 5th, 1849, and it was revealed the fact that the custom of doing penance was still in vogue - but the ceremony of penance was more like a circus. Here is Leadbetter's description of the scene:

Image of Bransford Road Station c1909

Old Image of Bransford Road, Station c1909 which was a good way from the Village

The Effect on Road Coaches

The Effect on Road Coaches

The effect of the railways on road coaches in the Birmingham area fluctuated from boom to disaster. Until 1835, six coaches set out daily in each direction to and from Birmingham and Worcester, but when the London & Birmingham Railway opened, the traffic trebled because it was cheaper, quicker, and much more comfortable to get to London by coach to Birmingham


English Carriage Work

English Carriage Work

Though French and German engines were used in the early cars, English carriage work which had been so admired in horse carriages, was in wide demand, not only in England, but on the continent as well, and motor cars fitted out in great luxury and style began to flow back.

The Railway Insitute at Shrub Hill

The Railway Insitute at Shrub Hill

The directors of the West Midland Railway took a deep interest in the wefare of the workmen. A remarkable organisation, in the nature of a friendly society provided for sickness, fetes and excursions for families and friends. A Railway Institute was housed in the large rooms beneath the driveway to Shrub Hill Station, which later degenerated into storerooms.


Shrub Hill Station

Shrub Hill Station

 There used to be an orchard where Shrub Hill Station stands today and the Engine  Cleaning Sheds occupied the site of an old farm house close by. The Railway opened for traffic in 1852. The Company Directors travelled from Oxford to Wolverhampton and dined at an hotel there. 


The Railway Line That Failed To Get There

The Railway Line That Failed To Get There

The engineers of the Worcester and Hereford Railway originally planned a branch line that was to connect Diglis Docks to the main line at Foregate Street, called the 'Butts Spur Line'. The hope was that big ships would come  up the Severn to Diglis and there the goods would be transhipped to rail.  


Temporary Station at Midland Road

Temporary Station at Midland Road

For five years, until 1859, Worcester passengers had to use a horse bus to catch the train at Spetchley, 'a huddling of 15 persons in a lumbering conveyance for an hour's tedious jolting', and when at least the O.W & W was empowered by the Select Committee  to build a branch line to Abbots Wood, ( before other O.W. & W  lines were open)

Suggested Station at Bath Road & Edgar Tower

Suggested Station at Bath Road & Edgar Tower

The City Council and Chamber of Commerce called for a line from Abbots Wood to the vicinity of Castle Hill (near Edgar Tower)


The Birmingham & Gloucester Company

The Birmingham & Gloucester Company

The logical route from Birmingham to Bristol would have been through Worcester


The Grand Connection Railway

The Grand Connection Railway

 The Grand Connection Railway was originally to run from Gloucester west of the Severn


Gravitation Railways

Gravitation Railways

Gravitation Railways or 'Incline Planes'

A View of Worcester c.1779

Original hand-coloured aquatint, A View of Worcester c.1779, engraver unknown


Greyfriars

Greyfriars

Built in 1480, this timber-framed house is looked after by the National Trust.Open Easter to OctoberWednesday, Thursday & Bank Holidays 2.pm - 5pm


King Charles House

King Charles House

On the corner of the Cornmarket and New Street stood the most important house in this part of the city. Now called King Charles House, it was built by Richard Durant, a wealthy brewer, in 1577 as a two-storey house.

Witley Court

Witley Court

Great Witley, Worcester.A most spectacular country house ruins, step back in time with your own personal audio tour and listen to household memories of "!Upstairs Downstairs life and extravagant...


Harvington Hall

Harvington Hall

Harvington Hall Nr Kidderminster WorcsMedival and Elizabethan Manor House, contains secret hiding places and rare wall paintings.Adimission charges apply


The Elgar Birthplace Museum

The Elgar Birthplace Museum

3 miles West off A44 Leominster Road Tel 01905 333224Open daily 11.00am -1700pm Last admission 4.15. Closed 23rd December to 31st JanuaryA fascinating insight into the life and music, family and...


The Guildhall

The Guildhall

Queen Ann style of architecture, the Guildhall is regarded as one of the finest civic buildings in the county.Monday - Saturday 8.30am - 4.30pm


A storm of Periwinkles !

A storm of Periwinkles !

A phenomenal storm took place at Henwick in 1881. Mrs Millward of Bromyard Road recalled the incident when she was a girl: 'I was  8 or 9 at the time. There was an awful storm. When we left school in the afternoon, as soon as we heard what had happened,

The Worcester Earthquake

The Worcester Earthquake

What was described by the local papers as a 'Severe Shock of Earthquake' took place at 5.30 am. on the 17th December, 1896. They reported: 'People were awakened by a loud rumbling noise, accompanied by disturbance of the ground so that houses were shaking,

Click here for the transcript of all E mails posted on ENG-WORCESTER-L@rootsweb.com

Click here for the transcript of all E mails posted on ENG-WORCESTER-L@rootsweb.com

19th March 2002 - 18.22 GMT from Joyce Gramza, Fulton, NY Hello List, I've just subscribed here for the purpose of posting a request for a worthy search effort. I am in upstate New York and don't know much about the UK.

Hardy and Padmore The Worcester Foundry

Hardy and Padmore The Worcester Foundry

The Company, Hardy and Padmore was founded in 1814 , when Robert and John Hardy migrated from across the Scottish border to set up business in Worcester. Fifteen years later they were joined in partnership by Richard Padmore who arrived from Shropshire

Worcester Blade Mill and Waterworks

Worcester Blade Mill and Waterworks

At Worcester there was for centuries a small channel from the Severn, about 100 yards long, formed by an island or ait, just below the old bridge. The channel was known as the 'Little Severn'

The Iron and Engineering Trades in Worcester

The Iron and Engineering Trades in Worcester

Worcester has always been associated with the metal trades. In Roman times it was an important smelting centre. Their bloomery hearths leaving a field of rich iron slag from Broad Street to Pitchcroft, and from The Cross to the Severn.

Coal Mining in Worcestershire

Coal Mining in Worcestershire

Early Workings: Coal was worked like an agricultural product, and pits were regarded as part of the manorial estate, with leases to let to tenants. there are records of coal being worked in Worcestershire in the 13th century.

Gazetteer of the Ironworks in the Severn Valley and Wyre Forest Area

Gazetteer of the Ironworks in the Severn Valley and Wyre Forest Area

For the purpose of this work it is necessary to use the old boundaries of the Forest of Wyre, which approximated from the Forest Gate (Foregate) of the City of Worcester northwards to the Stour Valley, and westward to the valley of the Teme

19th Century Ironmasters in Worcestershire

19th Century Ironmasters in Worcestershire

Thos Hawkes, 'The Iron King', M.P fot Dudley, 1825-50 John Bradley, half-brother of James Foster, Stourbridge. James Foster, M.P. for Bridgnorth, of Apley Park. Frederick Smith, controller of mining estates and ironworks for Lord Ward

Tonnage Burdens to Severn Ports

Tonnage Burdens to Severn Ports

The whole navigation extended 160 miles, as far upstream as Pool Quay, Welshpool, Montgomeryshire. Severn ports could be reached by vessels of the following burdens:

Bygone Traffic on the Severn

Bygone Traffic on the Severn

The relative importance of river trade to places on Severn can be roughly gauged by the number of trading vessels which were owned at various places. A list was compiled in May 1756, and published in the Gentleman's Magazine of 1758, xxviii p.277-8

Salt Trows or Wich Barges

Salt Trows or Wich Barges

Between 1860 and the early years of the present century large numbers of new vessels were built for the salt trade. They were known among the Severn trowmen as 'Wich Barges', the name being an abbreviation of Droitwich.

The Severn Trow 'Spry'

The Severn Trow 'Spry'

The 'Spry' was built at Chepstow in 1894 by William Hurd. She was registered at Gloucester as a sloop, Official Number 99538, 36 tons net, 46 tons gross, her managing owner being Mr.Davis, Stone Merchant of Chepstow.

Floods make Severn Unnavigable

Floods make Severn Unnavigable

The Severn is subject to violent changes of level as the flood waters come down from Wales; a rise of 18 ft in 5 hours being known, and heights of 25 ft above average low level is not uncommon, rendering the river unnavigable.

Last Trow under Sail

Last Trow under Sail

The last Trow under sail was the Alma, built in 1854, which traded as a ketch under 1943, while the Palace of 1837 carried stone from Tintern until about 1939

Brindley and Holt Castle Waterwheel

Brindley and Holt Castle Waterwheel

The Navigation Improvement Bill of 1849 mentioned that Brindley had been asked to survey the Severn from Queenhill to Pendock in 1763, but his opinion was never acted upon. Also that Mr. Pickernell, the occupier of Holt Castle, had a waterwheel for supplying

Average Tonnage on Severn, 1849

Average Tonnage on Severn, 1849

The average tonnage passing Newnham (1849) was 363,000 tons, or about 1,000 tons per day. This was exclusive of 205,000 tons that go by way of the Gloucester and Berkeley Canal, part of which is locked into the river again. Ben Devey, of Stourport, a carrier,

The 'Bonavista' of Stourport

The 'Bonavista' of Stourport

The 'Bonavista'  was owned by Captain Hattom of the Angel, who also owned the 'Lady Steamers'. At that time of 1907, she sailed twice daily from Stourport to Holt Fleet after Whit Monday.

The 'Amo' Steamer of Stourport

The 'Amo' Steamer of Stourport

The 'Amo' was the largest pleasure steamer in Stourport. She was built of wood at Windsor in 1892, and rebuilt at Stourport in 1904. Registered at London 1896, No 110195. Length 68 ft 2 ins. Breadth 15 ft 2 ins. Deoth 4ft 5 ins. She was owned (1910-18)

The Severn Punt

The Severn Punt

The Severn Punt was a direct descendent of the ancient dug out canoe, They were 25 ft long and 3 ft wide. The sides were of oak, but the bottom were larch. Old Salmon fishing punts had one end taken off. Up until recent years a Punt was on show at the Pond

The 'Lady Alwyn'

Built at Worcester in 1881 by Mr.Everton in a shed in Hylton Road. She always seemed to sail with a list to one side. She was named after Lady Alwyn Compton, wife of the Dean of Worcester, 1878-86. She was built of wood, Length sixty one and a quarter feet,

Details of Pleasure Steamers based at Worcester

Details of Pleasure Steamers based at Worcester

Sovereign  Built 1821. Built on the Catamaran principle with two hulls 5 ft apart. Engines to make 6 m.p.h against the stream. Doubtful if she ever reached Worcester as she blew up.SABRINA  Paddle Steamer built at London c. 1846. 90 ft long, 14 ft beam,

Ernie North Skipper of the Severn Traveller

Ernie North Skipper of the Severn Traveller

Ernie North, skipper of the Severn Traveller. He reckoned he carried 20,000 passengers in the Traveller in 1984, and the sister vessel, the Pride of the Midlands did the same. At the height of the season, the Traveller might clock up 3 or 4 trips in a 16

Tankers into Pleasure Craft

Tankers into Pleasure Craft

Steam propelled pleasure craft on the Severn were converted to diesel about 1960. In 1971 they were taken over by Mitchell & Butler's Brewery and run by their special projects departtment under the name of The Worcester Steamer Company

The 'Beatrice'

The 'Beatrice'

Built of iron at London in 1893 for the London Council . Registered at London No 101979. 81 ft 3 ins long. Breadth 11 ft 6 ins. Depth 6 ft 1 in. She was brought round the coast by Frank Roberts in 1922. She is here moored below the Deanery at Worcester.

The 'Fashion' Steamer

The 'Fashion' Steamer

The 'Fashion' used by the Worcester City Chamberlain to inspect the Swan Upping at Worcester. Circ 1909

Steamer Accident at Diglis Locks, August 1918.

Steamer Accident at Diglis Locks, August 1918.

'One of the most alarming steamer accidents which has occured on the Severn in past years took place at Diglis, when a young Birmingham woman travelling in a Stourport steamer lost her life.

The 'Duchess Doreen'

The 'Duchess Doreen'

The Duchess Doreen was originally named the ' Duchess of York' but her name was changed in the 1920's by her owner at that time, Mrs Bertha Huxter, and named after her daughter, Doreen. She plied the Severn at Worcester in company with the 'Belle' for many

The 'Sabrina' Paddle Steamer 1846.

The 'Sabrina' Paddle Steamer 1846.

The Sabrina Paddle Steamer was 90 ft long, 14 ft beam, 25 ft across the paddle boxes; draws 3 ft when loaded, and has two engines of 12 horse-power each. 'Mr. James Wall purchased a London-built steam vessel to ply between Worcester and Gloucester,

An Advert Announcing the Severn running from Worcester to Gloucester

An Advert Announcing the Severn running from Worcester to Gloucester

The SEVERN Steamer will run from Ribbesford to Worcester every Saturday, Wednsday, Thursday and Friday. (Commencing on Sat. next, August 19) leaving Ribbesford every morning at half-past Eight, and Stourport at a quarter to Nine;

1854 The Severn Steamer

1854 The Severn Steamer

'The Severn Steamer which was built in London, and had been plying for some time on the River Severn, it was about 90 ft long by 11 ft beam; and was drawing about 2 ft of water; steams about 10 miles an hour; and was certified to carry 300 passengers.

The Perseverance Steamer - Tiller Steered

The Perseverance Steamer - Tiller Steered

An interesting feature, from the shipbuilding point of view, was the fact that she was tiller streered, at least she was in her earlier days, though I think she was later on converted into

The First Steam Boats at Worcester

The First Steam Boats at Worcester

The appearance at Worcester in August 1814, of the first steam boat owned by the Bath & Bristol Canal Co. exited much curiosity'. R.C Gaut, A History of Worcestershire Agriculture and Rural Revolution, p.198

Steam Passengers 1912

Steam Passengers 1912

In the summer of 1912 the passenger steamers on the Severn ran over 34,000 miles and made over 6,000 lockings with passengers on board,

Drinking Licences on Steamers

Drinking Licences on Steamers

B.W.J. 20.10.1900. 'A steamer, however short its journey, the moment it leaves its moorings, whether it be Sunday or weekday, may sell intoxicating drink under an Inland Revenue licences.

Witchcraft in Worcestershire

Witchcraft in Worcestershire

In olden times every women - or for that matter, man- who led a solitary life was suspected by neighbours of practising the 'black art'. This was particularly the case if the recluse had knowledge of plants.

Trial by Water

Trial by Water

It was usual for a witch to undergo 'trial by water', for it was believed that,as a form of baptism, the water would reject a disciple of the devil. The thumps were tied crosswise to the opposite

The Salt Lane Witches

The Salt Lane Witches

The Power of a witch to bring wagons to a halt was told by Edward Corbett in one of his local fairy tales. Two old women, who lived in Salt Lane (Castle St),                                                                                        


Rebecca Swan, the Kidderminster Witch

Rebecca Swan, the Kidderminster Witch

In the 1850s, few people living within ten miles of Kidderminster doubted that Becky Swan was a witch. She won her reputation when, being found guilty of obtaining money by false pretences from a servant girl, she prophesied that the magistrate

Edward C. Corbett and the Telling of Folk Tales

Edward C. Corbett and the Telling of Folk Tales

Folklore is the study of beliefs and practises once firmly held. Few now believe in charms, in giants and fairies, but less than a century ago people in lonely places believed in them.

The Witch's Sister

The Witch's Sister

Becky had a sister, Eliza Swan, noted for her charms, who kept a diary, and lived in Kidderminster, working as a hand weaver. She was often in great poverty and was sent to prison for debt.

The Shrawley Witch

The Shrawley Witch

A notable witch case from Shrawley, on the west bank of the Severn, when Margaret Hill was the subject of many accusations. A child who refused her some oatmeal subsequently fell sick, and when she had been unable to obtain tobacco 'on trust',

Williamson's Providence Work's

Williamson's Providence Work's

Well over 100 years ago, a local tinsmith, William Blizzard Williamson, founded a sheet metal works in Providence Street, and called it the Providence Works. It was small but it became the base of operations for Metal Box's biggest money -spinner in the UK

McNaught & Co's Carriage Works.

McNaught & Co's Carriage Works.

The head of the firm of McNaught & Co., Mr.J.A.McNaught, was for over half a century acively connected with the business life of the City of Worcester. He was born in Kendal, in Westmorland in 1828, his father being a coachbuilde

Robert Baker & Royal Worcester

Robert Baker & Royal Worcester

Skilled potter and teacher, became Professor of Ceramics at the Royal Collage of Art. In 1959 he left that post to join the Board of the Royal Worcester Porcelain, bringing with him some of his most talented colleagues and students

E.W.Locke.

E.W.Locke.

Potter came from a family of potters from Swansea, who came to work at Worcester in the early 19th century. E.W. was apprenticed to George Granger on November 14th, 1845.

The Willow Pattern and Blue Dragon Designs

The Willow Pattern and Blue Dragon Designs

The son of a Rector of Comberton, Thomas Turner, apprenticed to the Worcester Porcelain Works at Warmstrey House, introduced the 'Willow Pattern' into England,

The beginnings of the Worcester Porcelain Company

The beginnings of the Worcester Porcelain Company

  1. By the middle of the 18th century 'china' was the fashionable rage throughout Europe. Several attempts were made to emulate the imported porcelain from the Far East, but the approach in England was different to that in France and Germany,

Porcelain Manufacture In Worcester

Porcelain Manufacture In Worcester

Porcelain manufacture in Worcester started in 1751 by Dr. John Wall and William Davis of this city. The cloth trade on which the city's prosperity depended had declined, and there was a search for new industries.

Early Engineers

Early Engineers

The early engineers were mostly millwrights and smiths, making and erecting mills and gins (or engines). A famous Worcester engineer named Yarnold,

The Beginning of Iron Workings in Worcestershire

The Beginning of Iron Workings in Worcestershire

Roman iron workings in the Severn valley were extensive. The value of iron was great, and often used as currency. In a Domesday survey Gloucester paid tribute in bars of iron. In the Wyche Cutting, Malvern,

Shot Manufactory in High Street, 1793

Shot Manufactory in High Street, 1793

Berrow's Worcester Journal of August 15, 1793, announced that 'At Roper's Tea Warehouse, High Street, Worcester, shot is manuafctured, and well-known to be a good article,

W.E.Tucker, Printer

W.E.Tucker, Printer

W.E.Tucker was a printer of some distinction. It was he who built the large works in Barbourne, (Northwick Avenue), which was later occupied by R.J.Collins, and later by Messrs Kay.Co.

James Plum & Son, a Worcester Cutler

James Plum & Son, a Worcester Cutler

For over 70 years, James Plum, father and son, carried on a cutlers business in High Street. They were among a number of old established residents there who lived over the shop in the old manner.

The Decline of the Lowesmoor Music Halls

The Decline of the Lowesmoor Music Halls

With the closing of the Alhambra as a music hall in December 1869, the New Concert Hall had only the Railway Bell in opposition, and that establishment was not listed in the Era Almanack after 1870, for though it continued as a place of entertainment,

Strolling Players and Edward Jackson, Mayor of Worcester, 1723

Strolling Players and Edward Jackson, Mayor of Worcester, 1723

The following squib is in the Prattington Collection in the possession of the Society of Antiquaries:'To the Rt  Worshipful the Mayor of Worcester; occasioned by his having said he would suffer neither Player nor Puppet,

St John's Cinema

St John's Cinema

For over 50 years, St John's Cinema was the focal point of family entertainment for those living in Worcestet, west of the Severn. An old public house, the King's Head, stood on the site until July 1914, when a cinema was built by the Godsall brothers.

The Apollo Cinema, Park Street, Worcester

The Apollo Cinema, Park Street, Worcester

The Apollo Cinema was converted from the Zion Chapel, which had been rebuilt in 1845 with an imposing frontage. It seated 167, but in 1910, the church closed, and the building became a cinema

Worcester Music Halls -1868 to 1885, from The Era Almanack

Worcester Music Halls -1868 to 1885, from The Era Almanack

The Era Almanack was published annually by The Era, a weekly theatrical newspaper, one of several appearing in the 19th century.

A Confusion of Names

A Confusion of Names

The fact that there were two Music Halls in the 1870s, and that Hill called his The Canterbury Music Hall, then the New Concert Music Hall, needs some explanation.

The Alhambra becomes a Circus Amphitheatre

The Alhambra becomes a Circus Amphitheatre

The Alhambra could not, it seems, compete as a music hall with its brash neighbour and its can-can dancers.It had more room however,

Rivalry Between the Alhambra and the New Concert Hall

Rivalry Between the Alhambra and the New Concert Hall

The music hall press notices in the late 1960s make an interesting study. It is obvious that considerable rivalry had developed between the Lowesmoor houses that stood so close to each other.

The New Worcester Concert Hall, Lowesmoor

The New Worcester Concert Hall, Lowesmoor

At the gates of the Port of Lowesmoor, on the eastern corner, was the Navigation Inn, kept for over 24 years by John Hill, a very popular resort of the watermen and others using the wharf, where the usual bar entertainment could be enjoyed

The Alhambra Music Hall, Lowesmoor

The Alhambra Music Hall, Lowesmoor

The Alhambra Music Hall was a wooden building with an earth floor, situated half-way between Rainbow Hill canal bridge and the gates of the Port of Lowesmoor,

The Railway Bell Music Hall, St Martin's Gate

The Railway Bell Music Hall, St Martin's Gate

In 1855, the Railway Bell was listed in the local Directories as a Beer Retailer, but in the 1860s it must have developed into more than just a beer house, for it is the only music hall listed in Worcester in the early Era Almanacks.

The Music Halls

The Music Halls

The Music Halls developed in the 1850s from the Tavern Concert Rooms. At some of the better class inns professional singers were engaged and 'entertainers' from the travelling theatre

Information from Police Inspector (retired) George Lewis, 1988

Information from Police Inspector (retired) George Lewis, 1988

There was soon after the War (1947), a theatre group which began an experimental theatre at the rear of the Black Horse Inn, Lowesmoor, persumably in an old stable or outhouse there.

The Bankside Theatre, South Quay, Worcester

The Bankside Theatre, South Quay, Worcester

In the 1950s, a small company of professional actors, filled with the optimism of the immediate post-war years, converted a warehouse on the South Quay, at Worcester, into a theatre;

A 'Gaiety Girl's Recollection of the Theatre Royal, Worcester.

A 'Gaiety Girl's Recollection of the Theatre Royal, Worcester.

Mrs. Teddie Wright, then Teddie Howsen, recalled playing at the old Theatre Royal, Worcester:

The Magic of the Theatre Royal, Worcester - A Child's View

The Magic of the Theatre Royal, Worcester - A Child's View

Was the old Theatre Royal, Worcester, a beautiful place or was it youthful imagination ? I lived in Worcester until I was seven years old. My family was very strict. When out with them

A Rush for the 'Gods' - Mr Wyatt Remembers the Theatre Royal

A Rush for the 'Gods' - Mr Wyatt Remembers the Theatre Royal

At the close of the Theatre Royal in 1955, Mr. Wyatt, who lived at the little tobacconist shop which for 100 years had stood cheek by jowl against the Theatre,

Lady Carlton

Lady Carlton

Prominent in all the events at the Worcester Theatre Royal was Lady Carlton. She was an actress of great charm and beauty, and of some renown when she married Artur Carlton, the Lessee of the Theatre Royal, where she 'once played triumphantly in Shakespeare

The Theatre Royal

The Theatre Royal

In 1805, the Angel Street Theatre became the Theatre Royal, and for a period of about sixty years the dramatic amusement of the City was supplied by Stock Companies, no longer vagabonds of the stroller sort.

'Cutting and Flashing'

'Cutting and Flashing'

The Angel Street Theatre opened in 1779 with the same itinerant companies of the West Midlands circuit. Though the provincial stage was a valuable training ground, as the Kembles had shown, the companies were often forced by desperate finacial straits,

The Theatre Burnt to the Ground

The Theatre Burnt to the Ground

The first lessees were Messrs Loome and Windley, and on the evenings following the opening they had engaged a company that performed The Lady of Lyons. The Earl and Countess of Dudley were present, and the Theatre was crowded to excess.

A Prologue for the New Theatre

A Prologue for the New Theatre

The new theatre was opened on January 18, 1875, with an amateur performance. Before the play began, the band of the Rifle Corps played God Save the Queen,

The Theatre Royal Rebuilt

The Theatre Royal Rebuilt

In August 1874, dissatisfaction with the 'uncomfortable and ill-arranged structure' led Mr. W. D.Deighton to form a limited company, with a capital of £5,000 to purchase and rebuild

The Theatre in Decline

The Theatre in Decline

In August 1874, dissatisfaction with the 'uncomfortable and ill-arranged structure' led Mr. W. D. Deighton to form a limited company, with a capital of £5,000 to purchase and rebuild the theatre. Captain Castle was Chairman of Directors

Improving Public Taste

Improving Public Taste

In 1851, Mr.Bennett resigned as lessee of the Theatre Royal and became a member of the City Council. For thirty years he had kept the theatre to a high peak of respectability.

Mrs Jordan and Mrs Siddons

Mrs Jordan and Mrs Siddons

At the Worcester Theatre in June 1798, Mrs Jordan, one of the most attractive actresses on the London Stage, played Rosalind in 'As You Like it'

Stars of the London Stage

Stars of the London Stage

Miller's company had not met with the success that had fallen to its rival, the Kembles. In 1783, the two companies performed Hamlet. This was unusual,  and it may have been that the Kembles wished to give the Worcester audiences a chance to compare Mr. Penn

Valentine Green on the Angel Street Theatre

Valentine Green on the Angel Street Theatre

Valentine Green, the contemporary historian, described the theatres as 'containing an ascending range of twelve benches gently incurving towards the stage. There were twelve larges boxes, three on each side above the same number below.

The End of the King's Head Theatre

The End of the King's Head Theatre

In the 1770s the old wooden theatre at the back of the King's Head Inn was almost at the end of its life. A barn theatre in an inn yard was not worthy of the fashionable county capital that Worcester had become.

The Georgian Theatre in Angel Street, Worcester

The Georgian Theatre in Angel Street, Worcester

After the Kembles moved to the higher realms of the London stage, a Mr. Whiteley from Manchester, became the manager of the King's Head Theatre. He was mean and brutel in his business dealings, but he was a financial success.

The Kemble Family

The Kemble Family

The year following Sarah's success brought both Miss Kemble and her brother John to London. They were a success, though it was obvious that Miss. Kemble's voice and person was not so distinguished as her sister's. John Kemble too, was stiff and formal,

Mrs Siddon's at Drury Lane

Mrs Siddon's at Drury Lane

At the end of 1775, Mrs . Siddon's made her first appearance on the London stage as Portia, in the Merchant of Venice. It was a disastrous evening. She was overcome by nerves and made the poorest showing, her performance being damned by the critics

Garrick and Parson Bates

Garrick and Parson Bates

After her marriage, Sarah's marrvellous tallents began to grow and increase, till her reputation reached even the Metopolis, the goal of every actor. Garrick, then in the zenith of his fame, heard of her and one day at Cheltenham, in the summer of 1775,

Sarah Kemble

Sarah Kemble

Her juvenile beauty brought her much admiration. Her affections were, however, bestowed on William Siddons, a young actor who had joined the company from Birmingham, who was good-looking and able. Her preference led to his discharge from the company.

The Greatest Tragic Actress

The Greatest Tragic Actress

Early Years at WorcesterThe King's Head Theatre was traditionally celebrated as the theatre where the greatest tragic actress of the British stage made her first appearance. Sarah Kemble, known later as Mrs. Siddons, was the daughter of Roger Kemble,

Life in an 18th Century Theatrical Company

Life in an 18th Century Theatrical Company

Theatrical companies followed each other around the circuit, and their press announcements give some idea of the preparation that was necessary to begin a season at Worcester. In November 1768, Berrow's Journal announced; 'Mr. Kemble begs to inform the Ladies

Worcester A Social Centre

Worcester A Social Centre

By the mid-18th century, Worcester had become a centre of social life for a wide area. It was the regular practice of country gentlemen to come to the City for the season of the races and the Assizes; and many owned or rented houses in the Foregate or the

The West Midland Circuit and the New Theatre

The West Midland Circuit and the New Theatre

The strolling players moving from place to place, gradually began to travel in regular circuits. They usually lived a life of vagabondage and degradation, often in terror of the law, and by stress  of circumstances, driven to meannesses and dishonesty.

The Life of a Strolling Player

The Life of a Strolling Player

It should be noted that the playbill states that the play is presented gratis. This was an attempt to defeat the magistrates, who were usually against play-acting. The players could only give their plays by interlarding them with musical entertainments.

The Kemble Company Players

The Kemble Company Players

Twelve children were born to the Kembles in various parts of their circuit, four being boys. Roger educated his children remarkably well; John being intended for the priesthood, had a season at the Worcester Cathedral Grammer School, and Sarah was received

John Ward and His Daughter Sally

John Ward and His Daughter Sally

The King's Head Theatre was let to travelling companies, and for a number of years it was under the management of John Ward and his son-in-law Roger Kemble, the father of the 'divine Sarah Siddons'.


The King's Head Theatre

The King's Head Theatre

By the early 18th century it is certain that a permanent theatre had been established in Worcester. It was a small wooden building, probably an old barn, in the yard at the rear of the King's Head Inn, which stood almost immediately opposite the Guildhall

The Restoration and Estcourt the Mimic

The Restoration and Estcourt the Mimic

For the twelve years of the Commonwealth lay acting was prohibited, but it revived rapidly with the Restoration, and in 1682 there was a 'Pageant House' in the Cornmarket, but whether this was used as a theatre, or a store for the equipment used in this was

Plays at the Town Hall

Plays at the Town Hall

Plays seem to have been performed in the Town Hall, for in 1622, the Corporation ordered that in future, plays should be performed in the lower end only, and not in the upper end, or in the Council Chamber; an ordnance not strictly observed, for it was found

The Queen's Players

The Queen's Players

Play acting was very popular in Elizabethan days, and travelling companies were paid, surprisingly, from municipal funds. In Worcester, municipal records of theatrical performances exist as far back as 1572, when the 'Low Baylie',

The Early Theatre in Worcester

The Early Theatre in Worcester

In medival times plays were a feature of all cathedral cities, and most certainly, Worcester would have seen many companies of players and mummers performing for the great number of pilgrims visiting the shrines of the two great saints,

An Old Style Barber

An Old Style Barber

Between the pubs, at No. 103 High Street, was R.C.Cole, an old style hairdresser. Until the acceptance of the safety razor, it was the custom of the better classes to go to the barber to be shaved, and at Cole's each customer had his own brush and mug kept

Early Fashion Prints

Early Fashion Prints

The early 19th century was the period of beautiful coloured prints of mens and women's fashions. Before 1830, full size paper patterns could be brought at milliners and dressmakers for £1 a set. Foreign fashions were the vogue and flooded in to such an extent

Butchers Shops in the City

Butchers Shops in the City

In the 1908 Worcester Directory there are recorded 70 butchers, plus 7 pork butchers, making a total of 77; but not recorded are the butcher's stall in the Meat Market. In 1930, 85 butcher's shops, plus 4 pork butchers are listed.

100 Years of Shopping in Foregate Street

100 Years of Shopping in Foregate Street

A schedule of shops 1896-1993


The Shambles

The Shambles

In the old days each trade had its own street or district in which to sell its goods. In the centre of the Shambles was the Meat Market and an amazing number of butchers shops were concentrated in the street and the market.

Foregate Street

Foregate Street

From the Town Gate in the Foregate to the Liberty Post at the top of Salt Lane (now Castle Street), was the northern Liberties of the City. The land was outside the walls, but under the control of the City Corporation. Before the Battle of 1651

The Cross

The Cross

In medival times here the life of the City concentrated. An ancient cross with heraldry stood opposite the Trinity Passage. Here war and peace was declared, and royal proclamations made. St. Nicholas Church had a grave yard in front.

Shops and Shopping in the Worcester in the 19th Century

Shops and Shopping in the Worcester in the 19th Century

Worcester was the hub of the county, containing banks, attorneys, solicitors, physicians, apothecaries, dealers in corn, seeds, hops and other agricultural needs. There were inns with Commercial Rooms, a theatre, assembly rooms (for the Hunt Balls),

Alfred Watkins and Salt Leys

Alfred Watkins and Salt Leys

Alfred Watkins, famous for his book 'The Old Straight Track' and Ley Lines, gave a lecture to the Woolhope Society in 1922, at which he put forward the view that place-names containing 'White' or a corruption of White, pointed to ancient salt roads or leys.

Toot Hills

Toot Hills

Toothills are rounded hills rising beside ancient trackway, which were pre-Roman places of worship, dedicated to Teutates, or Toot. Lees considered Elbury Mount to be a Toothill, and that the ancient track called Porte Fields which ran between Helbury Hill

Travelling On The Old Roads

Travelling On The Old Roads

The old roads were alive with multifarious travellers, and in 1911, an old contributor to a Worcester paper looked back with nostalgia:'The cycle and the motor car have in some measure restored life to our highways, but our modern vehicles cannot invest

A Pre-Historic Track from Bredon Hill to Midsummer Hill

A Pre-Historic Track from Bredon Hill to Midsummer Hill

In the Worcestershire Archaeological Society's Transactions of 1936, Edward F. Gray of Ripple Hall recorded an ancient trackway going through Ripple Churchyard, as follows:Bredon Hill and Midsummer Hill were once connected by a track, now partly overgrown

Prehistoric Trackways in Worcestershire

Prehistoric Trackways in Worcestershire

Worcestershire was once part of a large river estuary with the range of the Malvern Hills on the west side, and the hills of Clent and Lickey leading to the Ridgeway on the eastern border. The rivers were tidal to Bewdley at the least, with great areas

The Spring and Langon Championship Fight , Part 3 The First 32 Rounds

The Spring and Langon Championship Fight , Part 3 The First 32 Rounds

At 12.35 Spring arrived with Tom Crib as second, from Croome Court, where they had been staying as guests of Lord Coventry. Most of the nobility of the Midlands were present, including three peers, but Langon was nowhere to be found. Because of legal difficulties,

The Spring and Langon Championship Part 2 - 40,000 on Pitchcroft

The Spring and Langon Championship Part 2 - 40,000 on Pitchcroft

The match was arranged to take place on Pitchcroft, with the use of the grandstand, for stakes of 300 sovereigns aside, and handbills were circulated. So great was the demand for seats that wagons and temporary stands had to be used, and cost an extra 10

The Spring and Langon Championship Fight at Worcester Part 1

The Spring and Langon Championship Fight at Worcester Part 1

The greatest of the county matches, and one of the greatest prize fights of all times, took place on Pitchcroft on Januaury 7, 1824: when Tom Spring and Paddy Langon fought for the championship of England.Spring, a native of Warwick, was the reigning champion

Boughton Cricket Ground, W.G.Grace and R.E.Foster.

Boughton Cricket Ground, W.G.Grace and R.E.Foster.

W.G.Grace made his first appearance in the Midlands at the age of 20, and though only 20, he was easily the greatest cricketer in the country. The occasion was at the Boughton Cricket Ground, Worcester, in 1870, with a Worcestershire 22, and the United

A Tall Cricket Story

A Tall Cricket Story

Mr.Herbert Jenner who played in the first Oxford v Cambridge match in 1827, told the following story of a 'demon bowler' when he kept wicket: 'The bowler sent down a ball which broke the bat, the batman's leg, the middle and leg stumps, whizzed past me,

Cathedral Chimes and County Cricket

Cathedral Chimes and County Cricket

On the Worcster ground you cannot get away from the Cathedral. The great clock-bell booms. There are occasions when the match is in progress, when the great peal of twelve bells rings out, the very ground seems to vibrate. Every three hours the chimes ring

Cricket Interruptions at Worcester

Cricket Interruptions at Worcester

In the Minor Counties days a match with Berkshire was interrupted by a great black sow waddling from the adjacent piggery into the centre of the ground. In the early First Class Days, a Derbyshire match was stopped by a wild rabbit dashing between the players.

Cricket Facts

Cricket Facts

Ron Headley became the first Worcestershire batsman to aggregate 1,000 Sunday League runs at Newark in 1971 after 40 innings. Graeme Hick also completed his 100 runs against Notts but this time at Trent Bridge in 1987 during his 31st innings

The Dover's Hill Games

The Dover's Hill Games

A great annual sporting occasion during the first half of the ninteenth century was the Dover's Hill Sports. It was held on a grassy plateau above Broadway at apoint where the counties of Worcester, Warwick and Gloucester meet,

Editors and General Managers

Editors and General Managers

When in 1894, a private company was formed the first Secretary and General Manager was W.J.Pearce, who came from Plymouth,

Berrow's House Output

Berrow's House Output

No more than 13 of the papers in the Berrow's group have been established for more than 100 years. The oldest of course, is the founder member, Berrow's Journal,

The Worcester Herald and the Holl Family

The Worcester Herald and the Holl Family

At the end of the 18th century, William Holl, with the encouragement of Lord Sandys, established a new weekly newspaper called the Worcester Herald.

The Later Years of the Berrow's Worcester Journal

The Later Years of the Berrow's Worcester Journal

By 1836, Henry Deighton was the sole owner, and the paper was printed and published from 53 High Strret (on the corner of Church Street), where the Deighton family had kept a bookshop,

Berrow's Worcester Journal

Berrow's Worcester Journal

From October 11, 1753, the title became Berrow's Worcester Journal. Harvey Berrow carried on the Journal until his death on August 16th, 1776, when his eldest son, also Harvey Berrow, continued the publication, but not for long.

Their humble servant, H.Berrow

Their humble servant, H.Berrow

On taking over the Worcester Journal, Harvery Berrow issued the following announcement, adored with a curious engraving of 'The West Prospect of Worcester': '

The Worcester Journal

The Worcester Journal

By 1725, the old title of Worcester Postman, was changed to that of the Worcester Journal, and the imprint, which had been simply 'Printed by S.Bryan' and the date, became 'Printed by Stephen Bryan'. In 1730, the name became the Weekly Worcester Journal

Stephen Bryan and the Worcester Postman

Stephen Bryan and the Worcester Postman

Stephen Bryan served his apprenticeship in London, taking up his freedom on June 3rd, 1706. He had a press in Worcester by 1709 for in that year he printed a sermon by E.Chandler, and began publishing his Worcester Postman.

An Earlier Worcester Paper ?

An Earlier Worcester Paper ?

It has been argued that even before 1709 Worcester had a newspaper. Local Historians, Dr.Nash and Valentine Green, both linked the Worcester newspaper with the period following the Glorious Revolution which deposed James 11.

Change of Title - Worcester Post or Western Journal

Change of Title - Worcester Post or Western Journal

The Postman assumed a new title c.1720, The Worcester Post or Western Journal. This is thought to counter the Ludlow Postman, or Weekly Journal,

The First Provincial Newspapers

The First Provincial Newspapers

In January, 1701, Francis Burges of Norwich, published the first provincial paper, a four-page foolscap sheet, which he called the Norwich Post.

The Oldest Newspaper

The Oldest Newspaper

Pekin boasts of a printed sheet on silk which appeared every week for over a thousand years, but in the modern sense, it cannot claim to be a newspaper.

Early Reporters

Early Reporters

The men who supplied the newsheets gathered their news mostly by spending their days going the rounds of the London Taverns and Coffee houses.

Early Newsletters

Early Newsletters

Provincial newspapers did not exist until the 18th century. Before then however, there were newsletters written by 'reporters' employed by persons of rank to keep them informed of happenings during their absence from Court

Early Worcestershire Newspapers

Early Worcestershire Newspapers

The story started with the publication of the single-sheet Worcester Postman in 1690, when the Press had finally won its fight for freedom against rigorous repression and control. The Post-Man dated December 8th to Decemeber 16th, 1710 is the earliest copy

Worcester - an Historic Centre of Printing

Worcester - an Historic Centre of Printing

Worcester has been an important centre of printing from the mid 16th century. The first of that craft to practise in Worcester began there in 1548.

Crowquill of Berrow's Worcester Journal

Crowquill of Berrow's Worcester Journal

One of the features of Berrow's Worcester Journal was the comments on local affairs by 'Crowquill'. The nom-de-plume comes from the fact that in medival times reed pens and quills were chiefly used, and artists to this day found a turkey quill,

Tolls for Pleasure Boats through Locks 1914

Tolls for Pleasure Boats through Locks 1914

Severn Navigation Bill, 1914. Steam Launch 1s. 0d.; Sculling row boat, canoe dingy 3d. Every other kind of pleasure boat 6d.; through locks and return same day. Annual payments: Steam launch £1; row boat etc 5s.; other pleasure boats 10s.

Hawford Ferry

Hawford Ferry

Thomas Dix's map of 1830 shows an old road crossing the Severn just north of the junction of the River Salwarpe and the Severn.

Kepax Ferry, Barbourne, Worcester

Kepax Ferry, Barbourne, Worcester

Kepax Ferry was about a hundred yards north of the old tower of the Worcester Waterworks. Edward Corbett, in his article on Claines, says that this ferry dates from times immemorial,

Withybed Ford, Diglis, Worcester

Withybed Ford, Diglis, Worcester

The improvements in the Severn above Worcester had given a constant navigation to Stourport of 10 feet, but for some time after the building of the locks and weirs at Diglis and beyond to Lincomb, the stream below Diglis was affected by the tide.

Remains of an old Severn Ford below the Cathedral Ferry

Remains of an old Severn Ford below the Cathedral Ferry

At a meeting of the Worcestershire Archaeological Society in 1945, Mr.Alec MacDonald mentioned a discovery in part of the Severn bank,

High Street Inns

High Street Inns

The last inn in High Street, the Golden Lion, has sadly closed its doors. Much has been written about this historic 'poltical' inn, but there were others in High Street also of historic interest. One door away, on the south side, stood the King's Head.

Mitre

Mitre

St Peter's parish. There in 1664, and kept by Mrs.Dorothy Price in 1732. Soon after was converted into several tenements and three stables. At the same time, there was a Mitre Inn in High Street

Old Rectifying House

Old Rectifying House

North Parade, Generations of visitors have been intrigued as to the origin of its name. It comes simply from the fact that the rear of the building was part of the distillery, and refers to the rectifying of spirits.

Cheshire Cheese Inn

Cheshire Cheese Inn

On the site of what is now part of the Odeon Cinema. It was destroyed about 1829, and the Atheneum built on part of it, and the Natural History Society and Hasting's Museum built on the Foregate Street part.

The Corporation

The Corporation

The Corporation in the old days consisted of two bodies, the '24', which corresponded to our alderman; and the '48', which approximated to present day councillors.

Four Green Dragons Inns in Worcester - all of ancient foundations

Four Green Dragons Inns in Worcester - all of ancient foundations

Green Dragon, Cooken Street. This inn was built on the remains of an ancient house of great importance at the top of Cooken Street, known as the Earl's Post.

King's Head, Sidbury.

King's Head, Sidbury.

In 1690, described as a 'tenement in the parish of St.Peter's, nere adjoynynge the gate of the said cittie called Sudbury gate, and hath been knowen

Cross Inn, Cornmarket

Cross Inn, Cornmarket

That this inn existed, we can thank an entry in the Civil War diary of Henry Townshend, dated June 13, 1646, describing the great seige of Worcester:'the enemy shot off 13 cannons plating chiefly against St.Martin's Church

Three Cranes, Lich Street

Three Cranes, Lich Street

Described in 1601 as containing only three small rooms below and three over, with a cellar belonging to John Honnyett, butcher. In 1690 Anthony Hopkins held it. About the same time there was a house called the Three Cranes in High Street, and one called Three Pyes in Lich Street.

The Cock Inn, Sidbury

The Cock Inn, Sidbury

'Ye Cocke, at ye Knolle-end, Sidbury', was in c.1570 belonging to Hugh Adams, and was

Cross Keys

Cross Keys

St.Mary's Gate (Edgar Tower). In 1776, 'the Cross Keys near the Deanery Garden' changed its name to the Horse & Groom.

Cross Keys, Sidbury.

Cross Keys, Sidbury.

On, or next to, the site of the present White Hart, College Street. In 1690, Harry Green, a maltster held it, with Samuel Bryan, the printer of Worcester's first newspaper as his neighbour. It was pulled down previous to 1744,

Cross Keys, Friar Street.

Cross Keys, Friar Street.

This beautiful half-timbered building is of great age. It appears to have been an ecclesiastical inn, but at various periods, to have been used for other purposes.

Worcester's Ancient Inns

Worcester's Ancient Inns

Only the Old Talbot in College Street, and the Cardinal's Hat in Friar Street, remain of

The Increase in Public Houses from 1830 to 1869

The Increase in Public Houses from 1830 to 1869

From 1830 to 1869 there was agreat increase in the number of public houses, for any person of good character could obtain a beer-house licence for a tenement of certain rateable value.

Worcester Inns Listed in the Worcester Directory of 1829

Worcester Inns Listed in the Worcester Directory of 1829

Angel, Sidbury                            King's Arms, Lich St

The Inventory and Valuation of The Prince of Wales Public House, in The Moors, 1878

The Inventory and Valuation of The Prince of Wales Public House, in The Moors, 1878

The Prince of Wales Public House was situated in The Moors, Worcester, a mixed area of good residential houses of quality that kept servants (Britannia Square); of good substantial tradesmen's houses (Severn Terrace); and a lot of very poor terraced houses

Historical Lists

Historical Lists

Some of Worcester's Inns have been in existence for centuries. In the Middle Ages they gave hospitality to a multitude of travellers; pilgrims to the Cathedral, military personel,

Pack Horse, St. Nicholas Street

Pack Horse, St. Nicholas Street

The Pack Horse was one of the staging houses on the Shrewsbury to London run, but dates earlier than the coaching era, for it is said to have held a licence since 1485.

Robert Allen & Co Ltd (Brewery)

Robert Allen & Co Ltd (Brewery)

The Barbourne Brewery, New Bank Street. The company was formed in October 1900, and originally called Robert Allen, Mumford & Co,

Lewis Clarkes Ltd (Angel Place - Brewery)

Lewis Clarkes Ltd (Angel Place - Brewery)

Founded in 1869, the brewery buildings still remain alongside Crowngate shopping centre. Taken over by Marston, Thompson & Evershed Ltd (the full name of 'Marstons' brewery) of Burton on Trent in 1937.

Speckley Brothers Ltd (Worcester Brewery - Barbourne Road)

Speckley Brothers Ltd (Worcester Brewery - Barbourne Road)

In 1884, Speckley Brothers bought Stallard's Britannia Brewery along with 7 public houses and changed the name to the Worcester Brewery.

The Old Talbot, Sidbury

The Old Talbot, Sidbury

The Talbot Inn, now called the Old Talbot, was originally the Church House for St.Michael's, which stood in the Cathedral churchyard,

The Cardinal's Hat, Friar Street, Worcester

The Cardinal's Hat, Friar Street, Worcester

Worcester Cathedral in the period 1100 to 1540 was one of the principal places of pilgrimage. Many ecclesiastical inns sheltered near the Cathedral, catering for the traveller and pilgrim. The first reference to the Cardinal's Hat is in 1497, when the inn

Inns and Taverns of the City of Worcester

Inns and Taverns of the City of Worcester

Adam & Eve,  High St. Mentioned in 1778; closed by 1850

Old Worcester - Architectural Notes

Old Worcester - Architectural Notes

Until 18c. the carpenter was most important in the buildings of Worcester, but then gave way to the mason and bricklayer, just putting in parts of roof timbers.

The Plague Pit

The Plague Pit

Traditionally, the site of the plague pit was on the old sheepmarket in Angel Street, which originally was an orchard belonging to the Dominican Frairy,

The Bubonic Plague at Worcester

The Bubonic Plague at Worcester

The outbreak of the Bubonic Plague in 1637 was as serious for Worcester as the 1665 Plague was for London. The pestilence swept away at least a fifth of the City's population.

Definitions of History

Definitions of History

'History is then distillation of rumor' Carlyle 'History is philosophy by examble'. Herodotus 'History is just one damn thing after another'. AJP Taylor. 'History gives us a peep into lost ages, and helps us share past deeds with Worcestershire men

Worcester City Regalia

Worcester City Regalia

Before the advent of powder and shot the mace was the yeoman's weapon of attack and defence, It was a heavy-headed club or staff, sometimes studdied with metal, and was the principal weapon of close combat

The Use of Pears in the City and County Arms

The Use of Pears in the City and County Arms

City records going back to between 1460 and 1490 (Ballard's Book) mentions 'six pears sable'. A deed of 1569 bears a seal with three black pears; an Elizabethan grant of 1575 is stated to have been made of the use of three black pears for the City Arms.

The State Sword

The State Sword

The State Sword of Worcester is thirty three and a quarterinches in length, and the cross guard sixteen and a half inches.

The Sword Bearer of the City of Worcester

The Sword Bearer of the City of Worcester

The Sword Bearer, with his magnificent feathered Cap of Maintenance, is a splendid sight in the annual prcession to the Cathedral made by the Mayor and Corporation.

Sir George Vernon

Sir George Vernon

Sir George Vernon, the last of the Vernons of Hanbury Hall, was an unconventional character. He left the Hall and £66,000 to his farm foreman's daughter, Ruth Powick, whom he had taken as his mistress

John Baskerville, Printer and Atheist

John Baskerville, Printer and Atheist

John Baskerville, Printer and Atheist was born at Sion Hill, Wolverly in 1706. He was a confirmed atheist, yet he printed the most beautiful Bibles

Sir John Dineley, 'the Poor Knight of Windsor'

Sir John Dineley, 'the Poor Knight of Windsor'

The baronetcy passed to the Captain's two sons in succession, and did them no good. The elder died insane, and the younger became eccentric,

The Dineley Family and the 'Ruby' Tragedy

The Dineley Family and the 'Ruby' Tragedy

The Dineleys of Peopleton, near Worcester, produced in the 18th century some notable and strange characters. Thomas Dineley, early in the last century, was a traveller and artist.

Tunnel Hill Observatory

Tunnel Hill Observatory

High up on Tunnel Hill stands a house on the highest part of the road with 'observatory' windows on the top floor. In the 1880s it had a huge telescope fixed in the windows and many tales were told of the power of the instrument:

Lavender House

Lavender House

Lavender House, a pleasant late 18th century residence, was a stucco building with an ornamental wrought iron balcony, overlooking Barbourne Brook. It has only recently been destroyed.

The Old Waterworks

The Old Waterworks

At the top of Pitchcroft stood the old, ivy clad tower of the 18th century waterworks. It was really an elevated water tank on the top of the tower, to which water from the Severn was pumped by a waterwheel

The City Charter

The City Charter

Worcester has eighteen charters in its possession, including two granted by our present monach, Queen Elizabeth 11, which, after the reorganisation of local government in 1974,

Mrs Sherwood and the Black Library

Mrs Sherwood and the Black Library

Mrs .Sherwood who kept a school at Lower Wick, was the daughter of the Rev. George Butt, Rector of Stanford and vicar of Clifton-on- Teme from 1771 onwards. In early Victorian days she was the most celebrated author of children's books.

Lady Emily Foley

Lady Emily Foley

Lady Emily Foley was the widow of Squire Foley of Stoke Edith, and Lady of the Manor of Great Malvern, the daughter of  a Duke, and a lady of quite the old type.

Worcester Mayor Elopes with a Girl of 18

Worcester Mayor Elopes with a Girl of 18

Worcester Mayors have on occasions been involved with scandal and corruption, but normally in the fields of politics or business - but William Winsmore, who became Mayor of Worcester in 1739, was concerned in a melodrama on truly traditional lines

A Seventeenth Century 'Blue Stocking'

A Seventeenth Century 'Blue Stocking'

Lady Dorothy Pakington was one of the most notable of Worcestershire ladies, and the reputed author of a celebrated work entitled 'The Whole Duty of Man'.

Horse Shoes Rent Paid for 700 years

Horse Shoes Rent Paid for 700 years

William of Evesham who died in 1351, bought a smithy and some land in the Strand, London  (where now stands Australia House), from Thomas of Waltham Cross,

Mr. Ward's Playhouse, 1752 (Stourbridge)

Mr. Ward's Playhouse, 1752 (Stourbridge)

The first record of a theatre at Stourbridge come's from Aris's Birmingham Gazette of 1752, with the announcement that the playhouse 'would shortly be open by Mr Ward'.

The Anchorite of St. Nicholas

The Anchorite of St. Nicholas

The old church of St . Nicholas was erected in the 12th century and part of the crypt and basement walls appear to date from that period. There exists a record of a female anchorite who attached herself to the east end in the 13th century.

Miserrimus

Miserrimus

In the cloisters of Worcester Cathedral is one of the most pathetic gravestones in the country. It marks a nameless grave, and has but one word on it: "Meserriums",  a prayer for the unfortunate whose bones lie below.

High Street Public Houses

High Street Public Houses

In High Street there were two sets of public houses. Opposite the Guildhall, at No 31, was The Golden Lion, and next door at 32

Worcester Priors Mitred

Worcester Priors Mitred

All Worcester Priors were mitred. When a Prior walked in procession with the Bishop in the Cathedral, the Prior's crook pointed inward, the Bishop's outward, that distinguished their spheres of office. But if the See of Worcester fell vacant, the Prior automatically acted as Bishop. So until 1981, did his successor the Dean.

William Tyndale, and the Translation of the Bible into English

William Tyndale, and the Translation of the Bible into English

William Tyndale, one of the martyrs of the Reformation, was born in old diocese of Worcester, somewhere near the Severn Estuary, His translation of the Bible into English was one of the great events of the English Church.

Notes on the Reformation in Worcester

Notes on the Reformation in Worcester

Among the manuscripts in the Bishop's Registry is one entitled Notitia Dioec Wigorn. It is written by the hand of Chancellor Price in about 1700, and records the changes in Worcester resulting from the Reformation

A Penance ordered on Two Clerks of Droitwich

A Penance ordered on Two Clerks of Droitwich

Two Clerks of Droitwich who reseisted arrest by the Bishop's ministers and the Archdeacon of Worcester. 1304 - 'Order to the Dean of Wych to absolve John Colleware and John Barnard, Clerks,

The Enthronement of a Medieval Bishop of Worcester

The Enthronement of a Medieval Bishop of Worcester

The Enthronement of a Bishop in his Cathedral church serves as a formal introduction to the clergy and laity of his diocese.

Rector in Penance at Kemerton

Rector in Penance at Kemerton

The Rev. Robery Wotton, Rector of Kemerton in the 16th century had to endure a long and humiliating penance. He was sentenced by Bishop Hooper to stand in his church, stripped to the waist, and bearing a horse's saddle on his back. The nature of his crime is unknown.

The Boundaries of the Worcester Diocese

The Boundaries of the Worcester Diocese

The Boundaries of Mercia was at first co-extensive with the Diocese of Lichfield; the first four Bishops of Lichfield (from 655 to 675) are still recorded as Bishops of Mercia.

Saint Augustine's Oak

Saint Augustine's Oak

One of the most historic of meetings was that between Saint Augustine and the Bishop of the Britons in the summer of AD. 603. When the Romans left these shores, Britain was by no means abandoned to paganism.


St George's Roman Catholic Church and a Fine Painting

St George's Roman Catholic Church and a Fine Painting

The present church in Sansome Walk was built in 1829, the year of the Catholic Emancipation Act, on the site of an earlier chapel of 1764

Local Saints, Fair and Markets

Local Saints, Fair and Markets

Local fairs were generally held in the churchyard and associated with the feast of a saint; and brought gatherings of people from far distances to a holy shrine, giving opportunity for

Nelson at Worcester

Nelson at Worcester

It was at the Hop Pole Inn that Nelson stayed on his memorable visit to Worcester. The coming of Nelson had not been anticipated; but during the afternoon of Sunday 26th August, 1802, a rumour of his approach spread amongst the citizens

Wyatt's Hospital

Wyatt's Hospital

Almost opposite Tudor House is Wyatt's Hospital, founded for six poor men, by Edward Wyatt, Mayor of Worcester in 1696. Until a few years ago, it was an attractive row of early 18th century cottages, but has now been mutilated almost beyond recognition.

Tudor House

Tudor House

Friar Street has retained more of its timber-framed building than any other street in Worcester. Many of these houses were of considerable size and were once occupied by citizens of substance, but in the 18th century most of them were divided into tenements

The Greyfriars & Greyfriars School

The Greyfriars & Greyfriars School

The Greyfriars in Friar Street is the finest half-timbered building in the City. The building was only part of the Friary which took in all the ground occupied by the present building and that of

Hannah Snell, The Woman Soldier

Hannah Snell, The Woman Soldier

One of the most celebrated characters of the 18th century was the woman soldier, Hannah Snell, who was born in Friar Street in April, 1723. In some local records, she is said to have

The Guilds

The Guilds

The Clothier's Company of Worcester was in existance in the 13th century, and was subsequently incorporated by Henry VIII and Queen Elizabeth. The later charter was dated 23rd

The Eagle Vaults

The Eagle Vaults

On the corner of Pump Street stands the Eagle Vaults, a good example of a 1890 city tavern, with 'art-nouveau' tiles and lettering. Until recently it had the best sand-blasted, decorated windows

John Wesley in Worcester

John Wesley in Worcester

The City's first Wesleyan chapel was built in New Street in 1772, and a plaque on the wall commemorates the building. The first recorded visit of Wesley to the County was in 1761, when he preached in the 'Abbey Church' at Evesham.

New Street Inns and Cockfighting

New Street Inns and Cockfighting

Twelve large inns catered for the trade in the Cornmarket in olden times, and four of them were in New Street. They were the Greyhound (later called the Old Greyhound), the New Greyhound, the Swan, and the Pheasant. The Old Greyhound was the prinicpal place

William Laslett

William Laslett

William Laslett was a notable citizen and a Member of Parliament. He bestowed upon Worcester larger benefactions than any who preceded or have so far followed after him, but he was a man of strange contradictions, who frequently marred his gifts by the manner

The Town Ditch

The Town Ditch

Town Ditch was a characteristic and historic name, as was Watercourse Alley. The former became an important throughfare to Foregate Street, and to satisfy a sentimental objection became Sansome Street. It is a pity the change was made for both were actually

The County Prison in the Old Castle

The County Prison in the Old Castle

The old castle was long used as the County prison. About 1653, a strong building of brick and stone was built within its precincts to serve as a House of Correction. The entrance was by way

The City Gaol

The City Gaol

Over the centuries, the City had many prisons. There was the gaol at the east end of St.Nicholas Street, a Bridewell at the bottom of Cucken Street (Copenhagen Street), and below the gatehouse of the Foregate were cells which, for a long period, were used as a prison for

Population

Population

In 1646, the number of inhabitants within the City was 7,176; the garrison was 2,007, making a total of 9,183, but it was not until the 19th century that accurate figures were available from official census returns:-1801 - 13,670 1841 - 28,250 1881 - 35,072

The Black Festival

The Black Festival

The Three Choirs Musical Festival is the oldest and most distinguished of its kind in the world. It started in 1715 as an itinerant music club, giving performances of church music. Later, concerts were given at the shirehalls, and it was not until 1759 that

Lord Somers and the 'Glorious Revolution'

Lord Somers and the 'Glorious Revolution'

No native of Worcester has played a more important part in Enlish history than Lord Somers. He was born in the year after the Battle of Worcester, in an old house beneath the shadow of the Cathedral, which was swept away at the clearing of the churchyard.He

The Cameron Family

The Cameron Family

The Commandery has been home to many notable families but none more interesting than the Camerons. Dr. Charles Cameron, the celebrated Worcester physician and his wife (Anne Ingram) lived in part of it in the latter half of the 18th century. Their eldest

Friar Street

Friar Street

Friar Street is the most interesting of the medival streets left in Worcester, and this is due to one man, Mr.Matley Moore, who by saving the Greyfriars building, when the City authorities of the 1930-50 period had let the building deteriorate so badly that

Alderman John Nash & Nash's Almshouse's

Alderman John Nash & Nash's Almshouse's

Alderman John NashIn New Street there is a fine half-timbered building known as Nash's House. It takes it's name from Alderman John Nash, Mayor, and twice representative of the City in Parliament during Charles 1 reign. He was born of a wealthy family of

The Trinity Hall and Freame the Cabinet Maker

The Trinity Hall and Freame the Cabinet Maker

The Guild of the Holy Trinity had its religious origins in St.Nicholas parish, and the Hall of the Guilds fell into the hands of the Clothier's Company at the suppression of the religious bodies in the reign of Henry Vlll. It contained a number of large rooms,

Queen Elizabeth's House in the Trinity

Queen Elizabeth's House in the Trinity

Queen Elizabeth's house is so called because of a tradition that when the Queen came in 1575, she ascended to the gallery to watch a pageant, and address the populace. In those days the house faced a square.Until 1877, there was a portrait of the Queen. painted

The Public Hall

The Public Hall

The building in the Cornmarket was built on the north side of the piazza, on the side of the old Wheatsheaf Inn. It had two halls, the large one being 97ft. long and 40ft broad, and 40ft high, and was one of the best lighted in the kingdom, having a dome,

The Greyfriars

The Greyfriars

The Greyfriars in Friar Street is the finest half-timbered building in the City. The building was only part of the Friary which took in all the ground occupied by the present building and that of Laslett's Hospital. Greyfriars was an order of mendicant preachers

St Peter's Parish Workhouse

St Peter's Parish Workhouse

In 1746, a parish workhouse was set up in an old half-timbered building in St. Peter's Street, which existed well into the 20th century. Here for £10 per annum, 'a proper person was employed to instruct young persons and others in pareing of leather. gloving,

The Old Infirmary, Silver Street

The Old Infirmary, Silver Street

The Worcester County Infirmary opened its doors to the poor and sick on January 11th, 1746. It was founded by Isaac Maddox, a man of great humanity. He had started life as a pastry-cook's boy, and by his own abilities, had become Bishop of Worcester. Before


The Fire at Trinity Hall

The Fire at Trinity Hall

The Girl's National School had no special school building, but used part of the old Trinity Hall. In 1819, there were 130 girls being educated there. In the year 1821, disaster came to the school. Berrow's Journal gave a dramatic picture of the event:

The Early Post Office

The Early Post Office

Well over a century ago, the Worcester Post Office was in Mealcheapen Street, occuping the building known as the 'Shades Tavern', when that area was the very centre of commercial life of the City and County. The building of the two corn exchanges brought

The Non-Conformist Mayors

The Non-Conformist Mayors

Not until 1828 were Dissenters allowed to hold public office. When they did there was sometimes an inclination to break with accepted customs. Mr. Richard Padmore in 1849, was the first Non-conformist Mayor, and declined to have a procession to either the

The Drama of the Corn Exchange

The Drama of the Corn Exchange

The old commercial centre of the City had been at the Cornmarket. The main commodity on sale was corn, which was sold by sample in the open air. All around were inns with great storage capacity where the corn was kept until it was sold. In 1824, an open market

The Shades

The Shades

The imposing house in Mealcheapen Street, almost opposite the Reindeer Inn, was recently known as the Shades Tavern, but originally, it was the home of the Russell family, one of the principal families in St.Martin's parish, the Berkeleys and the Nashes being

The Cornmarket

The Cornmarket

The Cornmarket was for centuries the principal market place of the City. Besides commerce the space was used for all sorts of activities. The stocks and pillory stood there, and on occasions, at 2pm trading stopped and punishments administered. Public whippings

St.Pauls and 'Woodbine Willie'

St.Pauls and 'Woodbine Willie'

St.Paul's district was until about 1830 a very swampy area known as Blockhouse Fields. The first St. Paul's Church was built in 1835-37 soon after the first housing development began. It was a typical 'Commissioners Church' in the semi-Gothic style, having

George Williamson

George Williamson

For a century, the Blockhouse was dominated by the Providence Works, and within ten years of George Williamson going into the business, the labour force increased from 400 to well over 1,000, and the works had become one of the largest of its kind in the

The Temperance Hall and The Hall of Science

The Temperance Hall and The Hall of Science

At the corner of Providence Street and Temperance Street stood the Temperance Hall, a large building of two -colour brick, dating from the 1860s. It was remarkable for the text made from letters of couloured brick 2ft. high or over, which ran around the external

The Shambles

'Buy!  Buy!  Buy!  Saturday night in the Shambles, after 9 o'clock, was like a medival fair, with butchers vying with each other to auction unsold meat. Until about 1930, few butchers had any form of refridgeration, and meat was sold off cheaply, rather than


Old Street Names

Old Street Names

In earlier days therewere two main types of toroughfares within the City, these were the paved 'streets', usually set with round cobble stones, and the others were of the natural earth surface, hardened with use, called 'lanes'. When the lanes were paved

Changes in the City Boundaries

Changes in the City Boundaries

The ancient boundaries of the City comprised 318 acres, and had remained unchanged since medival times, but in 1835 the Municipal Reform Act brought great changes in the government of the City, and in 1837 the Liberties were absorbed into the City and its

Judge Berkeley and Spetchley Park

Judge Berkeley and Spetchley Park

The Berkeley Mansion in the Cornmarket, now called King Charle's House, from which Charles ll escaped at the Battle of Worcester in 1651, was the home of Rowland Berkeley and his wife Catherine. They were married in Easter week in 1574, and lived there fo

Judge Berkeley and Hidden Treasure.

Judge Berkeley and Hidden Treasure.

One of those sons, Robert, born at Spetchley House in 1584, became Sir, Robert Berkeley, but was better known as Judge Berkeley. He in the face of great parliamentary pressure, ruled that Charles 1 could raise 'Ship Money'. Parliament sent Black Rod and arrested

The Commandery

The Commandery

It was founded by Bishop Wulstan at the end of the 17th century, for a master, four brethren and a chaplain. The establishment was at once religious and charitable, and was one of the houses established outside the walls (like Oswald's), catering for the

The Liberties of the City

The Liberties of the City

Outside the City Walls were the Liberties of the City, a narrow belt of land which, for the most part. lay within arrow-flight of the embattlements, over which the municipally exercised control. They were mainly kitchen gardens and cow pastures, and the remained

The Tything of Whitstone

The Tything of Whitstone

The Tything had long been part of a spasmodic ribbon development along the road leading north from the Foregate, to beyond St.Oswald's Hospital, but well into the 19th century there were fields on both sides of the road, where harvest was reaped and stubble

The Growth of the City

The Growth of the City

The ancient boundaries of the City of Worcester comprised 318 acres, and so it remained until 1837. By 1905, they were 10 times as much, and there have been many further extensions since. In the 16th and 17th centuries building had extended outside the Forest

The City Walls and Gates

The City Walls and Gates

Willis Bund gave a clear outline of the walls in his paper The City of Worcester During the Great Civil War. He wrote: 'The line of the walls was as follows: Starting at the bottom of Dolday, which was then an important street .... There was on the bridge

Three Incidents at the Old Palace

Three Incidents at the Old Palace

The Council of War. On June 27, 1646, during the great seige of Worcester. Colonel Washington (an ancester of George) who was the City Governor, held a Council of War in the Great Chamber to consider their position. Things were in a hopeless state for the

The Old Palace, Deansway

The Old Palace, Deansway

Until the year 1842, the Old Palace was the official residence of the Bishop of Worcester. He also had Hartlebury Castle and a London House, but a Royal Commision, looking into the Church Revenues with reforming zeal, concluded that the Bishop had no need

King Charle's House

King Charle's House

On the corner of the Cornmarket and New Street stood the most important house in this part of the City. It is now called King Charle's House, but it is the much mutilated Berkeley mansion. It once had three storeys, but a great fire destroyed the upper story

Edgar Tower

Edgar Tower was, until the late 19th century, known as St.Mary's Gate, and was the main gate to the royal castle and priory. After the disastrous fire of 1202, when the City and Cathedral were burnt, John ordered the Sheriff of Worcester to obtain wood and


Eaton's Concise History of Worcester (1829)

Eaton's Concise History of Worcester (1829)

Eaton's History ends the account of the opening of the Tomb of King John in the Cathedral, a gentleman of this city took a handfull of the skeletons of skins of maggots that were in and about the abdomen of the body and angled with them in the Severn, and

The Royal Tombs

Two important royal tombs can be seen in Worcester Cathedral. That of King John, believed to bear the earliest royal effigy taken from life, and that of Prince Arthur, the eldest son of Henry Vlll, often said to be the most beautiful tomb of all in British


The Dissolution

The Dissolution

Two years later, following Henry V111s quarrel with the Pope,on January 16th, 1540, the Priory of Worcester also came to an end, and after 580 years of occupation by the Prior and monks, the monastic buildings and estates were surrendered into the hands of

The Shrines of Oswald and Wulstan

The Shrines of Oswald and Wulstan

The shrines of Oswald and Wulstan were the most popular of the Midland religious shrines in the 13th and 14th centuries. The great re-building of the Cathedral in the 13th century, the choir and Lady Chapel, were made possible by the fame of the Saints o

The Cathedral and the City

The Cathedral and the City

From time immemorial the Prior and the monks of Worcester (the forerunners of the Dean and Chapter) were exempt from municipal authority. This was confirmed by Henry 1V, who in the year 1400, ordained that: 'No bailiffs, serjeants, ministers or other persons

The Plague and Puritans

The Plague and Puritans

In 1624, the King's Players were here twice; and in 1626, Lord Dudley's Players came. It was the practice for actors to range themselves under the name of powerful nobleman for the protection and benefits which that patronage gave. The greatest in the land

The Sanctuary at Worcester

The Sanctuary at Worcester

The privileges of Sanctuary were granted to the Cathedral in 712. The area of the Sanctuary formed a circuit around the Cathedral, coming up from the river at the Water Gate, between the College Green and the site of the old Castle ( now the King's School

The Early Cathedrals of Oswald and Wulstan

The Early Cathedrals of Oswald and Wulstan

Oswald became Bishop of Worcester in 961, at the time of the Danish raids, and when Christian life was well nigh impossible. He saw the solution in the revival of monastic life, the monasteries being a refuge where men could flee from the lawless and sensual

The Beginnings of Worcester

The Beginnings of Worcester

Worcester was the first ford, coming up the Severn, at the head of the tideway which was not unduly affected by the tide, but equally important, there was sharpe rising ground which provided a place of comparative safety for those using the ford. This rising

Links with the Past

Links with the Past

Historic memory can span the centuries with just a few lives. Bill remembered J.W.Willis Bund, who when a boy, knew an old lady, who told him that her nurse's father, as a young man, was on duty at Worcester Bridge during the Battle of Worcester in 1651

Harper's Hitchman's Ltd (Lowesmoor Brewery)

Harper's Hitchman's Ltd (Lowesmoor Brewery)

The company was registered in July 1917 as a subsidiary of Hitchman & Co Ltd of Chipping Norton. It was taken over by Hunt Edmunds & Co Ltd of Banbury in 1924, when it had 13 public houses, though brewing continued until 1929. Hunt Edmunds were themselves

Prehistoric Trackways in Worcestershire

Prehistoric Trackways in Worcestershire

Worcestershire was once part of a large river estuary with the range of the Malvern Hills on the west side, and the hills of Clent and Lickey leading to the Ridgeway on the eastern border. The rivers were tidal to Bewdley at the least, with great areas of

The Elgars - Father and Son

The Elgars - Father and Son

In High Street, Mr. W.H.Elgar (the father of Edward) had a shop which he founded in the early 1860's. He had come to Worcester in 1841 from Dover as a pianist and tuner for a London firm of pianoforte makers. He was joined by his brother, and the business

The Fire Engine House

The Fire Engine House

Next to the Powick Lane entrance of Lady Huntingdon's Church, at the end of the row of Walgrove's Almshouses, was the Fire Engine House, of the Birmingham Fire Office. It and the almshouses were demolished in the 1950's.     In 1840, it was described as

1812 - A Year of Famine

1812 - A Year of Famine

1812 was a year of famine. The failure of the harvest caused wheat to rise to £1 a bushel. (a terribly high price in those days).  Wheaten bread was unprocurable, and those who could afford flour mixed it with other ingredients. A portion of rice was officially

The Truck Acts and Cider for Farm Workers

The Truck Acts and Cider for Farm Workers

Rural life changed fundamentally between 1880 and 1914. The custom of deduction to wages in lieu of drink was in wide disfavour. In Worcester, Temperance Societies were actively campaigning against the supplying of beer and cider in the hay and harvest fields

The Corbetts - Father & Son

The Corbetts - Father & Son

At St. Catherine's Hill, London Road, lived Edward F Corbett, a successful solicitor who became a local historian. His firm was something of a legal institution in the city, and many well-known men in the legal profession received their training at his hands

The Royal Albert Orphange

The Royal Albert Orphange

A relic of Victorian philanthropy exists in Henwick Road. Now used as a YMCA hostel, it was formerly the Royal Albert Orphanage. The building was large and costly, designed by William Watkins, a native of Rushock, near Droitwich, and errected in 1869 for

King Charles House

King Charles House

On the corner of the Cornmarket and New Street stood the most important house in this part of the city. Now called King Charles House, it was built by Richard Durant, a wealthy brewer, in 1577 as a two-storey house.At the time of the Civil War Mr Edward Durant

Lady Huntingdon's Church

Lady Huntingdon's Church

The present building is the second church on the site. The first was built in 1773, in the garden of a large town house; the area being much favoured by the well-to-do in the 16th and 17th centuries. By the time of the Church's foundation the area had already

Alderman William Lewis

Alderman William Lewis

Alderman Lewis seems to have been the only man to be three times mayor of Worcester - in 1844, 1845 and 1846. On the last occasion Edward Lloyd had been installed but died soon after his election and Lewis. then deputy mayor, undertook the office for the

Rainbow Hill and Doctor Dixon

Rainbow Hill and Doctor Dixon

At the bottom of Rainbow Hill, at the juction with Tolladine Road, was a turnpike gate which until the 1860s marked the boundary between town and country. All beyond was green pastures and orchards and Rainbow Hill was a rural and picturesque place, with

Pitchcroft and the fight to get public possession

Pitchcroft and the fight to get public possession

Today, it is hard to believe that before 1899 the citizens of Worcester had not the privilege of roaming at will over Pitchcroft.Pitchcroft was owned by several people and they were not distinguishable but could only be delineated on the Tythe Map. There

The Old Palace, Deansway

The Old Palace, Deansway

Until the year 1842, the Old Palace was the official residence of the Bishop of Worcester. He also had Hartlebury Castle and a London House, but a Royal Commision, looking into Church Revenues with reforming zeal, concluded that the Bishop had no need for

The Athenaeum

The Athenaeum

The Athenaeum was founded in January, 1829, on the model of a Mechanic's Institute. The building was a gift from William Laslett, erected in 1834, and was behind the Museum of Natural History in Foregate Street; being approached by way of the 'Athenaeum Court'

Highwayman at Claines, Executed

Highwayman at Claines, Executed

Retribution for highway robbery came in other, official, ways. The Worcester Herald of March 18, 1820, reported that 'Robert Hollick, commited at the last Assizes for stopping and robbing on the highway in the parish of Claines, Thomas Gittins and Thomas

The Blanquets

The Blanquets

The area west of Bilford Road belonged to the Blanket family until the close of the Wars of the Roses, when for five generations it was in possession of the Freres. After the late Elizabethan period it passed through several hands, but around 1820, it was

The Wyldes of the Commandery

The Wyldes of the Commandery

At the suppression of the religious houses by King Henry V111, the Commandery came to the Crown, and was granted to Christ Church College, Oxford. Under the College, the Wylde family held it for 250 years. It became their prinicipal seat, and gave their name

Roman Roads in Worcestershire

Roman Roads in Worcestershire

Of the four greatest roads built by the Romans in Britain, only one, the Foss Way, touched the area of modern Worcestershire, and that at the two outlying 'island' parts, which have now been lost to us by the re-drawing of the county borders. The two most

Isaac Wedley, Antiquarian, Author and Organist

Isaac Wedley, Antiquarian, Author and Organist

Issac Wedley died in January 1941. He was organist of Stourport Church at the age of 20, and continued until his death at the age of 76. He travelled the countryside the hard way; climbing Snowdon four times, Cader Idris, Black Combe and the shoulder of Scawfell

The Shrawley Witch

The Shrawley Witch

A notable witch case from Shrawley, on the west bank of the Severn, when Margaret Hill was the subject of many accusations. A child who refused her some oatmeal subsequently fell sick, and when she had been unable to obtain tobacco 'on trust', the shopkeeper's

The Cardinal's Hat, Friar Street, Worcester

The Cardinal's Hat, Friar Street, Worcester

Worcester Cathedral in the period 1100 to 1540 was one of the principal places of pilgrimage. Many ecclesiastical inns sheltered near the Cathedral, catering for the traveller and pilgrim. The first reference to the Cardinal's Hat is in 1497, when the inn

The Beginning of Iron Workings in Worcestershire

The Beginning of Iron Workings in Worcestershire

Roman iron workings in the Severn valley were extensive. The value of iron was great, and often used as currency. In a Domesday survey Gloucester paid tribute in bars of iron. In the Wyche Cutting, Malvern, in 1856, 200 bars of iron was found. Evidence of

Died of Grief

Died of Grief

Valentine Green related a grim story of a Mrs Glover, who lived next to the church, and who lost her two children by smallpox. The grief so unhinged the mother's mind that her husband had to take her away from home whenever a funeral was to take place at

All Saints disaster

All Saints disaster

A disaster in 1703 is entered in red in All Saints church records:'James Collins, his wife Ann and 7 children, all burnt together in their house. The maidservant was the only one in the house to escape, and she with a broken limb' - but she later went into

St Richard's Hospice

St Richard's Hospice

St Richard's Hospice is a local, independent Worcestershire Charity caring for people with cancer and other life threatening illnesses. Last Year, more than 1000 patients and their families were supported free of charge. The Charity relies on voluntary income

The Commandery

The Commandery

Dating back to the 1500s, the headquarters of Charles ll prior to the Battle of Worcester, now showing various exhibitions including "Civil War", "The Commandery Chronicle" and "Lives and...


The Cathedral

The Cathedral

Visit Worcester Cathedral 


Location & Grave photography service

Location & Grave photography service

Having gathered and documented your family's history, why not now add some photograpic records to your work. I am willing to travel to any location in Worcestershire.I will take pictures of buildings, tombstones  or any specific request according to your

Advice for beginners

Advice for beginners

Begin By Writing down everything you know about your parents, grandparents and other members of your family.Gather all old letters, documents, photographs and heirlooms to see what they can tell you about your family's history.Talk to older relations to see

Bishop Lloyd's Charity School

Bishop Lloyd's Charity School

The foundation of this school in 1714 was due to most unusual circumstances - a double murder in a village a few miles from Worcester. An account of the affair was given in Berrow's Journal of 1831, as follows: 'In the night of the 7th November, 1707, Mrs

Moore's Blue Coat School

Moore's Blue Coat School

Moore's Charity, sometimes called the Blue-coat Hospital was the earliest provision for the education of the labouring poor. Founded in 1626, by Thomas Moore, Alderman of Worcester, and Anne, sister of Sir Robert Berkeley  for bringing up poor children whose

Great Storms 1880s

Great Storms 1880s


1802   January 20.  A hurricane occurred doing great damage in the city and around. The windmill at Kempsey was set on fire by the sails being whirled round with so great rapidity.1808   July 15.   A most awful tempest. The thunder continued in one

Memorable floods and frosts

Memorable floods and frosts

The first definite record of a great flood is that of October 1484, when the ill-fated campaign of the Duke of Buckingham against Richard lll, was brought to a halt by the great Severn flood which barred his way across England, and was passed into folk-memory

The black Library

The black Library

Mrs. Sherwood, the writer of childrens books, who died at Britannia Square in 1851, was the daughter of the Rev. George Butt, Rector of Stanford and Vicar of Clifton-on-Teme from 1771 onwards. When she was only seven, an event occurred which left an abiding

Two old Worcester book-worms

Two old Worcester book-worms

Edward Corbett wrote @James Coombs, I remember, was a local institution; a big framed man of somewhat ungainly carriage, who kept a book-shop, cheifly second-hand, on the west side of High Street, about mid-way between the Old Bank and the Guildhall; a shop

Worcester Corporation Artillery Company

Worcester Corporation Artillery Company

Worcester City and County have always supplied a goodly proportion of men for the armed forces.The City had its own Artillery Company, and in 1684, it was directed as to their apparel " It was agreed by ye Common Council that ye pike men have white feathers

The long awaited book

The long awaited book

After 63 years, follow the story  of Albie Thompson and his unfailing love for Mary Crampton written by Kathleen Lawarence-SmithE.mail me now to order a copy which is now limited stock priced at 6.95 plus p&p Not to be missed

60 years later

60 years later

When I met Mary, she spoke of how she had waved goodbye to Albi and how her faith and her patience kept her believing that someday Albi would be back home. Albi was known to be a religious person and was a choir boy at St.John's Church in Worcester before

Iron Masters in the Midlands-16th and 17th Centuries

Iron Masters in the Midlands-16th and 17th Centuries

Lord Paget, 1563-63. Earl of Leicester, owned ironworks near Cleobury Mortimer, 1563-76. Earl of Shrewsbury, had furnace and forge, 1564. John Littleton, 1566-70. Richard Hanbury, 1578, of Elmley Lovett. Established ironworks at Pontypool. His descendant

Iron Workings

Iron Workings

The Making of Iron About 5% of the eath's crust is of iron. All iron ore are used in ironworks are combinations of iron and oxygen - the oxygen being removed to obtain usable iron. At one time, only ore with 40% iron was used, but now with new techniques

Pleasure Steamers on the Severn

Pleasure Steamers on the Severn

'Crowquill' of the Berrow's Worcester Journal of 5 September, 1931 gave the following details of early steamers on the Severn. 'Until 50 years ago there was only one steamer at Worcester plying up and down the river. Then a second arrived, and in the closing

The 'Holt' Castle

The 'Holt' Castle

'At the hop-picking season tatterdemalion hordes of pickers came out from the city, and wagons were sent to the 'Well', in front of All Saints Church for a 6.30 am start. From the river one could hear the Severn Steamer, the 'Holt Castle', hooting a warning,

Kidderminster Witches 1660

Kidderminster Witches 1660

Again at Worcester, shortly before the Ursula Corbett case, a woman and her daughter, and a man, all from Kidderminster, were put through the barbarous trial by water. They were flung into the Severn where 'they would not sink but soared aloft'. Townsend

The Bewdley Witch

The Bewdley Witch

A witch at Bewdley named Susan Wowen gained great notoriety for it was said, she was so wicked that she grew horns on the back of her head three inches long. These were shed every three years, and it is recorded that a Mr.Soley of Sandbourne had one tipped

Social power and authority

Social power and authority

Today, the state controls all aspects of the legal system, but in the past there were three distinct legal authorities which controlled rural life. The Judges and the local Justices of the Peace administered the laws of the land; local legal rules and customs

Feckenham Court Leet

Feckenham Court Leet

Ancient manorial customs continued in some places well into the last century. The Evesham Journal of December 1, 1928, reported on Feckenham Court Leet: 'According to the old custom, the jury assembled under the oak tree on the Village Green, where the Steward

Ancient Courts on the Hill Tops

Ancient Courts on the Hill Tops

Way back in the very distant past, long before there was centralized legal administration, justice was administered upon the hill tops, and in some places, ancient stones still stand to mark those special places, and surprisingly, legal customs continued

Glass works in Worcester

Glass works in Worcester

Glass was at one time made at Worcester in the 17th century, but the maker ended up in a debtors 'prison in London, where he died. In 1739, in the Weekly  Worcester Journal, there was a mention of a glass house (or works) at Worcester.

Bank in Mealcheapen St.

Bank in Mealcheapen St.

BWJ of January 8, 1795 reported "The public are respectfully informed that a bank has been opened at No . 16 Mealcheapen Street, near the Corn Market, under the firm of Farley, Wakeman, Turner and F.Spilsbury, where they solicit the favours of their

The Development of Drama in England

The Development of Drama in England

Dr.Doran in his book "Their Majestie's Servants" or "Annals of the English Stage", traced the rise of the English theatre from one Geoffrey, a monk of Durham, who rented a house and produced a play written around the life of St.Katherine.

Mr Ward's Playhouse

Mr Ward's Playhouse

The first record of a theatre at Stourbridge come's from Aris's Birmingham Gazette of 1752, with the announcement that the playhouse 'would shortly be open by Mr Ward'. This was the grandfather of Sarah Siddons, of the Ward Company of Comedians that played

The Railway in Worcester

The Railway in Worcester

The railway arrived late at the County town, but this was not due to the opposition or indifference of the citizens as happened at other places. From the earliest days of railways, the manufactures and the Corporation let it be known that they wanted Worcester

Early fashion prints

Early fashion prints

The early 19th century was the period of beautiful coloured prints of mens and women's fashions. Before 1830, full size paper patterns could be brought at milliners and dressmakers for £1 a set. Foreign fashions were the vogue and flooded in to such an extent

An old style barber

An old style barber

Between the pubs, at No. 103 High Street, was R.C.Cole, an old style hairdresser. Until the acceptance of the safety razor, it was the custom of the better classes to go to the barber to be shaved, and at Cole's each customer had his own brush and mug kept

Roman Roads

Roman Roads

Of the four greatest roads built by the Romans in Britain, only one, the Foss Way, touched the area of modern Worcestershire, and that at the two outlying 'island' parts, which have now been lost to us by the re-drawing of the county borders. The two most

Track across Kempsey Common

Track across Kempsey Common

An ancient ridgeway track led across Kempsey Common through Kerswell Green to Severn Stoke

Boughton Cricket Ground

Boughton Cricket Ground

In mi- Victorian days Boughton was closely identified with the beginnings of Worcestershire county cricket. In 1865 the County Cricket Club was formed by Lord Lyttleton, supported by many local families including the Isaacs. A suitable field with a pavillion

Early days of Worcester Football Club

Early days of Worcester Football Club

The Club has never been a rich club or in the top flight, though there have been occasions when they have defeated some of the best teams in the country. The Club was formed by the amalgamation of two local teams, Berwick Rangers (Bath Road) and the Worcester

High Stree printers

High Stree printers

All newspapers were published in High Street, though it appears that the Worcester Chronicle was for a time pubished from Copenhagen Street, but in B.W.J. 13.11.1937, on the amalgamation of the B.W.J with the Worcestershire Advertiser, it was stated that

Pleasure Steamers on the Severn

Pleasure Steamers on the Severn

'Crowquill' of the Berrow's Worcester Journal of 5 September, 1931 gave the following details of early steamers on the Severn. 'Until 50 years ago there was only one steamer at Worcester plying up and down the river. Then a second arrived, and in the closing

Time & Tides across the year at Diglis

Time & Tides across the year at Diglis

WORCESTER people generally are perhaps unaware, that the River Severn is still tidal from the Bristol Channel as far as Diglis Weir.The fact was related to Bill by waterways expert and historian Max Sinclair, of Lower Broadheath. He explains that twice daily,

The Grandstand Ferry

The Grandstand Ferry

Not much is known about this ferry, which was in use until the 1939-45 War. There was probably a ferry here when a wooden stand was built on the racecourse in the 18th century; perhaps even earlier, for racing has been enjoyed on Pitchcroft since the days

Dog & Duck Ferry

Dog & Duck Ferry

This is a very pretty spot opposite Pitchcroft, and a very ancient crossing of the Severn. The ferry takes its name from the old waterman's inn of that name, which in its turn, got it from a sport practiced by watermen on Sunday mornings. It was a sport which

A test of young manhood

A test of young manhood

Most of the Lowesmoor pubs have now closed, but all remained until 1914, and many into 1930s. Before the First World War, even into the 1930s, the 'Cross to Shrub Hill Run' was regarded as a test of a young man's manhood - certainly of his drinking capacity.

The Cornmarket Inns

The Cornmarket Inns

Until 1848, the Cornmarket and the streets leading to the Cornmarket, was the commercial centre of the City. The Shades in Mealcheapen Street was one of the early city banks. All around were inns with large storage capacity, for corn was sold by sample in

Introduction

Introduction

Provincial newspapers contain a source of information on a district or a local community which cannot be found elsewhere. They contain feature articles on topics not to be found in books or official papers, with full accounts of local social and political

A E Housman and 'The Shropshire Lad'

A E Housman and 'The Shropshire Lad'

Many have asked why Houseman, who was Worcestershire born and bred, wrote 'A Shropshire Lad'. Bishop Barnes of Birmingham once asked A.E.H why he called that famous book of poems, 'A Shropshire Lad', when he lived at Catshill, near the Lickey Hills, Shropshire.

A Presentment from St Michael's Church. 1674

A Presentment from St Michael's Church. 1674

The Churchwardens present that; The church is in good order. John Flaye and his wife, Adam Symonds and his wife, John Wood and his wife, Richard Flayer and his wife, John Annen and his wife, Francis Smith and his wife, Mary Stram and Elizabeth Andrews.

The Hop Pole Inn

The Hop Pole Inn

On the corner of Foregate Street and Shaw Street stood the Hop Pole Inn, the principal inn of Worcester during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The first mention of it is in St. Nicholas parish records of 1742. It was obviously built when the City.


Wall's Bakery, Friar St

Wall's Bakery, Friar St

This old house has long been used by Bakers, and is a good example of a trade once established on a site, continues through the centuries. The first baker recorded was Gabriel Walwyn, in 1656, and a long line of bakers followed through to the 20th century.

We have now collated 752 articles on the History of Worcester & Worcestershire.