The Chantry of Prince Arthur in Worcester Cathedral is a most beautiful work of its period. It commemorates probably the most splendid occasion ever witnessed at Worcester - and one of the most tragic, the burial of Arthur, Prince of Wales, who died at Ludlow in 1502, at the age of 16. The death of .......
There exists a 13th century record of a female anchorite who attached herself to the east end of St. Nicholas Church, Worcester. There was another anchorite at Diglis, and one attached to St. John's Church, Worcester. The anchorage was formally sanctioned by Bishop Gifford in 1269. Her name was Juliana, but apart from the name, we know little of her. Her names was Juliana, the wife of ...
Tradition has it that St. Werstern (or Werstan), a monk at Deerhurst, built himself a cell upon a ledge of rock on the Malvern Hills, in a ravine leading to the position of St. Anne's Well. H.S. Brassington in Historical Worcestershire says that when the Danes destroyed the monastery at Deerhurst, Werstan fled through the marshes and forests to the solitude of the Malvern Hills, where he lived a holy and solitary life. As recently as 1825, (he adds), portions of the hermitage incorporated with a little cottage were standing. Many encaustic....
Redstone Hermitage is of great antiquity. Official recognition and protection was granted to it in 1160. It lies in the parish of Areley, and the parish church contains a memorial to Layamon, the famous monk of the 12th century, who tradition has it, dwelt at the Hermitage of Redstone, and who was the author of A Chronicle of British History - and the first poet to sing of Arthur and his times in English verse. During the restoration of the church in 1885, fragments of stone were discovered under the Norman portion of the building, which when put together were found to read: 'Temore Layamanni Santi' They now form the base of the font in use in the church......
The life of the solitary was held in high esteem. People felt wholly called to God in prayer and silence. Some mostly women, were known as Anchorites. They usually had themselves walled up in their cells 'anchored' to some religious building or shrine and relied on charitable persons to supply their needs .....
John Badby, a tailor born around 1380, became a follower of the theologian John Wycliffe. Wycliffe and his followers, known as Lollards, challenged the Catholic Church's core teachings, particularly the doctrine of transubstantiation. This belief holds that the bread and wine used during the Eucharist sacrament literally transform into the body and blood of Christ......
William Tyndale, one of the martyrs of the Reformation, was born in the 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.
Tyndale, was born in 1492, went to Oxford and Cambridge, then in the throws of the new learning, and came under the influence of John Collett and Eramus. By 1522, he held a tutorial position in the family of Sir John Walsh who lived at the Manor House, Little Sodbury, then in the gift of the Dean and Chapter of Worcester. His leisure time was spent preaching in the Gloucestershire villages and at Bristol, and here he began his translation.....
A Penance ordered on Two Clerks of Droitwich, who resisted arrest by the Bishop's ministers and the Archdeacon of Worcester, in 1304. Order to the Dean of Wych to absolve John Colleware and John Barnard, Clerks from the sentence of excommunication for violence done in the church of St. Peter, of Witton of Wych, to the Bishop's minister and the archdeacon of Worcester by Richard Barnard whom they arrested, after performance of the following penance.......
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, 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.....
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?)......
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 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....
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:
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 ..........
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...
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..
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 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 - ..
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..
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;
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...
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....
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 ..
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 ...
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 ..
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....
Every year, on the eve of Trinity Sunday, garlands were suspended from the balcony of Queen Elizabeth's House, each person in the ...
St. Clements Church was formerly on the east bank of the Severn, at the bottom of Dolday. It suffered badly from ..
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...
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...
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'.....
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.....
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...
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,
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.....
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 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.
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.........
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...
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 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 ................
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.
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.
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....
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.
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.
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.........
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 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.
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 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.
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..
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
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.
