Portal:Worcestershire

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The Worcestershire portal

Flag of Worcestershire	Armorial banner of Worcestershire County Council

Worcestershire (/ˈwʊstərʃər/ ^ⓘ WUUST-ər-shər, /-ʃɪər/ -⁠sheer; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a ceremonial county in the West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Shropshire, Staffordshire, and the West Midlands county to the north, Warwickshire to the east, Gloucestershire to the south, and Herefordshire to the west. The city of Worcester is the largest settlement and the county town.

The county is largely rural, and has an area of 1,741 km² (672 sq mi) and a population of 592,057. After Worcester (103,872) the largest settlements are Redditch (87,036), Kidderminster (57,400), and Malvern (30,462). It contains six local government districts, which are part of a two-tier non-metropolitan county also called Worcestershire. The county historically had complex boundaries, and included Dudley and the southwestern suburbs of Birmingham.

The River Severn flows through the centre of the county from north to south, forming a wide plain. The southwest of the county contains part of the Malvern Hills, a National Landscape which contains Worcestershire Beacon, at 425 m (1,394 ft) the county's highest point. The southwest contains a small part of the Cotswolds, and in the northwest is part of the Wyre Forest, a national nature reserve.

There is some evidence of Roman occupation in Worcestershire; the area later became part of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Hwicce, and then Mercia. Worcestershire was constituted as a county around 927, as the Kingdom of England formed. During the High Middle Ages the county was the site of the Battle of Evesham, in which Simon de Montfort was defeated, and in 1651 the Battle of Worcester was the last major engagement of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. During the Industrial Revolution the north of the county was part of the Black Country, a major manufacturing centre, Kidderminster became famous for carpet production, and Worcester for porcelain. (Full article...)

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Urse d'Abetot (c. 1040 - 1108) was a Norman who followed King William I to England, and became Sheriff of Worcestershire and a royal official under him and Kings William II and Henry I. He was a native of Normandy and moved to England shortly after the Norman Conquest of England in 1066, and was appointed sheriff in about 1069. Little is known of his family in Normandy, who were not prominent, but he probably got his name from the village Abetot (today Saint-Jean-d’Abbetot, Abetot about 1050–1066, hamlet of La Cerlangue). Although Urse's lord in Normandy was present at the Battle of Hastings, there is no evidence that Urse took part in the invasion of England in 1066. (Full article...)

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Edward Elgar Battle of Powick Bridge Roger Norreis

General images

The following are images from various Worcestershire-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1A bottle of Shanghainese "spicy soy sauce", Taikang Yellow brand (from Worcestershire sauce)
Image 2Malvern St James girls school main building (from Malvern, Worcestershire)
Image 3Bewdley Bridge and Severn Side South, 2003 (from Bewdley)
Image 4The Abbey Gateway in the town centre is now the home of the Malvern Museum
Image 5The Malvhina Fountain in the town centre, a sculpture by artist Rose Garrard. (from Malvern, Worcestershire)
Image 6Bewdley Station, now restored as part of the Severn Valley Railway (from Bewdley)
Image 7Richard Baxter, the leading Puritan in Kidderminster, noted the rising opposition to King Charles' policies of taxation and rule without Parliament (from History of Worcestershire)
Image 8Caldwall Castle (from Kidderminster)
Image 9Lea & Perrins Worcestershire sauce — the invention of two Worcester chemists (from Worcestershire)
Image 10Oswald and Eadnoth (from History of Worcestershire)
Image 1115th-century Merchant's House formerly located on Bromsgrove's High Street, now at Avoncroft Museum of Historic Buildings (from Bromsgrove)
Image 12Sanders Park (from Bromsgrove)
Image 13Parkside, headquarters of Bromsgrove District Council (from Bromsgrove)
Image 14Detail of buildings and shops in Church Street, Great Malvern (from Malvern, Worcestershire)
Image 15The 1906 sandstone and red brick Evesham Methodist Church on the banks of the River Avon (from Evesham)
Image 16The Old Town Hall (from Droitwich Spa)
Image 17Bewdley Guildhall (from Bewdley)
Image 18The Lickey Incline in 1840 (from Bromsgrove)
Image 19Astley Hall, Stanley Baldwin's home between 1902 and 1947 (from Stourport-on-Severn)
Image 20Iron Age earthworks, British Camp
Image 21Victorian pillar box on the corner of Priory Road and Orchard Road
Image 22The North West View of the City of Worcester (from History of Worcestershire)
Image 23James McConnell (from Bromsgrove)
Image 24Summit of the Worcestershire Beacon in the Malvern Hills, the county's highest point (from Worcestershire)
Image 25All Saints Church Evesham (from Evesham)
Image 26The former Bromsgrove railway station (from Bromsgrove)
Image 27Bewdley and surrounding area (Ordnance Survey) (from Bewdley)
Image 28Bewdley Bridge (from Bewdley)
Image 29Welcome to Malvern, on an approach road to the town centre. (from Malvern, Worcestershire)
Image 30The Market Place in Evesham, circa 1904 by Edmund Hort New. (from Evesham)
Image 31Broadway Tower, one of several Worcestershire follies (from Worcestershire)
Image 32Saltworkers by British sculptor John McKenna in the town centre (from Droitwich Spa)
Image 33The hand axe discovered in the 1970s in Hallow. Potentially the first Early Middle Palaeolithic artefact from the West Midlands. (from History of Worcestershire)
Image 34Roosevelt plaque, Aldwyn Tower, Malvern (from Malvern, Worcestershire)
Image 35Hand-drawn map of Worcestershire by Christopher Saxton from 1577. (from Worcestershire)
Image 36Grave of Sir Thomas Chavasse (1854–1913) and his family in Bromsgrove (from Bromsgrove)
Image 37Brintons carpet factory in Kidderminster, c. 1870 (from Kidderminster)
Image 38Aggborough is the home ground of the professional club Kidderminster Harriers, formerly of the Football League. (from Kidderminster)
Image 39St John the Baptist's Church (Church of England), built in 1843 (from Kidderminster)
Image 40Droitwich Spa High Street on St. Richard's Day 2009 (from Droitwich Spa)
Image 41The flag of the historic county of Worcestershire (from Worcestershire)
Image 42The Riverside Shopping Centre (from Evesham)
Image 43Priory Park with Malvern Theatres complex and Priory Church tower in the background (from Malvern, Worcestershire)
Image 44Portrait of Sir William Waller, 1643, whose raids thoroughly depleted the Vale of Evesham (from History of Worcestershire)
Image 45William Lloyd (from History of Worcestershire)
Image 46St Ann's Well spout (from Malvern, Worcestershire)
Image 47Council House (built 1874), viewed from Priory Park, is the headquarters of the District Council. (from Malvern, Worcestershire)
Image 48A.E. Housman, poet, lived at Perry Hall, Bromsgrove (from Bromsgrove)
Image 49Council wards of Malvern town (from Malvern, Worcestershire)
Image 50Bromsgrove War Memorial (from Bromsgrove)
Image 51Grave of Mabel Tolkien (née Suffield, 1870–1904), mother of J. R. R. Tolkien, in Bromsgrove (from Bromsgrove)
Image 52Stourport Road Bridge (from Stourport-on-Severn)
Image 53Malvern Theatres (from Malvern, Worcestershire)
Image 54Due to its cathedral (pictured), the county town of Worcester is the only settlement in the county with city status. (from Worcestershire)
Image 55Prior's Croft, Grange Road (Victorian Gothic architecture)
Image 56Landsdown Methodist Church, Great Malvern (from Malvern, Worcestershire)
Image 57Qinetiq at the Malvern Hills Science Park, or Malvern Technology Centre; the integrated circuit was invented here in 1952 (from Worcestershire)
Image 58The Battle of Powick Bridge on the River Teme on 23 September 1642 began the English Civil War. (from Worcestershire)
Image 59Interior of a Bromsgrove Nailmaker's shed in 1896; occupied by the tenant and two stallers, the latter worked each on his own account, and paid 6d. a week apiece and one-third of the firing. The oliver, or heavy hammer used for heading the nails, is attached to the bench in front of the little anvil. (from Bromsgrove)
Image 60Evesham Town Hall (from Evesham)
Image 61Seven shillings a week: this nailmaker in 1896 worked from 7am to 10pm, and turned out 11lbs of nails a week. (from Bromsgrove)
Image 62Bewdley from the racks, 2019 (from Bewdley)
Image 63Evesham Abbey bell tower (from Evesham)
Image 64Lea & Perrins advertisement (1900) (from History of Worcestershire)
Image 65John's tomb, Worcester Cathedral (from History of Worcestershire)
Image 66St Mary's and All Saints Parish Church, seen from the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal (from Kidderminster)
Image 67St John's Court: 19th century vicarage, served as council offices from 1920s to 1980s, now a care home. (from Bromsgrove)
Image 68Classical composer Sir Edward Elgar was born in this house in Broadheath, Worcestershire, currently used as the Elgar Birthplace Museum. (from Worcestershire)
Image 69Commemorative pavement plaque in Alcester Street (from Redditch)
Image 70Tithe barn of St Johns, Bromsgrove, shortly before it was sold and demolished in 1844. It was used as a theatre in the 1700s. (from Bromsgrove)
Image 71Bromsgrove Guild maker's mark on a main gate of Buckingham Palace (from Bromsgrove)
Image 72Nailmakers in Bromsgrove c.1896 (from History of Worcestershire)
Image 73Hanbury Hall, completed around 1706 (from History of Worcestershire)
Image 74Droitwich transmitting station, Wychbold (from Droitwich Spa)
Image 75Graves of railway engineers Tom Scaife and Joseph Rutherford, killed in an engine explosion in Bromsgrove in 1840 (from Bromsgrove)
Image 76St Peter's Church, Droitwich (from Droitwich Spa)
Image 77Honeybourne railway station on the Cotswold Line and the potential Honeybourne Line (from Worcestershire)
Image 78The Enigma Fountain and statue of Edward Elgar, a group of sculptures by artist Rose Garrard, on Belle Vue Terrace (from Malvern, Worcestershire)
Image 79Parish church of St John the Baptist (from Bromsgrove)
Image 80The art deco Regal Cinema (from Evesham)
Image 81View of the QinetiQ facility from the Malvern Hills. Malvern College campus in the foreground, and the village of Poolbrook to the rear
Image 82The Almonry, originally part of Evesham Abbey (from Evesham)
Image 83Great Malvern Priory
Image 84A statue of Richard Baxter in Kidderminster outside St Mary and All Saints' Church. (from Kidderminster)
Image 85The former Redditch Bus Station, c. 1996 (from Redditch)
Image 86Worcester Bosch; Bosch Thermotechnology are in Warndon (from Worcestershire)
Image 87The coat of arms of Worcestershire County Council (from Worcestershire)
Image 88The Lickey Incline about 1845 (from History of Worcestershire)
Image 89Chateau Impney, near Droitwich (from Droitwich Spa)
Image 90Bromsgrove Museum (from Bromsgrove)
Image 91Dudley Castle (from History of Worcestershire)
Image 92The former Slingfield Mill (from Kidderminster)
Image 93Grafton Manor, home of the Catholic Talbot family, holding leading military posts in Worcestershire's Royalist forces in the Civil War (from Bromsgrove)
Image 94Coat of Arms of the former Bromsgrove Rural District Council (from Bromsgrove)
Image 95The hand axe discovered in 1970s in Hallow. Potentially the first Early Middle Palaeolithic artefact from the West Midlands. (from Worcestershire)
Image 96The spa town of Great Malvern was laid out and developed largely during the 19th century
Image 97New Road is the home of Worcestershire County Cricket Club, across the River Severn from Worcester Cathedral. (from Worcestershire)
Image 98Map of Stourport, 1942 (from Stourport-on-Severn)
Image 99View across Arrow Valley Lake (from Redditch)
Image 100Malvern post office, town centre
Image 101Battle of Worcester (from History of Worcestershire)
Image 102Thai Gy-Nguang brand Formula 2 Worcestershire sauce (2010) (from Worcestershire sauce)
Image 103Nailmakers in Bromsgrove c.1896 (from Bromsgrove)
Image 104Worcester Square (from Redditch)
Image 105Stafford tomb, St John the Baptist Church, Bromsgrove: one of the most powerful families in Worcestershire, living just south of the town (from Bromsgrove)
Image 106Halesowen was an exclave of neighbouring Shropshire until 1844 when it was reincorporated into Worcestershire. It is now within the metropolitan county of the West Midlands. (from Worcestershire)
Image 107Iron Age earthworks, British Camp
Image 108St Stephen's Church (Church of England) (from Redditch)

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View over the town from Worcestershire Beacon

Malvern (/ˈmɔːlvərn, ˈmɒl-/, locally also: /ˈmɔːvərn/) is a spa town and civil parish in Worcestershire, England. It lies at the foot of the Malvern Hills, a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The centre of Malvern, Great Malvern, is a historic conservation area, which grew dramatically in Victorian times due to the natural mineral water springs in the vicinity, including Malvern Water.

At the 2021 census it had a population of 30,462. It includes Great Malvern on the steep eastern flank of the Malvern Hills, as well as the former independent urban district of Malvern Link. Many of the major suburbs and settlements that comprise the town are separated by large tracts of open common land and fields, and together with smaller civil parishes adjoining the town's boundaries and the hills, the built up area is often referred to collectively as The Malverns. (Full article...)

List of Good articles
Evolution of Worcestershire county boundaries since 1844 Hanley Castle High School Malvern water Julius Harrison Malvern Water (bottled water) Strensham services Battle of Evesham Murder of Céline Figard Philip Smith (criminal) Walter de Beauchamp (nobleman) Whittington Tump Worcester Castle

Selected quotes

“

The top three hardest things to say are:

I was wrong
I need help
Worcestershire sauce

”

— Unknown

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Did you know?

...that Simon de Montfort was killed and had his testicles cut off at the Battle of Evesham (pictured)?
...that Whittington Tump in Worcestershire was the site of a motte castle?
...that the investigation into the murder of Céline Figard saw the UK's first national DNA screening programme in the hunt for a suspect?
...that the medieval nobleman Walter de Beauchamp was granted the right to keep pheasants on his lands and fine any who poached them by King Henry I of England?

Things you can do for WikiProject Worcestershire

WORCS/ToDo is a list of urgent tasks. If they have been addressed, please do not remove them from the list, but check them off with the {{done}} ( Done) template, and sign your name with four tildes: ~~~~ (Full article...)

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