Worcestershire

For the condiment, see Worcestershire sauce.

Worcestershire
Ceremonial county
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Constituent country	England
Region	West Midlands
Origin	Historic
Time zone	UTC+0 (GMT)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+1 (BST)
Ceremonial county
Area
• Rank	of 48
• Rank	of 48
Density
Ethnicity	97.5% White 1.1% S.Asian

Worcestershire (/ˈwʊstəʃə/ WOOS-tər-shər or /ˈwʊstəʃɪər/ WOOS-tər-sheer ; abbreviated Worcs) is a non-metropolitan county, established in antiquity, located in the West Midlands region of central England. In 1974 it was merged with the neighbouring county of Herefordshire to form the county of Hereford and Worcester; which was divided in 1998, re-establishing Worcestershire once more as an independent entity. Following the 1998 reform the crest of the Malvern Hills forms the east–west border between the two counties, with the exception of the parish of West Malvern in Worcestershire.

The county borders Herefordshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, West Midlands, Warwickshire, and Gloucestershire. To the west, the county is bordered by the Malvern Hills, and the spa town of Malvern. The southern part of the county is bordered by Gloucestershire and the northern edge of the Cotswolds, and to the east is Warwickshire. There are two major rivers flowing through the county, the Severn and the Avon.

The cathedral city of Worcester is the largest settlement and administrative seat of the county, which includes the principal settlements of Bromsgrove, Stourport-on-Severn, Droitwich, Evesham, Kidderminster, Malvern, and the largest town, Redditch, and a number of smaller towns such as Pershore, Tenbury Wells, and Upton upon Severn. The northern part of the county includes the beginnings of the vast urban sprawl of the industrial West Midlands agglomeration, while the remainder and the south of the county is largely rural.

Language

There are many accents and dialects within Worcestershire. The county's northern commuter towns such as Redditch and Kidderminster have had an influx of the Black Country accent which has affected the accents of Bromsgrove and parts of Redditch and formed a new accent unique to those towns. The rest of the county has retained the distinctive tones of the West Country accent, typified and made famous by the The Archers, the world's longest running radio soap opera, set in a fictional county situated somewhere between the (in reality, bordering) counties of Worcestershire and Warwickshire.

History

Main articles: History of Worcestershire and Civil War in Worcestershire

Absorbed by the Kingdom of Mercia during the 7th century and then by the unified Kingdom of England from 927 to 1707, it was a separate ealdormanship briefly in the 10th century before forming part of the Earldom of Mercia in the 11th century. In the years leading up to the Norman conquest, the Church, including the cathedral, Evesham Abbey, Pershore Abbey, Malvern Priory and other religious houses, increasingly dominated county. The last known Anglo-Saxon sheriff of the county was Cyneweard of Laughern, and the first Norman sheriff was Urse d'Abetot who built the castle of Worcester and seized much church land. Worcestershire was the site of the Battle of Evesham in which Simon de Montfort was killed on 4 August 1265. In 1642, the site of the Battle of Powick Bridge the first major skirmish of the English Civil War, and the Battle of Worcester in 1651 that effectively ended it.

During the Middle Ages, much of the county's economy was based on the wool trade, and many areas of its dense forests, such as Malvern Chase, were royal hunting grounds. In the nineteenth century, Worcester was a centre for the manufacture of gloves; the town of Kidderminster became a centre for carpet manufacture, and Redditch specialised in the manufacture of needles, springs and hooks. Droitwich Spa, being situated on large deposits of salt, was a centre of salt production from Roman times, with one one of the principal Roman roads running through the town. These old industries have since declined, to be replaced by other, more varied light industry. The county is also home to the world's oldest continually published newspaper, the Berrow's Journal, established in 1690. Malvern was one of the centres of the 19th century rise in English spa towns due to Malvern water being believed to be very pure, containing "nothing at all".

Local government

Worcestershire's boundaries have been fluid for over a hundred years since the abolition of the form of local administration known as the Hundreds in 1889, but the continual expansion of Birmingham and the Black Country during and after the Industrial Revolution altered the county map considerably.

1884–1911

Worcestershire County Council came into existence following the Local Government Act 1888 and covered the historic traditional county, except for two designated county boroughs at Dudley and Worcester. The county also had many exclaves and enclaves, which were areas of land cut off from the main geographical area of Worcestershire and completely surrounded by the adjoining counties of Warwickshire, Staffordshire, Gloucestershire, Herefordshire and Oxfordshire. The most noticeable were Dudley and the area around Shipston-on-Stour. In return, Staffordshire, Warwickshire and Shropshire had their own exclaves within Worcestershire. These were found at Clent, Tardebigge and Halesowen/Oldbury (or the Halesowen Parish area) respectively and were transferred to or rejoined Worcestershire in October 1844 following the Counties (Detached Parts) Act 1844. This Act of Parliament was designed to eradicate the issue of 'islands' or 'exclaves', however Shipston-on-Stour remained associated with Worcestershire until April 1931 and likewise Dudley until 1966. The southern boundary of the county was also confusing, with parish boundaries penetrating deep into Gloucestershire and vice-versa. This was also eventually resolved following the Counties (Detached Parts) Act 1844.

Birmingham's continuous expansion has been a large contributory factor to Worcestershire's fluid boundary changes and associated housing issues. In November 1909, Quinton Urban District was ceded to Birmingham and was followed by Yardley, Northfield and Kings Norton in November 1911. As a consequence of the transfer to Birmingham, these areas were no longer part of Worcestershire and became associated with Warwickshire. Dudley's historical status within the Diocese of Worcester and through its aristocratic links ensured that the island was governed on a largely autonomous basis. Worcester was also self-governing and was known as The City and County of Worcester.

1966–1974

During the Local Government reorganisation of April 1966, Dudley expanded beyond its historical boundaries and took in Sedgley, Brierley Hill, Coseley and part of Amblecote. The Local Government Act redefined its status and County Borough of Dudley became part of Staffordshire, the county which all of these areas had been part of. At the same time, Worcestershire gained a new county borough known as Warley, which was an amalgamation of Oldbury Urban District, Rowley Regis Urban District, the County Borough of Smethwick and parts of Tipton. The Oakham area of Dudley, which was already in Worcestershire was transferred to the new county borough. During these reorganisations, the area of the county council grew only where Stourbridge took in the majority of Amblecote Urban District from Staffordshire and the designation of Redditch in 1964 as a New Town. This in turn saw expansion into the area in and around the villages of Ipsley and Matchborough in Warwickshire. The Redditch New Town designation coincided with a considerable programme of social and private house building in Droitwich, Worcester, Bromsgrove, Kidderminster and along the Birmingham boundary at Frankley, Rubery and Rednal. Frankley would later be transferred from Bromsgrove to Birmingham control in April 1995.

1974–present

From 1974, the central and southern part of the county was amalgamated with Herefordshire and Worcester County Borough to form a single non-metropolitan county of Hereford and Worcester. The County Boroughs of Dudley and Warley along with Stourbridge and Halesowen were incorporated into the new West Midlands Metropolitan county. The West Midlands County Council existed for only a short period before abolition in April 1986 by the Government, though legally exists to this day as an administrative county and ceremonial county.

In the 1990s UK local government reform, the decision was taken to abolish Hereford and Worcester, with the new non-metropolitan county or shire county of Worcestershire regaining its historic border with Herefordshire.

The new county still excluded towns such as Stourbridge, Halesowen, Dudley and Oldbury, due to the reorganisation's remit of dealing with only non-metropolitan counties in England. The new County of Worcestershire came into existence on 1 April 1998 as an administrative county and ceremonial county, although some cross-boundary organisations and resources are shared with the Herefordshire unitary authority, these include waste management and the youth offending service.

The post-April 1974 Hereford & Worcester districts of Redditch, Worcester, Bromsgrove, Wychavon and Wyre Forest were retained with little or no change. However the Leominster and Malvern Hills districts crossed over the historic border, so a new Malvern Hills district was constituted which straddled the pre-April 1974 county boundary to the west, south-west and north-west.

See also: List of Worcestershire boundary changes

Broadway Tower, one of several Worcestershire follies

Worcestershire County Council Election Results

Year	Conservative Party	Liberal Democrats	Labour Party	Liberal Party	Health Concern	Independent	Wythall Residents
2005	30	8	15	2	1	1	0
2009	42	8	3	1	2	0	1

Physical geography

Worcestershire is a fairly rural county. The Malvern Hills, which run from the south of the county into Herefordshire, are made up mainly of volcanic igneous rock and metamorphic rock, some of which date from before 1200 million years ago. For more on the geology of the Malvern Hills, see the External links.

Culture, media and sport

Football is the most popular sport in the county, and by far the largest and most successful football club in the county is Kidderminster Harriers F.C.. In 2000 they became the first Worcestershire club to compete in The Football League. The county is also represented by Worcester City of the Blue Square Premier South & Bromsgrove Rovers of the Southern Football League.

The county is home to the Worcestershire County Cricket Club, traditionally first stop on for the touring national side's schedule in England. The Club's players have included Imran Khan, Tom Graveney, Ian Botham, Glenn McGrath, Graeme Hick, Kapil Dev, Vikram Solanki, Don Kenyon and Basil D'Oliveira. Worcester Rugby Football Club, the Worcester Warriors, whose ground is at Sixways, Worcester, were promoted to the Guinness Premiership in 2004.

The village of Broadheath, about 6 miles (10 km) North-West of the city of Worcester, is the birthplace of the composer Edward Elgar.

It is claimed that the county was the inspiration for The Shire, a region of J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional Middle-earth, described in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. Tolkien was thought to have named Bilbo Baggins' house "Bag End" after his Aunt Jane's Worcestershire farm. Tolkien wrote of Worcestershire: "Any corner of that county (however fair or squalid) is in an indefinable way 'home' to me, as no other part of the world is."

Malvern is the home of the Malvern Fringe Festival, one of the oldest festivals of its kind in the world.

Radio in Worcestershire

BBC Hereford & Worcester, Wyvern FM and Sunshine Radio broadcast to both Herefordshire and Worcestershire. The Wyre broadcasts to the north west of Worcestershire. Youthcomm Radio, a Community radio station, broadcasts to the city of Worcester. Birmingham-based radio stations such as BBC Radio WM and BRMB have traditionally considered the bordering areas of Worcestershire as part of their broadcast area. The Birmingham based West Midlands regional stations, such as Heart and Smooth Radio regionals also cover much of the county.

In 2007 the Office of Communications (Ofcom) awarded a DAB Digital Radio multiplex licence for Herefordshire & Worcestershire to MuxCo Ltd. who aim to provide several new stations in 2009, while also providing a digital platform for Wyvern FM, Sunshine Radio and BBC Hereford & Worcester and area extensions to United Christian Broadcasters and the Highways Agency. In 2008, CE Birmingham, who own and operate the Birmingham local DAB multiplex licencees improved coverage of DAB Digital Radio across other parts of the county to include Worcester and Malvern. Services that can be heard reasonably across much of Worcestershire are: BRMB, Chill, Gold (Birmingham), Magic Radio, Sunrise Radio, Traffic Radio (Midlands), BBC Radio WM, Xfm (Midlands) and Radio XL.

Demography

Population totals for Worcestershire
Year	Population		Year	Population		Year	Population
1801	107,151		1871	209,850		1941	294,660
1811	119,464		1881	229,455		1951	331,943
1821	135,658		1891	240,762		1961	374,267
1831	152,634		1901	250,620		1971	422,495
1841	159,862		1911	261,428		1981	477,538
1851	170,638		1921	261,533		1991	524,021
1861	190,244		1931	261,960		2001	542,107
Pre-1974 statistics were gathered from local government areas that now comprise Worcestershire Source: Great Britain Historical GIS.

Economy

This is a chart of trend of regional gross value added of Worcestershire at current basic prices published (pp. 240–253) by Office for National Statistics with figures in millions of British Pounds Sterling.

Year	Regional Gross Value Added	Agriculture	Industry	Services
1995	5,047	225	1,623	3,200
2000	6,679	159	2,002	4,518
2003	7,514	182	1,952	5,380

Industry and agriculture

Fruit farming and the cultivation of hops were traditional agricultural activities in much of the county. During the latter half of the 20th century, this has largely declined with the exception southern area of the county around the Vale of Evesham, where orchards a re still worked on a commercial scale. Worcester City's coat of arms includes three black pears, representing a now rare local pear variety, the Worcester Black Pear. The county's coat of arms follows this theme, having a pear tree with black pears. The apple variety known as Worcester Pearmain originates from Worcestershire, and the Pershore plum comes from the small Worcestershire town of that name, and is widely grown in that area. John Drinkwater, the poet, wrote

Who travels Worcester county takes any road that comes when April tosses bounty to the cherries and the plums.

Worcestershire is also famous for a number of its non-agricultural products. The original Worcestershire sauce, a savoury condiment made by Lea and Perrins, is made in Worcester, and the now closed Royal Porcelain works was based in the city. The town of Malvern is the home of the Morgan traditional sports car. The painting, A Worcestershire Cottage by Arthur Claude Strachan is also of general renown.

Education

Worcestershire has a comprehensive school system with sixteen independent schools including the RGS Worcester, The King's School, Worcester, Malvern St James and Malvern College. State schools in Worcester, the Wyre Forest District, and the Malvern Hills District are two-tier primary schools and secondary schools whilst Redditch and Bromsgrove have a three-tier system of first, middle and high schools. Several schools in the county provide Sixth-form education including two in the city of Worcester. Several vocational colleges provide GCSE and A-level courses and adult education, such as South Worcestershire College, and an agricultural campus of Warwickshire College in Pershore. There is also the University of Worcester, which is located in the city itself and is home to the National Pollen and Aerobiology Research Unit and five other national research centres.

Towns and villages

The county town and only city is Worcester. The other major settlements, Kidderminster, Bromsgrove and Redditch are satellite towns of Birmingham. There are also several market towns: Malvern, Bewdley, Evesham, Droitwich Spa, Pershore, and Tenbury Wells.

For a full list of settlements, see list of places in Worcestershire.

Places of interest

• Worcestershire County Museum
• Croome Court
• Avoncroft Museum of Historic Buildings
• Walton Hill and the Clent Hills
• Malvern Hills — Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty
• Severn Valley Railway
• Wadborough
• Bewdley - Riverside Historic Tudor Town
• Worcester Cathedral File:AP Icon.PNG
• Great Malvern Priory File:AP Icon.PNG
• River Teme and valley
• Tenbury Wells with its unique Pump Rooms.
• River Severn at Worcester and Bewdley, River Avon at Pershore or Evesham
• Witley Court at Great Witley. A burnt-out shell of a large English stately home, famous for its gigantic fountain, now restored to working order. Currently run by English Heritage.
• West Midlands Safari Park
• Hanbury Hall
• Forge Mill Needle Museum at Redditch, the only remaining working needle mill in the world.

Local groups

• Worcestershire Wildlife Trust
• 29th Regiment of Foot
• West Midland Bird Club
• Herefordshire & Worcestershire Earth Heritage Trust

See also

• Worcestershire sauce

External links

• Worcestershire at Curlie
• Worcester City
• Worcestershire County Council main site
• History of the Worcestershire Regiment
• Worcestershire County Cricket Club
• Geology of the Malvern Hills
• Herefordshire & Worcestershire Earth Heritage Trust Source of information on the geology and landscape of the county

References

• "Spa Towns: Malvern" October 27, retrieved June 24, 2006