Worcestershire

The area which became Worcestershire formed the heartland of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the Hwicce. It was absorbed by the Kingdom of Mercia during the 7th century and became part of the unified Kingdom of England in 927. Worcestershire was established as an administrative and defensive unit in the early tenth century.[7] Its purpose was to take into account and defend the estates within the northern area of the historic See of Worcester, held by the Episcopus Hwicciorum and Worcester Priory, along with the Abbots of Pershore, Westminster and Evesham.[8] The shires and its sub-divisions known as hundreds, formed a framework for administering the resources of each burhs' outlying estates.[9] It was a separate ealdormanship briefly in the 10th century before forming part of the Earldom of Mercia in the 11th century. The last known Anglo-Saxon Sheriff of Worcestershire was Cyneweard of Laughern.

During the Middle Ages, much of the county's economy was based on the wool trade. Many areas of its dense forests, such as Feckenham Forest, Horewell Forest and Malvern Chase, were royal hunting grounds subject to forest law.

After the Norman conquest of England; the Domesday Book noted in 1086 that in seven of the twelve hundreds covering Worcestershire, the Crown had no authority. The Crown's authority was replaced by the Bishop of Worcester and the Abbots at Pershore, Westminster and Evesham.[10]

William the Conqueror gave to his allies and friends manors and parishes captured from the Anglo-Saxons.[11][12][13] Despite the Norman Conquest, the rest of the county was still held by the Abbeys of Pershore and Evesham, the Bishop of Worcester and Priory.

The first Norman Sheriff Urse d'Abetot, built the castle of Worcester and seized much church land, some of which became part of the Crown's hundreds in Worcestershire.[14] and was in dispute with the Bishop of Worcester over the rights of the sheriff.[15]

Bishop Wulfstan was the last Anglo-Saxon bishop in England, and remained in post until his death in 1095. Under his tenure Worcester Cathedral began major reconstruction, and he opposed political interventions against William and the Normans. He was later made a saint.

During Henry III's disputes and wars with his Barons, in 1263 Worcester's Jewish residents were attacked by a baronial force led by Robert Earl Ferrers and Henry de Montfort. Most were killed.[16] The massacre in Worcester was part of a wider campaign by the De Montforts and their allies in the run-up to the Second Barons' War, aimed at undermining Henry III. Worcestershire was the site of the Battle of Evesham in which Simon de Montfort was killed on 4 August 1265.[note 1] A few years later, in 1275, the Jews that were still living in Worcester were forced to move to Hereford,[16] as they were expelled from all towns under the jurisdiction of the queen mother.[17]

Hand-drawn map of Worcestershire by Christopher Saxton from 1577.

The Battle of Powick Bridge on the River Teme on 23 September 1642 began the English Civil War.

In 1642, the Battle of Powick Bridge was the first major skirmish of the English Civil War. The county suffered from being on the Royalist front line, as it was subject to heavy taxation and the pressing of men into the Royalist army, which also reduced its productive capacity. The northern part of the county, which was already a centre of iron production, was important for military supplies. Parliamentarian raids and Royalist requisitioning both placed a great strain on the county.

There were tensions from the participation of prominent Catholic recusants in the military and civilian organisation of the county. Combined with the opposition to requisitioning from both sides, bands of Clubmen formed to keep the war away from their localities.

The Battle of Worcester in 1651 effectively ended the third civil war. There was little enthusiasm or local participation in the mostly Scottish Royalist army, whose defeat was widely welcomed. Nevertheless, Parliamentarian forces ransacked the city of Worcester, causing heavy damage, looting and destruction of property. Around 10,000 mostly Scottish prisoners were sent into forced labour in the New World or fen drainage schemes. The small bands of Scots that fled into Worcestershire's countryside were attacked by local forces and killed.

The flag of the historic county of Worcestershire

In the 19th 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, situated on large deposits of salt, was a centre of salt production from Roman times, with 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".[18]

Though the total number of people in every ethnic group increased between 2001 and 2011, the White British share of Worcestershire's population decreased from 95.5% to 92.4%, as did the share of White ethnic groups as whole, which went from 97.5% to 95.7%. Worcestershire is still much more ethnically homogeneous than the national average. In 2011, 79.8% of the population of England identified as White British; much lower than Worcestershire's figure of 92.4%.[2]

Halesowen 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.

Worcestershire contained numerous exclaves, which were areas of land cut off from the main geographical area of Worcestershire and completely surrounded by the nearby counties of Warwickshire, Staffordshire, Gloucestershire, Herefordshire and Oxfordshire. The most notable islands were Dudley,[19] Evenlode,[20] Blockley[21] and the area around Shipston-on-Stour.[22] Herefordshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire and Shropshire had their own exclaves within the main part of Worcestershire at Rochford,[23] Broome,[24] Clent,[25] Tardebigge (Tutnall and Cobley)[26] and Halesowen respectively. Tardebigge's history outside the county is even more colourful, changing hands from Worcestershire to Staffordshire and Warwickshire, before returning to Worcestershire at differing times over the centuries.[27] The southern boundary of the county was also complex, with parish boundaries penetrating deep into Gloucestershire and vice versa.

Worcestershire County Council came into existence following the Local Government Act 1888 and covered the historic traditional county,[28] except for two designated county boroughs at Dudley and Worcester.[29]

Birmingham's continuous expansion has been a major cause of Worcestershire's fluid boundary changes and associated housing issues.[30] The district of Balsall Heath, which had originally constituted the most northerly part of the parish of King's Norton, was the first area of the county to be added to the County Borough of Birmingham, on 1 October 1891. This was followed by Quinton Urban District, which was ceded to Birmingham in November 1909, and then by the Rural District of Yardley and the greater part of the Urban District of King's Norton and Northfield, which were absorbed into Birmingham under the Greater Birmingham Scheme on 9 November 1911.[31] Thus these areas were transferred from Worcestershire to Warwickshire. Dudley's historical status within the Diocese of Worcester and through its aristocratic links ensured that the exclave was governed on a largely autonomous basis.[11][32] Worcester was designated a county corporate, and thus became separate from the rest of Worcestershire.[33]

In 1926, Dudley County Borough council purchased several square miles of land to the north of the town centre, mostly in Sedgley (Staffordshire), including Dudley Castle. This was to build the Priory Estate, a large new council estate on which construction began in 1929. The boundaries of Worcestershire were altered to include all of the proposed new housing estate in Dudley.[34]

Broadway Tower, one of several Worcestershire follies

During the Local Government reorganisation of April 1966, Dudley expanded beyond its historical boundaries and took in the bulk of Sedgley,[35] Brierley Hill and the south of Coseley as well as a small section of Amblecote.[36] The Local Government Act redefined its status and the County Borough of Dudley became part of Staffordshire, the county of which all of these areas had been part. At the same time, Worcestershire gained a new county borough named Warley, which was an amalgamation of Oldbury Urban District, Rowley Regis Urban District, the County Borough of Smethwick and parts of Dudley and Tipton.[37] During this reorganisation, the area of the administrative county grew only where Stourbridge took in the majority of Amblecote Urban District[38] 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.[39] Frankley parish was later split into two: New Frankley and the area around Bartley Reservoir transferred from Bromsgrove District to Birmingham in April 1995; but the small village of Frankley remained in Worcestershire and became a new civil parish under the same name.

From 1974, the central and southern parts of the county were amalgamated with Herefordshire and with Worcester County Borough to form a single non-metropolitan county of Hereford and Worcester.[40] The County Boroughs of Dudley and Warley, along with Stourbridge and Halesowen, were incorporated into the new West Midlands Metropolitan county.[41] The West Midlands County Council existed for only a few years before abolition in April 1986, although the West Midlands still exists as a ceremonial county.[42]

The coat of arms of Worcestershire County Council

In the 1990s UK local government reform, the county of Hereford & Worcester was abolished, and the non-metropolitan county or shire county of Worcestershire regained its historic border with Herefordshire.[43] The recreated County of Worcestershire came into existence on 1 April 1998 as an administrative and ceremonial county, although this excluded the Black Country towns of Dudley, Halesowen, Oldbury and Stourbridge (which remained part of the West Midlands).[44] Worcestershire County Council was reformed, although some services are shared with the newly formed Herefordshire Council,[45] including waste management and the youth offending service.

The former Hereford and Worcester districts of Redditch, Worcester, Bromsgrove, Wychavon and Wyre Forest were retained with little or no change. However the Leominster and Malvern Hills districts straddled 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. The remaining parts of the former Hereford and Worcester district of Leominster, returned to Herefordshire.

These settlements were historically part of the county as noted above, that now fall under the counties of Warwickshire and West Midlands.

Worcestershire contains a broad expanse of green belt area, widening to over 16 kilometres (9.9 mi) in places. It is part of the larger belt surrounding the West Midlands county, and first drawn up from the 1950s. All of the county's districts other than Malvern Hills contain some portion of the belt.

The county's television news is covered by BBC West Midlands and ITV Central from its studios in Birmingham. Television signals are received from either the Ridge Hill or Sutton Coldfield TV transmitters. [61][62]

BBC Hereford & Worcester and Free Radio (formerly Wyvern) broadcast to both Herefordshire and Worcestershire on analogue and digital radio platforms,[63] whilst Greatest Hits Radio Herefordshire and Worcestershire (formerly known as Signal 107) broadcasts to Kidderminster, Stourport-on-Severn, Bewdley and Droitwich.[64] A community radio station - Radio Wyvern, is licensed to serve the Worcester area.[65] Meanwhile, Capital Mid-Counties (formerly known as Touch FM), Sunshine Radio and Like Radio, broadcast to the county on VHF/FM and/or DAB Digital Radio.[66] Historically; West Midlands-based radio stations such as BBC Radio WM, BRMB and Beacon Radio have considered parts of Worcestershire as their broadcast areas.[67] However Wyvern, Beacon, BRMB along with Mercia are now known collectively as 'Free Radio' and under the same Bauer Radio ownership.[68] Other regional stations, such as Heart West Midlands and Smooth West Midlands also cover the county.

In 2007 the Office of Communications (Ofcom) awarded a DAB Digital Radio multiplex licence for Herefordshire & Worcestershire to MuxCo Ltd.[69] MuxCo proposed new stations and a digital radio platform for Wyvern FM, Sunshine Radio and BBC Hereford & Worcester, who were initially licensed to broadcast on VHF/FM and/or AM. MuxCo eventually launched in December 2013 following changes in legislation through the Digital Economy Act 2010,[70] and utilises existing transmitter locations at Great Malvern, Ridge Hill and Bromsgrove.[71] The multiplex continues to uses the same transmission sites, albeit with an additional transmitter at Kidderminster[72] and broadcasts a combination of local and national services.[73] In 2008, MXR, who owned and operated the West Midlands regional DAB multiplex licence, improved coverage of DAB Digital Radio across other parts of the county to include Worcester and Malvern. This regional multiplex closed on 27 August 2013, partially replaced by CE Digital's Birmingham DAB Multiplex, who opened new transmitters at Lickey Hills and Headless Cross.[74] Ofcom has earmarked two potential 'Small Scale DAB' digital radio multiplexes within Worcestershire[75] - one at Worcester, and the other within Bromsgrove, Kidderminster and Redditch.[76] The legal framework for the potential new multiplexes come under 'The Small-Scale Radio Multiplex and Community Digital Radio Order 2019'.[77]

Lea & Perrins Worcestershire sauce - the invention of two Worcester chemists

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 are still worked on a commercial scale.[82] 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.

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.