City in Worcestershire, England
Worcester
Worcester gave the world a sauce nobody can pronounce, a king who hid in a tree, and the last battle of the English Civil War, all within a few miles of the Severn.
Key information
- County
- Worcestershire
- Nation
- England
- Population
- about 103,000 (2021 Census)
- Known for
- Worcestershire sauce, Royal Worcester porcelain, the cathedral, the 1651 battle, Elgar
- What locals are called
- Worcestrians
- Famous people
- Edward Elgar, Charles Hastings, Dr John Wall
About Worcester
The sauce that was supposedly a mistake
Worcester's most famous export is a brown splash on the side of your plate. Lea & Perrins, the chemists John Wheeley Lea and William Henry Perrins, began bottling their sauce in 1837, and it is still made in the city. The tale the company tells is that a local nobleman, Lord Sandys, brought a recipe back from Bengal and had them mix a batch. It tasted dreadful, so they shoved the barrels into the cellar. When they rediscovered them some time later, the mixture had matured into something rather wonderful. Anchovies, tamarind and a long wait are the heart of it. The result is one of Britain's best-known condiments, and arguments over how to say its name have outlasted most of its rivals.
The day Cromwell called a 'crowning mercy'
On 3 September 1651, Worcester saw the last major battle of the English Civil War. Charles II had led a Scottish-backed Royalist army south, and Oliver Cromwell's forces caught up with it at the city. Cromwell later called the result a "crowning mercy". Charles escaped, famously ending up hiding in an oak tree, before fleeing abroad and returning to the throne in 1660. The Royalist headquarters during the battle was the Commandery, a former medieval hospital on the edge of the city. It is now a museum telling the story. The city's loyalty to the Crown earned it a nickname that stuck: the Faithful City. Its motto, Civitas in bello et pace fidelis, means faithful in war and in peace.
A cathedral with a king, a prince and a tide of floodwater
Worcester Cathedral rises above the River Severn and has done since the 11th century. St Wulfstan, the last Anglo-Saxon bishop in England, began the present building in 1084, and its Norman crypt still survives. The round chapter house is a gem of the early 12th century. King John is buried in the choir. He died in 1216, and his tomb is one of the oldest royal effigies in England. Nearby is the chantry of Prince Arthur, the elder brother of Henry VIII, who died in 1502 and whose early death changed the course of English history. The cathedral also gives the city its most photographed cricket ground. Worcestershire play at New Road beside the river, with the cathedral looming over the boundary. The Severn regularly floods the ground, and the sight of swans on the outfield has become a Worcester image in its own right.
Fine china and a famous composer
In 1751, Dr John Wall helped found the porcelain works that became Royal Worcester. For well over two centuries its hand-painted pieces graced royal tables and mantelpieces around the world. The factory's production in the city ended in 2009, but the Museum of Royal Worcester keeps the collection. The city's other great export was music. Edward Elgar was born in 1857 at Broadheath, just outside, and his father ran a music shop in Worcester's High Street. Elgar later wrote the Enigma Variations and Pomp and Circumstance. A statue of him now looks towards the cathedral. Worcester also hosts the Three Choirs Festival in rotation with Gloucester and Hereford. It is among the oldest music festivals in the world, and Elgar was a regular feature.
Doctors, pears and a medical first
In 1832, Dr Charles Hastings gathered a group of doctors in Worcester and founded the Provincial Medical and Surgical Association. It later became the British Medical Association, so the nation's doctors' union started here. The city's coat of arms features black pears, a nod to the Worcester Black Pear, a variety grown in the area for centuries. It is a reminder that this is orchard country as well as sauce country. The Guildhall on the High Street is a handsome Queen Anne building from 1721, and the nearby Cornmarket, Friar Street and Greyfriars' Tudor houses show how much of the old city survived.
Boats, racing and rugby
The Severn is Britain's longest river, and Worcester has always been tied to it. The Worcester and Birmingham Canal drops into the river at Diglis Basin, where narrowboats and the city's heritage once met. Today, rowing clubs and pleasure boats share the water. Worcester Racecourse sits right on the riverbank, and it floods often enough that fixtures have had to be abandoned. Rugby union has long been popular in the city, and Worcester Warriors played at Sixways. Meanwhile, the University of Worcester has added a student population that has changed the feel of the city centre.