Worcester city walls
Encyclopedia
Worcester's city walls are a sequence of defensive structures built around the city of Worcester
in England between the 1st and 17th centuries. The first walls to be built around Worcester were constructed by the Romans. These early walls lasted beyond the fall of the Empire
, and the defences encouraged several early Christian foundations to establish themselves in Worcester during the troubled 6th and 7th centuries. The Anglo-Saxon
s expanded Worcester in the 890s, forming a new walled, planned city, called a burh
. The burh utilised the southern stretches of the old Roman walls, but pushed further north to enclose a much larger area. The Anglo-Saxon city walls were maintained by a share of taxes on a local market and streets, in an agreement reinforced by a royal charter.
After the Norman conquest of England
in the 11th century a motte and bailey castle
was constructed on the south side of the city, but the Norman rulers continued to use the older burh walls, despite the city having expanded beyond these defences in the north and south-east. During the years of the Anarchy
in the 1140s, Worcester was successfully attacked several times; after the war a new city wall was built to improve the city's defences. The new walls, completed by the early 13th century, were constructed of stone and had three main gates. They were maintained in good condition into the 17th century.
During the English Civil War
in the 1640s the old medieval walls were reinforced with modern earthwork bastion
s and an outlying fort, called a sconce
. Worcester changed hands several times during the conflict, and after the war ended the newer fortifications were dismantled. During the 18th century the older medieval stone walls and gatehouses were sold and mostly destroyed: by the 20th century, few parts survived. Post-war archaeology
in the 1950s and 1960s and construction work in the 1970s revealed previously hidden stretches of the wall, and in the 21st century plans have been drawn up to improve the conservation and maintenance of this historic monument.
were built after the Roman conquest of Britain
in AD 43. Although a settlement existed on the site during the Iron Age
, there is no evidence that walls were ever built around it. The Roman town was probably preceded by the construction a Roman fort, both located on the south side of the modern city and protected by the River Severn
to the west. There are relatively few historical details or archaeological evidence from this period, but archaeological investigations of the Roman town walls suggest that it had wooden rampart
s and was protected by a 89-foot (27 m) wide ditch. As with other Roman towns, the walls would have enclosed a rectangular town, protecting a settlement with a grid-like network of streets.
The decline of the Roman Empire
brought an end to Roman rule in Britain by the start of the 5th century. The town within the old Roman walls at Worcester continued to be occupied however, remaining a prominent military feature. New Christian
religious foundations were established at Worcester during this period, attracted there in large part by the security the Roman defences offered during a troubled period. In the 7th century, Worcester Cathedral
was built, once again within the old Roman walls.
period, Worcester first became the capital of the Hwicce
kingdom, and later formed part of the wider kingdom of Mercia
. Worcester and its defences were reorganised by Ealdorman Æthelred and Æthelflæd and bishop Werferth
in the 890s. This involved creating a burh
, a fortified Anglo-Saxon town; in Worcester this took the form of a planned settlement, extending out from the old Roman defences, with the Shambles forming a street running along the wall on the east. Archaeological evidence suggests that the burh had 4,650 feet (1,417 m) of walls in total; documentary evidence from the Burghal Hidage
document, written shortly after the creation of the walls, suggests they were 4,960 feet (1,512 m) long, a discrepancy that may be accounted for by changes in the course of the river since the 10th century. The walls incorporated the old Roman fortifications on the south and south-east side of the city and appear to have included a defensive ditch, with a revetment
supporting a wooden palisade
.
The creation of the burh walls is recorded in a charter witnessed by King Alfred, which lays out the responsibilities of the various churchmen and nobles involved, and notes that the upkeep of the walls would be paid for out of a share of taxes on a new market and on the new streets. The local lords took responsibility for building the burh wall, which unusually for the period was not built on royal lands. During the 10th century, the documents on the burh suggest that the aristocratic thegn
s living around Worcester also owned and maintained buildings within the walls; Creighton and Higham suggest that these may have been linked to their responsibilities for defending the settlement.
During the 10th and 11th centuries Worcester spread north beyond the original burh walls, and south-east to form Sidbury. In 1041 Worcester was attacked by the royal army of Harthacnut over a tax-dispute that had led to the death of two of the king's men; despite the defensive walls, the city was successfully taken and burnt.
and Norman forces advanced west into Worcestershire. To reinforce their occupation, the Normans built a motte and bailey castle
on the south side of the city, taking advantage of the shape of the existing burh walls. The remaining burh walls continued to be used into the Norman period, but the city had already spread beyond them, reducing their effectiveness.
In the late 1130s a period of civil war broke out in England, called the Anarchy
, in which the rival factions of King Stephen
and the Empress Matilda
contested the kingdom – Worcestershire proved to be a key battleground in the war. The first attack on Worcester itself occurred in late 1139 when an Angevin army from Gloucestershire assaulted the city. After an attempt to take the castle on the south side of the city, the Gloucester forces entered from the north, looting and burning. Worcester became a base for Stephen's forces for a period, before joining the Empress's faction. In response, Stephen first stormed and burnt the city in 1148, and then attacked it again in 1150, shortly before the end of the conflict. From the accounts of these sieges, it appears that Worcester still lacked substantial walls during this period.
During the second half of the 12th century a new city wall began to be built around Worcester, with work probably continuing until early the next century. Enclosing about 85 acres (34.4 hectares), its design tracked the flow of natural streams to the north and east, and made use of the castle in the south as part of the defences. The walls were constructed of sandstone
, and appear to have been surrounded by a flat bottomed, water-filled ditch, more than 30 feet (9 m) wide. The new walls cut across existing parts of the city and would have required the demolition of numerous existing buildings that lay in their way; the new defences also cut off the outlying districts of Sidbury, Lowesmoore, Foregate Street and The Tything from the inside of the walled city. Three main gates were built in the walls – North Gate, St Martin's Gate and Sidbury Gate – protected by gatehouses of paired circular towers and arrowslits for use by crossbow
men. Smaller gates were built between them, such as Friar's Gate.
Civil war broke out again in England in 1215 between forces loyal to King John
and rebel barons, supported in due course by Prince Louis
of France, in what gas become known as the First Barons' War
. Worcester sided with the rebels, and in July 1216 the city was attacked by forces under the command of Ranulf, the Earl of Chester
. Ranulf attempted to storm the castle, rather than the north side of the city, and after he eventually gained access a £100 fine was imposed on the city with the threat that their walls would be destroyed if the money was not paid. Although Worcester's walls clearly played a military role during this period, they would also have been symbolically important to the city and have played a part in controlling civic access and enforcing the city's laws.
One method of paying for the construction and maintenance of city walls was a tax called murage
, usually levied by permission of the king on particular goods being imported into a city. In Worcester, murage was raised to support work on the walls during three main phases, 1224 to 1239, 1252 to 1310 and 1364 to 1411. Worcester was attacked again during the Second Barons' War
in the 1260s, and the records suggest that some of the murage payments were used to repair damage caused by that attack. In the late 14th century a watergate was built in the western walls of the city, close to a slipway
for launching boats. Worcester's last murage grant occurred in 1439, although in 1459 Henry VI
allowed the city to use stones from the castle to repair the walls to defend the city in anticipation of a Yorkist attack during the Wars of the Roses
. As in many other English towns and cities, as the medieval period progressed, housing began to encroach on the city walls in Worcester.
's famous 1610 map of the city. In 1642 the English Civil War
broke out between followers of King Charles I
and Parliament
. Worcester began the war under Royalist control, before rapidly being taken by Parliament and then changing hands again in 1643 following the battle of Edgehill
. Worcester remained Royalist for the rest of the war until it was once again besieged and finally surrendered in 1646.
The war was the first prolonged conflict in Britain to involve the use of artillery and gunpowder. Sieges became a prominent part of the war with over 300 occurring during the period. Worcester was once again a strategically important region in the war, and walled towns and cities like Worcester that could be defended against passing armies were particularly significant from a military perspective. By the 1640s the design of military fortifications had progressed significantly on the continent, owing largely to the Thirty Years War; while older medieval stone walls still had military utility, they typically needed reinforcement with more modern earthworks to be truly effective. These new ideas were applied to city defences in England. In some cases a circuit of forts was built around a city; in other cases, an entirely new city wall comprising modern bastion
s would be built. At Worcester, the unimproved walls were considered to be indefensible at the start of the war in 1642, and the chosen solution was to directly reinforce the existing medieval wall with new earthworks.
To form these new defences, the buildings outside the old city walls were cleared and six large bastions were attached to them along the north and east sides of the city, while a sconce
, Fort Royal Hill
was built outside Sidbury Gate in the south, linked to the walls by a walkway. The ditch protecting the new earthworks was relatively shallow at about eight feet (2.4 m) deep, but when combined with the high rampart
s of the bastions, which were probably protected by sharpened stakes and a banquette
firing platform, the bastions would have been well defended. The reinforced walls were manned in 1642 by soldiers employed by the Robert Devereux
, the Earl of Essex
. Prince Maurice subsequently conscripted the adult men and women of Worcester to work on the walls, threatening the death penalty if they did not attend. During the 1643 and 1646 sieges the reinforced defences were able to withstand the artillery bombardments – the surrender in 1646 was mainly the result of a shortage of food and the collapse of the wider Royalist position across the south-west of England.
Following further fighting
between 1648 and 1649, the Third English Civil War
broke out in 1651. Royalist forces under the command of Charles II
advanced as far as Worcester, where the army paused to reinforce the walls further and await reinforcements in relative safety. The Parliamentary forces under Oliver Cromwell
attacked in early September; the ensuing battle of Worcester
saw the Royalist forces pushed steadily back into the city. Fort Royal was successfully stormed and its guns turned on the city itself. Cromwell's men began forcing their their way into the city from west, south and east and by the evening the city had fallen. The collapse marked the end of the Third Civil War. In the aftermath the bastions and other fortifications were mostly destroyed by Parliament, although the medieval walls and gates were spared.
By the 18th century local residents had built summer house
s on top of the walls, which were still largely intact. During the next hundred years city and town walls across England began to be demolished to make way for new developments, and Worcester proved no exception. By the end of the century the walls and gates were being sold off and destroyed; Friar's Gate was probably the last to be demolished, early in the 19th century. Only a few tracts of wall survived, often concealed behind other buildings and new constructions.
are still visible overlooking the city.
As a result of their mixed history, the remains of the walls are owned by various different organisations and subject to different legal protection. Some parts of the walls are protected as Grade II listed buildings and scheduled monuments, although most of the walls lack this legal recognition. The multiple ownership of the different parts of the city walls contributed to what English Heritage
considered an "uncoordinated" approach to their conservation. In response, a conservation plan has been created by Worcester City Council, proposing that the walls, despite their mixed ownership, should be managed as a single historic monument, and advising that some sections be repaired urgently; as of 2010 this plan was awaiting approval by English Heritage.
Worcester
The City of Worcester, commonly known as Worcester, , is a city and county town of Worcestershire in the West Midlands of England. Worcester is situated some southwest of Birmingham and north of Gloucester, and has an approximate population of 94,000 people. The River Severn runs through the...
in England between the 1st and 17th centuries. The first walls to be built around Worcester were constructed by the Romans. These early walls lasted beyond the fall of the Empire
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
, and the defences encouraged several early Christian foundations to establish themselves in Worcester during the troubled 6th and 7th centuries. The Anglo-Saxon
Anglo-Saxon
Anglo-Saxon may refer to:* Anglo-Saxons, a group that invaded Britain** Old English, their language** Anglo-Saxon England, their history, one of various ships* White Anglo-Saxon Protestant, an ethnicity* Anglo-Saxon economy, modern macroeconomic term...
s expanded Worcester in the 890s, forming a new walled, planned city, called a burh
Burh
A Burh is an Old English name for a fortified town or other defended site, sometimes centred upon a hill fort though always intended as a place of permanent settlement, its origin was in military defence; "it represented only a stage, though a vitally important one, in the evolution of the...
. The burh utilised the southern stretches of the old Roman walls, but pushed further north to enclose a much larger area. The Anglo-Saxon city walls were maintained by a share of taxes on a local market and streets, in an agreement reinforced by a royal charter.
After the Norman conquest of England
Norman conquest of England
The Norman conquest of England began on 28 September 1066 with the invasion of England by William, Duke of Normandy. William became known as William the Conqueror after his victory at the Battle of Hastings on 14 October 1066, defeating King Harold II of England...
in the 11th century a motte and bailey castle
Worcester Castle
Worcester Castle was a Norman fortification built between 1068 and 1069 in Worcester, England by Urse d'Abetot on behalf of William the Conqueror. The castle had a motte-and-bailey design and was located on the south side of the old Anglo-Saxon city, cutting into the grounds of Worcester Cathedral...
was constructed on the south side of the city, but the Norman rulers continued to use the older burh walls, despite the city having expanded beyond these defences in the north and south-east. During the years of the Anarchy
The Anarchy
The Anarchy or The Nineteen-Year Winter was a period of English history during the reign of King Stephen, which was characterised by civil war and unsettled government...
in the 1140s, Worcester was successfully attacked several times; after the war a new city wall was built to improve the city's defences. The new walls, completed by the early 13th century, were constructed of stone and had three main gates. They were maintained in good condition into the 17th century.
During the English Civil War
English Civil War
The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...
in the 1640s the old medieval walls were reinforced with modern earthwork bastion
Bastion
A bastion, or a bulwark, is a structure projecting outward from the main enclosure of a fortification, situated in both corners of a straight wall , facilitating active defence against assaulting troops...
s and an outlying fort, called a sconce
Sconce
Sconce may refer to any of the following:* Sconce , a military fortification* Sconce * Sconcing, imposing a penalty in the form of drink* SCoNCe, , University of California, Irvine...
. Worcester changed hands several times during the conflict, and after the war ended the newer fortifications were dismantled. During the 18th century the older medieval stone walls and gatehouses were sold and mostly destroyed: by the 20th century, few parts survived. Post-war archaeology
Archaeology
Archaeology, or archeology , is the study of human society, primarily through the recovery and analysis of the material culture and environmental data that they have left behind, which includes artifacts, architecture, biofacts and cultural landscapes...
in the 1950s and 1960s and construction work in the 1970s revealed previously hidden stretches of the wall, and in the 21st century plans have been drawn up to improve the conservation and maintenance of this historic monument.
1st–7th centuries
The first defensive walls at WorcesterWorcester
The City of Worcester, commonly known as Worcester, , is a city and county town of Worcestershire in the West Midlands of England. Worcester is situated some southwest of Birmingham and north of Gloucester, and has an approximate population of 94,000 people. The River Severn runs through the...
were built after the Roman conquest of Britain
Roman conquest of Britain
The Roman conquest of Britain was a gradual process, beginning effectively in AD 43 under Emperor Claudius, whose general Aulus Plautius served as first governor of Britannia. Great Britain had already frequently been the target of invasions, planned and actual, by forces of the Roman Republic and...
in AD 43. Although a settlement existed on the site during the Iron Age
British Iron Age
The British Iron Age is a conventional name used in the archaeology of Great Britain, referring to the prehistoric and protohistoric phases of the Iron-Age culture of the main island and the smaller islands, typically excluding prehistoric Ireland, and which had an independent Iron Age culture of...
, there is no evidence that walls were ever built around it. The Roman town was probably preceded by the construction a Roman fort, both located on the south side of the modern city and protected by the River Severn
River Severn
The River Severn is the longest river in Great Britain, at about , but the second longest on the British Isles, behind the River Shannon. It rises at an altitude of on Plynlimon, Ceredigion near Llanidloes, Powys, in the Cambrian Mountains of mid Wales...
to the west. There are relatively few historical details or archaeological evidence from this period, but archaeological investigations of the Roman town walls suggest that it had wooden rampart
Defensive wall
A defensive wall is a fortification used to protect a city or settlement from potential aggressors. In ancient to modern times, they were used to enclose settlements...
s and was protected by a 89-foot (27 m) wide ditch. As with other Roman towns, the walls would have enclosed a rectangular town, protecting a settlement with a grid-like network of streets.
The decline of the Roman Empire
Decline of the Roman Empire
The decline of the Roman Empire refers to the gradual societal collapse of the Western Roman Empire. Many theories of causality prevail, but most concern the disintegration of political, economic, military, and other social institutions, in tandem with foreign invasions and usurpers from within the...
brought an end to Roman rule in Britain by the start of the 5th century. The town within the old Roman walls at Worcester continued to be occupied however, remaining a prominent military feature. New Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
religious foundations were established at Worcester during this period, attracted there in large part by the security the Roman defences offered during a troubled period. In the 7th century, Worcester Cathedral
Worcester Cathedral
Worcester Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in Worcester, England; situated on a bank overlooking the River Severn. It is the seat of the Anglican Bishop of Worcester. Its official name is The Cathedral Church of Christ and the Blessed Mary the Virgin of Worcester...
was built, once again within the old Roman walls.
8th–11th centuries
During the Anglo-SaxonAnglo-Saxon
Anglo-Saxon may refer to:* Anglo-Saxons, a group that invaded Britain** Old English, their language** Anglo-Saxon England, their history, one of various ships* White Anglo-Saxon Protestant, an ethnicity* Anglo-Saxon economy, modern macroeconomic term...
period, Worcester first became the capital of the Hwicce
Hwicce
The Hwicce were one of the peoples of Anglo-Saxon England. The exact boundaries of their kingdom are uncertain, though it is likely that they coincided with those of the old Diocese of Worcester, founded in 679–80, the early bishops of which bore the title Episcopus Hwicciorum...
kingdom, and later formed part of the wider kingdom of Mercia
Mercia
Mercia was one of the kingdoms of the Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy. It was centred on the valley of the River Trent and its tributaries in the region now known as the English Midlands...
. Worcester and its defences were reorganised by Ealdorman Æthelred and Æthelflæd and bishop Werferth
Werferth
Werferth was an English bishop of Worcester, from 873 to 915. A contemporary and friend of Alfred the Great, he was a significant translator, from Latin into Old English. His translations include the Dialogues of Gregory, commissioned by Alfred.-References:* accessed on September 6, 2007*...
in the 890s. This involved creating a burh
Burh
A Burh is an Old English name for a fortified town or other defended site, sometimes centred upon a hill fort though always intended as a place of permanent settlement, its origin was in military defence; "it represented only a stage, though a vitally important one, in the evolution of the...
, a fortified Anglo-Saxon town; in Worcester this took the form of a planned settlement, extending out from the old Roman defences, with the Shambles forming a street running along the wall on the east. Archaeological evidence suggests that the burh had 4,650 feet (1,417 m) of walls in total; documentary evidence from the Burghal Hidage
Burghal Hidage
The Burghal Hidage is an Anglo-Saxon document providing a list of the fortified burhs in Wessex and elsewhere in southern England. It offers an unusually detailed picture of the network of burhs that Alfred the Great designed to defend his kingdom from the predations of Viking invaders.-Burhs and...
document, written shortly after the creation of the walls, suggests they were 4,960 feet (1,512 m) long, a discrepancy that may be accounted for by changes in the course of the river since the 10th century. The walls incorporated the old Roman fortifications on the south and south-east side of the city and appear to have included a defensive ditch, with a revetment
Revetment
Revetments, or revêtements , have a variety of meanings in architecture, engineering and art history. In stream restoration, river engineering or coastal management, they are sloping structures placed on banks or cliffs in such a way as to absorb the energy of incoming water...
supporting a wooden palisade
Palisade
A palisade is a steel or wooden fence or wall of variable height, usually used as a defensive structure.- Typical construction :Typical construction consisted of small or mid sized tree trunks aligned vertically, with no spacing in between. The trunks were sharpened or pointed at the top, and were...
.
The creation of the burh walls is recorded in a charter witnessed by King Alfred, which lays out the responsibilities of the various churchmen and nobles involved, and notes that the upkeep of the walls would be paid for out of a share of taxes on a new market and on the new streets. The local lords took responsibility for building the burh wall, which unusually for the period was not built on royal lands. During the 10th century, the documents on the burh suggest that the aristocratic thegn
Thegn
The term thegn , from OE þegn, ðegn "servant, attendant, retainer", is commonly used to describe either an aristocratic retainer of a king or nobleman in Anglo-Saxon England, or as a class term, the majority of the aristocracy below the ranks of ealdormen and high-reeves...
s living around Worcester also owned and maintained buildings within the walls; Creighton and Higham suggest that these may have been linked to their responsibilities for defending the settlement.
During the 10th and 11th centuries Worcester spread north beyond the original burh walls, and south-east to form Sidbury. In 1041 Worcester was attacked by the royal army of Harthacnut over a tax-dispute that had led to the death of two of the king's men; despite the defensive walls, the city was successfully taken and burnt.
11th–16th centuries
In 1066 William the Conqueror defeated the English army at the battle of HastingsBattle of Hastings
The Battle of Hastings occurred on 14 October 1066 during the Norman conquest of England, between the Norman-French army of Duke William II of Normandy and the English army under King Harold II...
and Norman forces advanced west into Worcestershire. To reinforce their occupation, the Normans built a motte and bailey castle
Worcester Castle
Worcester Castle was a Norman fortification built between 1068 and 1069 in Worcester, England by Urse d'Abetot on behalf of William the Conqueror. The castle had a motte-and-bailey design and was located on the south side of the old Anglo-Saxon city, cutting into the grounds of Worcester Cathedral...
on the south side of the city, taking advantage of the shape of the existing burh walls. The remaining burh walls continued to be used into the Norman period, but the city had already spread beyond them, reducing their effectiveness.
In the late 1130s a period of civil war broke out in England, called the Anarchy
The Anarchy
The Anarchy or The Nineteen-Year Winter was a period of English history during the reign of King Stephen, which was characterised by civil war and unsettled government...
, in which the rival factions of King Stephen
Stephen of England
Stephen , often referred to as Stephen of Blois , was a grandson of William the Conqueror. He was King of England from 1135 to his death, and also the Count of Boulogne by right of his wife. Stephen's reign was marked by the Anarchy, a civil war with his cousin and rival, the Empress Matilda...
and the Empress Matilda
Empress Matilda
Empress Matilda , also known as Matilda of England or Maude, was the daughter and heir of King Henry I of England. Matilda and her younger brother, William Adelin, were the only legitimate children of King Henry to survive to adulthood...
contested the kingdom – Worcestershire proved to be a key battleground in the war. The first attack on Worcester itself occurred in late 1139 when an Angevin army from Gloucestershire assaulted the city. After an attempt to take the castle on the south side of the city, the Gloucester forces entered from the north, looting and burning. Worcester became a base for Stephen's forces for a period, before joining the Empress's faction. In response, Stephen first stormed and burnt the city in 1148, and then attacked it again in 1150, shortly before the end of the conflict. From the accounts of these sieges, it appears that Worcester still lacked substantial walls during this period.
During the second half of the 12th century a new city wall began to be built around Worcester, with work probably continuing until early the next century. Enclosing about 85 acres (34.4 hectares), its design tracked the flow of natural streams to the north and east, and made use of the castle in the south as part of the defences. The walls were constructed of sandstone
Sandstone
Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...
, and appear to have been surrounded by a flat bottomed, water-filled ditch, more than 30 feet (9 m) wide. The new walls cut across existing parts of the city and would have required the demolition of numerous existing buildings that lay in their way; the new defences also cut off the outlying districts of Sidbury, Lowesmoore, Foregate Street and The Tything from the inside of the walled city. Three main gates were built in the walls – North Gate, St Martin's Gate and Sidbury Gate – protected by gatehouses of paired circular towers and arrowslits for use by crossbow
Crossbow
A crossbow is a weapon consisting of a bow mounted on a stock that shoots projectiles, often called bolts or quarrels. The medieval crossbow was called by many names, most of which derived from the word ballista, a torsion engine resembling a crossbow in appearance.Historically, crossbows played a...
men. Smaller gates were built between them, such as Friar's Gate.
Civil war broke out again in England in 1215 between forces loyal to King John
John of England
John , also known as John Lackland , was King of England from 6 April 1199 until his death...
and rebel barons, supported in due course by Prince Louis
Louis VIII of France
Louis VIII the Lion reigned as King of France from 1223 to 1226. He was a member of the House of Capet. Louis VIII was born in Paris, France, the son of Philip II Augustus and Isabelle of Hainaut. He was also Count of Artois, inheriting the county from his mother, from 1190–1226...
of France, in what gas become known as the First Barons' War
First Barons' War
The First Barons' War was a civil war in the Kingdom of England, between a group of rebellious barons—led by Robert Fitzwalter and supported by a French army under the future Louis VIII of France—and King John of England...
. Worcester sided with the rebels, and in July 1216 the city was attacked by forces under the command of Ranulf, the Earl of Chester
Earl of Chester
The Earldom of Chester was one of the most powerful earldoms in medieval England. Since 1301 the title has generally been granted to heirs-apparent to the English throne, and from the late 14th century it has been given only in conjunction with that of Prince of Wales.- Honour of Chester :The...
. Ranulf attempted to storm the castle, rather than the north side of the city, and after he eventually gained access a £100 fine was imposed on the city with the threat that their walls would be destroyed if the money was not paid. Although Worcester's walls clearly played a military role during this period, they would also have been symbolically important to the city and have played a part in controlling civic access and enforcing the city's laws.
One method of paying for the construction and maintenance of city walls was a tax called murage
Murage
Murage was a medieval toll for the building or repair of town walls in England and Wales.This was granted by the king by letters patent for a limited term, but the walls were frequently not completed within the term, so that the grant was periodically renewed....
, usually levied by permission of the king on particular goods being imported into a city. In Worcester, murage was raised to support work on the walls during three main phases, 1224 to 1239, 1252 to 1310 and 1364 to 1411. Worcester was attacked again during the Second Barons' War
Second Barons' War
The Second Barons' War was a civil war in England between the forces of a number of barons led by Simon de Montfort, against the Royalist forces led by Prince Edward , in the name of Henry III.-Causes:...
in the 1260s, and the records suggest that some of the murage payments were used to repair damage caused by that attack. In the late 14th century a watergate was built in the western walls of the city, close to a slipway
Slipway
A slipway, boat slip or just a slip, is a ramp on the shore by which ships or boats can be moved to and from the water. They are used for building and repairing ships and boats. They are also used for launching and retrieving small boats on trailers and flying boats on their undercarriage. The...
for launching boats. Worcester's last murage grant occurred in 1439, although in 1459 Henry VI
Henry VI of England
Henry VI was King of England from 1422 to 1461 and again from 1470 to 1471, and disputed King of France from 1422 to 1453. Until 1437, his realm was governed by regents. Contemporaneous accounts described him as peaceful and pious, not suited for the violent dynastic civil wars, known as the Wars...
allowed the city to use stones from the castle to repair the walls to defend the city in anticipation of a Yorkist attack during the Wars of the Roses
Wars of the Roses
The Wars of the Roses were a series of dynastic civil wars for the throne of England fought between supporters of two rival branches of the royal House of Plantagenet: the houses of Lancaster and York...
. As in many other English towns and cities, as the medieval period progressed, housing began to encroach on the city walls in Worcester.
17th–19th centuries
At the start of the 17th century, Worcester's city walls were still intact, and were recorded in John SpeedJohn Speed
John Speed was an English historian and cartographer.-Life:He was born at Farndon, Cheshire, and went into his father's tailoring business where he worked until he was about 50...
's famous 1610 map of the city. In 1642 the English Civil War
English Civil War
The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...
broke out between followers of King Charles I
Charles I
Charles I may refer to:In Kings and Emperors:* Charles I, Holy Roman Emperor or Charlemagne * Charles I of Naples, King of Sicily * Charles I of Hungary, King of Hungary...
and Parliament
Roundhead
"Roundhead" was the nickname given to the supporters of the Parliament during the English Civil War. Also known as Parliamentarians, they fought against King Charles I and his supporters, the Cavaliers , who claimed absolute power and the divine right of kings...
. Worcester began the war under Royalist control, before rapidly being taken by Parliament and then changing hands again in 1643 following the battle of Edgehill
Battle of Edgehill
The Battle of Edgehill was the first pitched battle of the First English Civil War. It was fought near Edge Hill and Kineton in southern Warwickshire on Sunday, 23 October 1642....
. Worcester remained Royalist for the rest of the war until it was once again besieged and finally surrendered in 1646.
The war was the first prolonged conflict in Britain to involve the use of artillery and gunpowder. Sieges became a prominent part of the war with over 300 occurring during the period. Worcester was once again a strategically important region in the war, and walled towns and cities like Worcester that could be defended against passing armies were particularly significant from a military perspective. By the 1640s the design of military fortifications had progressed significantly on the continent, owing largely to the Thirty Years War; while older medieval stone walls still had military utility, they typically needed reinforcement with more modern earthworks to be truly effective. These new ideas were applied to city defences in England. In some cases a circuit of forts was built around a city; in other cases, an entirely new city wall comprising modern bastion
Bastion
A bastion, or a bulwark, is a structure projecting outward from the main enclosure of a fortification, situated in both corners of a straight wall , facilitating active defence against assaulting troops...
s would be built. At Worcester, the unimproved walls were considered to be indefensible at the start of the war in 1642, and the chosen solution was to directly reinforce the existing medieval wall with new earthworks.
To form these new defences, the buildings outside the old city walls were cleared and six large bastions were attached to them along the north and east sides of the city, while a sconce
Sconce (fortification)
A Sconce is a small protective fortification, such as an earthwork often placed on a mound as a defensive work for artillery. It was used primarily in Northern Europe from the late Middle Ages until the 19th century. This type of fortification was common during the English Civil War, and the...
, Fort Royal Hill
Fort Royal Hill
Fort Royal Hill, is in a park in Worcester, England, and the site of the remains of an English Civil War fort.-History:Fort Royal was a Civil War redoubt on a small hill to the southeast of Worcester overlooking the Sidbury Gate...
was built outside Sidbury Gate in the south, linked to the walls by a walkway. The ditch protecting the new earthworks was relatively shallow at about eight feet (2.4 m) deep, but when combined with the high rampart
Defensive wall
A defensive wall is a fortification used to protect a city or settlement from potential aggressors. In ancient to modern times, they were used to enclose settlements...
s of the bastions, which were probably protected by sharpened stakes and a banquette
Banquette
In fortification, a banquette is a small foot path or elevated step along the inside of a rampart or parapet, by which the musketeers get up to view the counterscarp, or to fire on the enemies in the moat...
firing platform, the bastions would have been well defended. The reinforced walls were manned in 1642 by soldiers employed by the Robert Devereux
Robert Devereux, 3rd Earl of Essex
Robert Devereux, 3rd Earl of Essex was an English Parliamentarian and soldier during the first half of the seventeenth century. With the start of the English Civil War in 1642 he became the first Captain-General and Chief Commander of the Parliamentarian army, also known as the Roundheads...
, the Earl of Essex
Earl of Essex
Earl of Essex is a title that has been held by several families and individuals. The earldom was first created in the 12th century for Geoffrey II de Mandeville . Upon the death of the third earl in 1189, the title became dormant or extinct...
. Prince Maurice subsequently conscripted the adult men and women of Worcester to work on the walls, threatening the death penalty if they did not attend. During the 1643 and 1646 sieges the reinforced defences were able to withstand the artillery bombardments – the surrender in 1646 was mainly the result of a shortage of food and the collapse of the wider Royalist position across the south-west of England.
Following further fighting
Second English Civil War
The Second English Civil War was the second of three wars known as the English Civil War which refers to the series of armed conflicts and political machinations which took place between Parliamentarians and Royalists from 1642 until 1652 and also include the First English Civil War and the...
between 1648 and 1649, the Third English Civil War
Third English Civil War
The Third English Civil War was the last of the English Civil Wars , a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists....
broke out in 1651. Royalist forces under the command of Charles II
Charles II of England
Charles II was monarch of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland.Charles II's father, King Charles I, was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War...
advanced as far as Worcester, where the army paused to reinforce the walls further and await reinforcements in relative safety. The Parliamentary forces under Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell was an English military and political leader who overthrew the English monarchy and temporarily turned England into a republican Commonwealth, and served as Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland....
attacked in early September; the ensuing battle of Worcester
Battle of Worcester
The Battle of Worcester took place on 3 September 1651 at Worcester, England and was the final battle of the English Civil War. Oliver Cromwell and the Parliamentarians defeated the Royalist, predominantly Scottish, forces of King Charles II...
saw the Royalist forces pushed steadily back into the city. Fort Royal was successfully stormed and its guns turned on the city itself. Cromwell's men began forcing their their way into the city from west, south and east and by the evening the city had fallen. The collapse marked the end of the Third Civil War. In the aftermath the bastions and other fortifications were mostly destroyed by Parliament, although the medieval walls and gates were spared.
By the 18th century local residents had built summer house
Summer house
A summer house or summerhouse has traditionally referred to a building or shelter used for relaxation in warm weather. This would often take the form of a small, roofed building on the grounds of a larger one, but could also be built in a garden or park, often designed to provide cool shady places...
s on top of the walls, which were still largely intact. During the next hundred years city and town walls across England began to be demolished to make way for new developments, and Worcester proved no exception. By the end of the century the walls and gates were being sold off and destroyed; Friar's Gate was probably the last to be demolished, early in the 19th century. Only a few tracts of wall survived, often concealed behind other buildings and new constructions.
Today
The remains of Worcester's city walls were largely ignored until after the Second World War; limited archaeological excavations first began in 1957. Work continued in the 1960s and picked up pace in the 1970s, when the creation of the City Walls Road in Worcester uncovered more parts of the wall, formerly hidden from view. The Civil War earthworks of Fort Royal HillFort Royal Hill
Fort Royal Hill, is in a park in Worcester, England, and the site of the remains of an English Civil War fort.-History:Fort Royal was a Civil War redoubt on a small hill to the southeast of Worcester overlooking the Sidbury Gate...
are still visible overlooking the city.
As a result of their mixed history, the remains of the walls are owned by various different organisations and subject to different legal protection. Some parts of the walls are protected as Grade II listed buildings and scheduled monuments, although most of the walls lack this legal recognition. The multiple ownership of the different parts of the city walls contributed to what English Heritage
English Heritage
English Heritage . is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport...
considered an "uncoordinated" approach to their conservation. In response, a conservation plan has been created by Worcester City Council, proposing that the walls, despite their mixed ownership, should be managed as a single historic monument, and advising that some sections be repaired urgently; as of 2010 this plan was awaiting approval by English Heritage.