Worcester City Wall (The Gatehouse Record)

Description

Stone wall enclosed city from 1224, though may well have been started earlier and may have been on line of Roman and Saxon defences. Town promised to pay King John £100 to avoid destruction of the fortifications. Murage first granted in 1224 and others frequently in C13 and intermittently until late C15. Was still intact on Speeds map of 1610 and intact with Civil War arrow head bastions and fort on map of 1660. Low section of wall revealed by building of bypass is now only visible remains

The first serious attempt to date the early defences of Worcester by excavation was undertaken by the newly-formed Severn Valley Study Group. A cutting 27 ft. long and 4 ft. wide was made at a right angle to the inside face of the wall in the garden of Clopton's Bakery at no. 31, Sidbury St. At a depth of 4 ft. the wall was revealed as a substantial construction measuring 6 ft. thick and built with faced sandstone blocks. Between 6 ft. and 7 ft. deep against the wall, thick brown clay gave the first indication of what turned out to be a clay ramp sloping away from the wall. The brown clay gave way to distinct green clay similarly formed. While removing the green clay an increase in the thickness of the wall was noticed. The facing of the sandstone blocks below this point became very rough. Below the green day ramp a level layer of black humus about 1 ft. thick extended from one end of the trench to the other. The only interruption was what appeared to be an intrusion, probably cut as a drainage ditch at the end of the clay ramp. A fragment of late 12th- or early 13th-century pottery was found in this black humus layer and sealed by the clay ramp. Similar fragments were also found in the clay bank dating it to the same period. A construction trench for the wall (which is of one-period construction) had been dug through the clay bank and humus layer and on to the natural subsoil, proving that this particular wall cannot be earlier than 13th century. The thicker part at the bottom of the wall, i.e. the foundation, was 4 ft. deep. (Med. Arch. 1960)

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Scheduled Monument Number 1005281, Legacy Scheduled Monument Number wt285a-h
National Heritage List for England Listed Building number(s) 1063805 , and others
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 116137.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) WCM96100 and many others.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- Worcester City Museum and Worcester City Museum
  Wikipedia entry
  Sue Round, 2002, Worcester's Old City Walls
  CastlesFortsBattle.co.uk
Books
- Salter, Mike, 2013, Medieval Walled Towns (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 148-9
  Blanchard, Ian, 2007, Twelth Century: A neglected Epoch in British Economic and Social History (Newlees E-book) p. 178-80 (plan) online copy
  Creighton, O.H. and Higham, R.A., 2005, Medieval Town Walls (Stroud: Tempus) p. 24, 57-8, 60, 173-4, 229, 266
  Salter, Mike, 2000, Castles of Herefordshire and Worcestershire (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 86
  Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge: Boydell Press) p. 280
  Bond, C.J., 1987, 'Anglo-Saxon and Medieval Defences' in Schofield, J. and Leech, R. (eds) Urban Archaeology in Britain (CBA Research Report 61) p. 92-116 online copy
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 2 p. 509
  Barley, M.W., 1975, 'Town Defences in England and Wales after 1066' in Barley (ed) The plans and topography of medieval towns in England and Wales (CBA Research Report 14) p. 57-71 plan p. 67 download/view online
  Turner, H.L., 1971, Town Defences in England and Wales (London) p. 209
  Page, Wm and Willis-Bund, J.W. (eds), 1924, VCH Worcestershire Vol. 4 p. 373, 377-8 online transcription
Periodical Articles
- Creighton, Oliver, 2006, ''Castles of Communities': Medieval Town Defences in England; Wales and Gascony' Château Gaillard Vol. 22 p. 75-86
  Bradley, J and Gaimster, M. (eds), 2004, 'Medieval Britain and Ireland in 2003' Medieval Archaeology Vol. 48 p. 274 online copy
  Baker, Nigel, et al, 1992, 'From Roman to medieval Worcester: development and planning in the Anglo-Saxon city' Antiquity Vol. 66 p. 65–74
  Youngs, S.M. and Clark, J., 1981, 'Medieval Britain in 1980' Medieval Archaeology Vol. 25 p. 208 online copy
  Beardsmore, C., 1980, 'Documentary evidence for the history of Worcester's city defences' Transactions of the Worcestershire Archaeological Society (ser3) Vol. 7 p. 53-64
  Carver, M.O.H., 1980, 'An archaeology for the City of Worcester, 680-1680 AD' Transactions of the Worcestershire Archaeological Society (ser3) Vol. 7 p. 1-11
  Bennett, J., 1980, 'Excavation and survey on the medieval city wall, 1973' Transactions of the Worcestershire Archaeological Society (ser3) Vol. 7 p. 65-85
  Sawle, J., 1980, 'Excavations on the city wall at 61, Sidbury' West Midlands Archaeology Vol. 23 p. 132-5
  Hirst, S., 1980, 'Excavation behind the city wall at Talbot Street, 1975' Transactions of the Worcestershire Archaeological Society (ser3) Vol. 7 p. 87-106
  Wills, J., 1980, 'Excavation and salvage recording at Friars Gate, Union Street, 1976' Transactions of the Worcestershire Archaeological Society (ser3) Vol. 7 p. 107-14
  Whitehead, D., 1979, 'Medieval trans-riparian defences at Worcester?' D Whitehead, Worcestershire archaeology and local history newsletter Vol. 23 p. 2-3
  Wills, J., 1976-7, 'Worcester city wall – Friars Gate, Union Street, 1976' Worcestershire archaeology and local history newsletter Vol. 19 p. 4-5
  Benett, J., 1973, Worcestershire archaeology and local history newsletter Vol. 12 p. 4-8
  (Reynolds), 1970, Medieval Archaeology Vol. 14 p. 186 online copy
  Barker, P.A., 1969, 'Recent Archaeological Research in Worcester' Château Gaillard Vol. 4 p. 13-18
  Barker and others, 1968-9, 'The City Wall, Bowling Green Terrace' Transactions of the Worcestershire Archaeological Society (ser3) Vol. 2 p. 36-7
  Richardson, L., 1954-65, 'The Ancient Walls and ditches of Worcester' Transactions of the Worcestershire Naturalists Club Vol. 11.2 p. 100-22, 209-11
  Russell, 1954-65, Transactions of the Worcestershire Naturalists Club Vol. 11 p. 159-63
  1960, 'Medieval Britain in 1959' Medieval Archaeology Vol. 4 p. 150 online copy
  Shearer, D.R., 1959, 'Dating the City Wall by Excavation' Transactions of the Worcestershire Archaeological Society (ser2) Vol. 36 p. 60-4
  Spackman, 1907-10, Transactions of the Worcestershire Naturalists Club Vol. 4 p. 23-4
Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
- Maxwell Lyte, H.C. (ed), 1891-1916, Calendar of Patent Rolls (1216-1225) p. 426; p. 555-6; (1225-1232) p. 178; p. 253; p. 470; (1232-47) p. 42; p. 118; p. 155; (1247-1258) p. 138; p. 553; (1258-1266) p. 306; p. 416; (1266-1272) p. 639; (1272-1281) p. 403; (1281-1291) p. 472; (1292-1301) p. 352; (1301-1307) p. 318; (1327-1330) p. 459; (1338-1340) p. 321; (1361-1364) p. 479; (1370-1374) p. 49; (1377-1381) p. 407; (1389-1392) p. 186; (1391-1396) p. 501; (1399-1401) p. 318; (1401-1405) p. 164; p. 473; (1405-1408) p. 376; (1408-1413) p. 425; (1436-1441) p. 293 (murage grants)
  - Also see the Gatehouse murage pages for full details of murage grants, petitions and other such.
Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
- Camden, Wm, 1607, Britannia hypertext critical edition by Dana F. Sutton (2004)
  Chandler, John, 1993, John Leland's Itinerary: travels in Tudor England (Sutton Publishing) p. 511
  Toulmin-Smith, Lucy (ed), 1908, The itinerary of John Leland in or about the years 1535-1543 (London: Bell and Sons) Vol. 2 p. 89 online copy
  Celia Fiennes, 1888, Through England on a Side Saddle in the Time of William and Mary (London: Field and Tuer, The Leadenhall Press) Vision of Britain online transcription
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- Historic England, 2016, Heritage at Risk West Midlands Register 2016 (London: Historic England) p. 70 online copy
  Historic England, 2015, Heritage at Risk West Midlands Register 2015 (London: Historic England) p. 72 online copy
  English Heritage, 2014, Heritage at Risk Register 2014 West Midlands (London: English Heritage) p. 69 online copy
  English Heritage, 2013, Heritage at Risk Register 2013 West Midlands (London: English Heritage) p. 43 online copy
  English Heritage, 2012, Heritage at Risk Register 2012 West Midlands (London: English Heritage) p. 54 online copy
  English Heritage, 2011, Heritage at Risk Register 2011 West Midlands (London: English Heritage) p. 52, 53 online copy
  English Heritage, 2010, Heritage at Risk Register 2010 West Midlands (London: English Heritage) p. 52, 53 online copy
  English Heritage, 2009, Heritage at Risk Register 2009 West Midlands (London: English Heritage) p. 79 online copy
  Haslam, J., forthcoming, Planning in late-Saxon Worcester online draft
  Oxford Archaeology, 2007, Worcester's city walls - conservation management plan download copy

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