Worcester City Wall

In the civil parish of Worcester.
In the historic county of Worcestershire (Modern Authority of Worcestershire, 1974 county of Hereford and Worcester).

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

This site has been described as a;
Urban Defence.
The confidence that this site is a medieval fortification or palace is Certain.
Masonry footings remains.

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is SO852549

Modern Map from Good for landscape form and features	Modern Map from Good for general location
Air Photo from	1st edition OS Map from

Sources of information, references and further reading

PastScape number; 116137

• Web site links
  • http://whe.multiservers.com/whepages/citywalls/
    http://www.worcestercitymuseums.org.uk/content/plotpln/model/model.htm
• Books
  • Creighton, O.H. and Higham, R.A., 2005, Medieval Town Walls (Stroud: Tempus) p24, 57-8, 60, 173-4, 229, 266
    Salter, Mike, 2000, Castles of Herefordshire and Worcestershire (Malvern) p86
    Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge) p280
    Bond, C.J., 1987, 'Anglo-Saxon and Medieval Defences' in Schofield, J. and Leech, R. (eds) Urban Archaeology in Britain (CBA Research Report) p92-116
    King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol2 p509
    Barley, M.W., 1975, 'Town Defences in England and Wales after 1066' in Barley (ed) Medieval Towns in England and Wales (CBA research reports) pp57-71 plan p67
    Turner, H.L., 1971, Town Defences in England and Wales (London) p209
    Montgomerie, 1924, in Page, Wm and Willis-Bund, J.W. (eds), VCH, Worcester Vol4 p373, 377-8
• Journal Articles
  • Bradley, J and Gaimster, M. (eds), 2004, 'Medieval Britain and Ireland in 2003' Medieval Archaeology Vol48 p274
    Youngs, S.M. and Clark, J., 1981, ‘Medieval Britain in 1980' Medieval Archaeology Vol25 p208
    Beardsmore, C., 1980, ‘Documentary evidence for the history of Worcester’s city defences' Transactions of the Worcestershire Archaeological Society, [ser3] Vol7 p53-64
    Carver, M.O.H., 1980, 'An archaeology for the City of Worcester, 680-1680 AD' Transactions of the Worcestershire Archaeological Society, [ser3] Vol7 p1-11
    Bennett, J., 1980, ‘Excavation and survey on the medieval city wall, 1973’,Transactions of the Worcestershire Archaeological Society, [ser3] Vol7 p65-85*
    Sawle, J., 1980, ‘Excavations on the city wall at 61, Sidbury' West Midlands Archaeology Vol23 p132-5
    Hirst, S., 1980, ‘Excavation behind the city wall at Talbot Street, 1975' Transactions of the Worcestershire Archaeological Society, [ser3] Vol7 p87-106
    Wills, J., 1980, ‘Excavation and salvage recording at Friars Gate, Union Street, 1976‘, Transactions of the Worcestershire Archaeological Society, [ser3] Vol7 p107-14
    Whitehead, D., 1979, ‘Medieval trans-riparian defences at Worcester?‘, D Whitehead, Worcestershire Archaeology and Local History Newsletter Vol23 p2-3
    Wills, J., 1976-7, ‘Worcester city wall – Friars Gate, Union Street, 1976' Worcestershire Archaeology and Local History Newsletter Vol19 p4-5
    (Reynolds), 1970, Medieval Archaeology Vol14 p186
    Barker and others, 1968-9, Transactions of the Worcestershire Archaeological Society, [ser3] Vol2 p36-7
    Richardson, 1954-65, Worcestershire Naturalists Club Vol11 p100-22, 209-11
    Russell, 1954-65, Worcestershire Naturalists Club Vol11 p159-63
    1960, Medieval Archaeology Vol4 p150
    Shearer, D.R., 1959, Transactions of the Worcestershire Archaeological Society, [ser2] Vol36 p60-4
    Spackman, 1907-10, Worcestershire Naturalists Club Vol4 p23-4
• Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
  • William Camden, 1607, Britannia [http://www.philological.bham.ac.uk/cambrit/warkseng.html#worcs7]
    Chandler, John, 1993, John Leland's Itinerary: travels in Tudor England (Sutton Publishing) p511
    Toulmin-Smith, Lucy (ed), 1910, The itinerary of John Leland in or about the years 1535-1543 (Bell and Sons; London) Vol2 p89