History of Worcestershire

[5] Stone axes from the Neolithic show extensive trade links, including examples from Brittany and northern Italy or Switzerland, as well as Cornwall, North Wales and the Lake District.

[6] Finds at Clifton, Severn Stoke, include Grooved ware pottery, axes, and burnt stones used to heat water for cooking or possibly a sauna.

Bronze Age finds include weapons come from Worcestershire's valleys especially near potential fordable river crossings on the Avon such as Harvington, Evesham and Defford, and on the Severn, Bewdley, Holt, Worcester, Kempsey and Pixham.

[24] There is evidence for Roman industrial production such as iron works in Worcester, but no sign of municipal buildings, although a small defended site has been detected, perhaps to guard the river crossing.

[citation needed] Later in the period it was from Mercia, in particular Worcester, that King Alfred began to recruit priests and monks with whom to rebuild the church in Wessex during the 880s (Asser, ch.

[38] Rivalry between the different religious orders sometimes resulted in disorder, including on occasion, removing dead bodies when the right to bury a prominent person was disputed.

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 - Dimidii Comitatus de Wych (which became known as Halfshire) and Doddingtree.

[48] The vast possessions of the church prevented the growth of a great territorial aristocracy in Worcestershire, and Dudley Castle, which passed from William Fitz-Ansculf to the families of Paynel and Somen, was the sole residence of a feudal baron.

They were obliged to pay fixed amounts of tax revenue to the Crown, and in addition frequently held Royal Forests, including Feckenham, in return for a payment, or "farm".

[55] Historian Emma Mason regards it as remarkable that the de Beauchamp family's abuses were tolerated by the Crown, and that the hereditary nature of Worcestershire's Sherriffs was not abolished as it had been elsewhere.

This brought conflict to Worcestershire, where the county 's leaders organised against him, and allowed William Marshall, son of the Earl of Pembroke, who was loyal to John, to take possession of Worcester as governor.

In response, the Papacy demanded that Christians be prevented from working in Jewish homes, "lest temporal profit be preferred to the zeal of Christ", and enforcement of the wearing of badges.

Worcestershire was the site of the Battle of Evesham in which Simon de Montfort was killed on 4 August 1265, effectively ending any hope for his allies of winning the war.

[69] As early as 1295 Worcestershire was represented by sixteen members in Parliament, returning two knights for the shire and two burgesses each for the city of Worcester and the boroughs of Bromsgrove, Droitwich, Dudley, Evesham, Kidderminster and Pershore.

This freedom from price and production control may in part explain the industry's sudden growth in the seventeenth century, which caused rivalry with guilds in London who attempted to stop the flow of Midlands goods into their markets.

[90] In the early 1640s, stories of massacres of Protestants in Ireland helped led to rumours of Catholic plots that spread through the county leading to anti-Catholic riots in Bewdley in late 1641, and instructions to local militias to guard against conspiracies in the following months.

[92] While Worcester declared itself for Parliament, it was swiftly occupied by the Royalists, who were using the building to store munitions when Essex briefly retook the city after the Powick Bridge skirmish on its outskirts.

Taxation, requisitioning by armies and cross-border raids caused great deprivations, made worse by the proximity of Worcestershire to Parliamentary forces to the north around Birmingham, to the east in Warwickshire, and at certain times to the south in Bristol and Gloucestershire.

[98] Bands of Clubmen formed in west Worcestershire in the later part of the first war, with the objective of keeping both armies and their demands away from the rural civilian population, to resist despoliation and requisitioning.

Scottish troops fleeing capture were attacked and killed in local skirmishes, while the vast majority were pressed into forced labour in the east of England or new world.

Around 2,000 Anglican ministers from the Commonwealth period resigned from the Church of England, including Richard Baxter of Kidderminster, who had also acted as chaplain to Parliamentary troops;[106] he was replaced by his predecessor George Dance.

[107] In Bromsgrove, John Spilsbury, previously a fellow of Magdalen College, was removed after the Restoration of the Monarchy in 1660,[108] and left the Church of England by refusing to conform to the Act of Uniformity[109] Thomas Hall, at King's Norton, was also expelled.

[112] In 1678, during anti-Catholic panic spread after the exposure of an alleged "Popish Plot" against Charles II, Father John Wall who was based at Harvington Hall, was arrested at Rushock Court and imprisoned at Worcester Castle.

To this end, Charles dissolved the 1681 Parliament, which was debating an Exclusion Bill, and then attempted to limit the ability of towns and cities to elect MPs that were unsympathetic to his views.

By October, the King was forced to placate public disquiet, and restored the rights of cities like Worcester, with the result that the local council dismissed the Mayor and reinstated the previous one.

Nailmakers, who supplied iron rods for manufacture and bought nails back, were able to exploit their labourers greatly through control of rents, along with middle men making loans through 'truck' systems.

In the 1880s, John Corbett invested salt profits from Stoke Works into spa facilities and hotels in Droitwich, opening St Andrew's Brine baths in 1887.

[140] The disturbances were directed however not just at the lack of parliamentary reform, but also at the dissatisfaction with local government, which was still operating as a system of self-appointed town burgesses electing councils in Bewdley, Droitwich, Evesham, Kidderminster and Worcester.

[159] Lea & Perrins Worcestershire sauce began to be made and bottled in Worcester around 1837, first produced by two chemists, it is claimed according to a recipe supplied by an unnamed "Nobleman of the County".

Roads also improved through investment from the turnpike trust system, which also enabled the stage coach network, for instance connecting Worcester with Liverpool in eleven hours from 1832.