Last week I stayed at Summerfield, just outside Kidderminster. On Wednesday I doubled up boat-hunting with a trip to Worcester. Here are few pictures of the cathedral and a few other things that caught my eye.
My main objective was Diglis Basin, but as I approached the cathedral the rain began. But first, one of the city’s famous residents.
I am not a particular fan of Elgar’s music, but he produced so much more well-loved and frequently performed music than the plaque suggests.
Boer Wars
It is probably down to my limited powers of observation, but I don’t recall seeing a memorial to those who died in the Boer Wars: In this case (as it were) round two.
Now for some interior details
Down in the crypt
We are used to tall buildings and clever engineering solutions, but back in the time of St Wulfstan, who instigated the current, Medieval building, this was some marvel. As it is today.
And from the outside …
Public art
Perhaps Worcester’s most important role was host to the culmination of the English Civil War with the Parliamentarian forces seeing off the Royalists and would-be King Charles II. It was a key, if faltering, step on the way to our modern democracy.
The stone panel reads: “The last battle of the Civil War was fought at Worcester on 3rd September 1651. It is for aught I know a crowning mercy, Oliver Cromwell. Near this spot in the city wall stood the Sidbury Gate, which was stormed by the Parliamentarian troops. Erected by the Cromwell Association and Worcester City Council with the aid of public subscription 1993.”
The right hand sculpture features Olympic gold medallist Ernest Payne (cycling team pursuit, London 1908) and Sir Charles Hastings, founder of the British Medical Association, flanked by soldiers from the English Civil War.
And, in case you were wondering, I did actually get to Diglis Basin and the Worcester & Birmingham Canal where it connects to the River Severn.
Hopefully, a bit of family history coming up later in the week.
Andrew's Kindred 