There are no remains of the old castle of Worcester; it adjoined the monastery so closely that King John gave its yard to the monks, and after that time it ceased to be a stronghold. The Commandery, founded by St Wulfstan in 1085, was a hospital, and its name appears to lack authority. It was rebuilt in Tudor times, and there remains a beautiful hall, with music gallery, canopied dais, and a fine bay window, together with other parts. The wood-carving is exquisite. There are many old half-timbered houses. The guild-hall (1723) is an admirable building in the Italian style; it contains a portrait of George III., by Sir Joshua Reynolds, presented by the king to commemorate his visit to the city at the triennial musical festival in 1788. This, the Festival of the Three Choirs, is maintained here alternately with Gloucester and Hereford. The corporation possesses some interesting old charters and manuscripts, and good municipal regalia. Public buildings include the shire-hall (1835), Corn Exchange and market-house. Fairs are held thrice annually. The Victoria Institute includes a library, museum and art gallery. The cathedral school was founded by Henry VIII. in 1541, Queen Elizabeth's, in a modern building, in 1563; there are also a choir school, and municipal art, science and technical schools. In the vicinity of the city there is a large Benedictine convent, at Stanbrook Hall, with a beautiful modern chapel. The Clothiers' Company possesses a charter granted by Queen Elizabeth; but the great industries are now the manufacture of gloves and of porcelain. A company of glovers was incorporated in 1661. The manufacture of porcelain is famous. The materials employed are china clay and china stone from Cornwall, felspar from Sweden, fire-clay from Stourbridge and Broseley, marl, flint and calcined bones. The Royal Porcelain works cover 5 acres. Among Worcester's other trades are those of iron, iron goods and engineering works, carriage making, rope spinning, boat building, tanning and the production of chemical manures and of cider and perry. There is a considerable carrying trade on the Severn.
The charities are numerous, and include St Oswald's hospital, Nash's almshouses, Wyatt's almshouses. the Berkeley hospital, Goulding hospital, Shewring's hospital, Inglethorpe's almshouses, Waldgrave's almshouses, Moore's blue-coat school, Queen Elizabeth's charity, and others.
Traces of British and Roman occupation have been discovered at Worcester (Wigeran Ceaster, Wigornia), but its history begins with the foundation of the episcopal see. Being the chief city on the borders of Wales, Worcester was frequently visited by the kings of England. In 1139 it was taken by the Empress Maud and retaken and burnt by Stephen in 1149. It surrendered to Simon de Montfort in 1263. In 1642, during the Great Rebellion, a handful of cavaliers was besieged here, and in spite of an attempted relief by Prince Rupert, the city was pillaged, as it was again in 1646. In 1651 Charles II. with the Scottish army marched into Worcester, where he was welcomed by the citizens. Cromwell took up his position on the Red Hill just outside the city gates. Lambert succeeded in passing the Severn at Upton, and drove back the Royalist troops towards Worcester. Charles, seeking an advantage of this division of the enemy on opposite sides of the river, attacked Cromwell's camp. At first he was successful, but Cromwell was reinforced by Lambert's troops in time to drive back Charles's foot, who were not supported by the Scottish horse, and the rout of the King's force was complete.
In the reign of King Alfred, Æthelred and Æthelflead, ealdorman and lady of the Mercians, at the request of the bishop “built a burgh at Worcester” and granted to him half of their rights and privileges there “both in market and street within the borough and without.” Richard I. in 1189 granted the town to the burgesses at a fee-farm of £24, and Henry III. in 1227 granted a gild merchant and exemption from toll, and raised the farm to £30. The first incorporation charter was granted by Philip and Mary in 1554 under the title of bailiffs, aldermen, chamberlains and citizens, but James I. in 1622 made the city a separate county and granted a corporation of a mayor, 6 aldermen, and a common council consisting of one body of 24 citizens, including the mayor and aldermen, and another body of 48, who elected the mayor from among the 24. By the Municipal Reform Act of 1835 the government was again altered. The burgesses returned two members to parliament from 1295 to 1885, when the number was reduced to one. As early as 1203 the men of the town paid 100s. for licence to buy and sell cloth as they had done in the time of Henry III., and in 1590 the weavers, walkers and clothiers received an incorporation charter, but the trade had already begun to decline and by 1789 had ceased to exist. Its place was taken by the manufacture of porcelain, introduced in 1751 by Dr Wall, and by the increasing manufacture of gloves, a trade in which is known to have been carried on in the 15th century.
See Victoria County History, Worcester; John Noake, Worcester in Olden Times (1849); Valentine Green, The History and Antiquities of the City and Suburbs of Worcester (1796).
WORCESTER, a city and the county-seat of Worcester
county, Massachusetts, U.S.A., about 44 m. W. of Boston on
the Blackstone river, a branch of the Providence river. Pop.
(1900) 118,421 (37,652 foreign-born); (1905, state census) 128,135;
(1910) 145,986. Area, 39 sq. m. Worcester is served by the
Boston & Albany, the New York, New Haven & Hartford and
the Boston & Maine railways, and is connected with Springfield
and Boston by interurban electric lines. The park system of
the city comprises about twenty tracts with a total area of more
than 1100 acres; among them are Elm Park (88 acres) in the W.
including Newton Hill (670 ft. above sea-level), and Green Hill
Park (500 acres) in the N.E. Other parks are Institute Park
(18 acres) and Boynton Park (113 acres) in the N.W. on Salisbury
Pond, given to the city by Stephen Salisbury; Dodge Park
(13 acres, N.); Burncoat Park (42 acres, N.E.); Chandler Hill
Park (80 acres, E.); Hadwen (50 acres), University (14 acres)
and Crompton Park (15.25 acres) in the S.W. and S.; and
Greenwood (12.65 acres), Beaver Brook (15.5 acres), Tatnuck
(2.94 acres), Kendrick (14.87 acres) and Vernon Hill (16.4 acres).
Two miles N.E. of the centre of the city lies lake Quinsigamond,
4 m. long, from which flows the river of the same name, a branch
of the Blackstone. On its shores is Lake Park (110 acres).
Fronting the Common, a wooded square in the centre of the city,
is the City Hall, near which is a bronze statue, by D. C. French,
of G. F. Hoar. On the Common there is a monument, designed
by Randolph Rogers, to the soldiers and sailors of the Civil
War, and one to Colonel Timothy Bigelow (1739-1790), one of
Worcester's soldiers of the War of Independence. The E. side
of the Common was the site of an old burying ground, and the
W. side of the First Church, built in 1663. About ½ m. N. of the
Common is Lincoln Square, adjacent to which is the granite
Court House; in front of it is a statue of General Charles Devens
(1820-1891) by French. The old Salisbury mansion, dating
back to Colonial days, stands in this square. At Salisbury
Street and Park Avenue are the library and museum (1910)
of the American Antiquarian Society, established in 1812
by Isaiah Thomas, with a collection of interesting portraits, a
library of 99,000 vols. and many thousands of pamphlets,
particularly rich in Americana. The Art Museum was erected and
endowed (1899-1903) by Stephen Salisbury, and contains a
fine collection of casts, many valuable paintings, and the
Bancroft Collection of Japanese art. The city has many fine
churches.
Worcester is an important educational centre. Clark University was established here in 1889 by Jonas Gilman Clark as a purely graduate institution. In 1902 Clark College was opened for undergraduate work under the presidency of Carroll D. Wright, with a separate endowment of $1,300,000. In 1910 it had 30 teachers and 177 students. The university in 1910 had 15 instructors, 103 students and a library of 50,000 volumes. Under G. Stanley Hall, who was made president in 1888, the university became well known for its work in child-psychology. Worcester Polytechnic Institute (founded in 1865 by John Boynton of Templeton, Massachusetts; opened in 1868) is one of the best-equipped technical schools of college rank in the country; in 1910 it had 49 instructors, 515 students and a library of 12,700 vols.; the buildings are near Institute Park.
