Visited August 2024

Location	Worcester
Entrance Fee	No
Railway Station Nearby	Worcester Foregate Street
Parking	City Car Parks
Facilities	City Centre Facilities
Map

Despite the picture of a splendid looking gatehouse, Worcester is another of those 'no ruins left to see' type castles. However there are some clues to its existence around the city if you look hard enough!

Review

Firstly, the gatehouse in the first set of pictures is called the Edgar Tower and is the gatehouse to Worcester Cathedral precinct. The reason it is  included here is because it is built on, and possibly with, the same stone as the original castle gatehouse. If you look at the photo you can see there are different layers of stone as the gatehouse has been developed and rebuilt into its present form. This came about as when Worcester Castle was built in around 1068-9 on behalf of William the Conqueror, the builders pinched some of the land from Worcester Cathedral, something which displeased the then Bishop. This dispute between castle and cathedral rumbled on for over a hundred years.

The original castle was a motte and bailey and built in wood, but was soon burned down and rebuilt several times until finally it was built in stone under the orders of King John. However the castle had got a bit too powerful in the hands of the Beauchamp family who looked after it on behalf of the king, so when John's son Henry III came to power he decided to reduce the castle's power and gave back some of the disputed land to the cathedral. The land was divided and a wall built right across the bailey, making the castle useless for defence purposes. This land included the castle gatehouse, which was remodelled and rebuilt by the cathedral authorities until it became the tower we see today.  Losing the land signalled the beginning of decline as a royal castle, and from then on the castle took on a new role as a prison. 

The prison years saw the buildings become dilapidated, until they were finally demolished in 1814 in favour of a new build prison at a different location . The castle had had no military function for many years,  apart from a brief period in the Civil War when the motte had a fort built on the top of it. By 1846 the motte had been demolished and the area of the one time bailey became known as College Green, and today  is an area of public  green space.

If you go to College Green today and look at the buildings to the left of the green, you may find the last part of the castle surviving ; a small stretch of crenellated wall with arrow loops, incorporated into the side of a house. It is thought this was the side of the castle's Great Hall.

Adjacent to the gatehouse and cathedral precinct there is a street called Castle Place, which at one time led to the castle. There is also a water gate which leads from the old bailey of the castle down to the nearby River Severn. This is still used today to gain access to the riverside.

Given there is only a tiny bit of castle left to find in Worcester, we would recommend a visit to the Cathedral at the same time. The cloisters are beautiful, as is the rest of the building apparently, but on the day we went only the cloisters was open to the public as there was a concert in the main part. The cloisters has a cafe and toilets though if needed.

Another thing to do which was very popular with the family is a trip on the Cathedral Ferry. This is a very quick trip, taking just a few minutes to reach the other side of the river in a rowing boat, but it is steeped in tradition. There has been a ferry crossing at the same point in the river for over 1000 years. The crossing costs just 50pence per person and the proceeds go to charity.  (There is a ferryman , you don't have it row it yourself!) Once on the opposite side of the river there is a pleasant walk past the rowing club which is a convenient place to feed the swans if so desired. We walked up as far as Worcester Bridge then crossed the bridge back to the cathedral side of the river and walked along the river side , with the remains of the city walls to our left.

Our final stops were at the Tudor House Museum and Greyfriars, which is National Trust property. Both of these are examples of 'black and white' half timbered properties and can be found at nearby Friar Street. They are both free to enter and Greyfriars has a lovely garden. Friar Street also has some fine examples of wonky medieval buildings which are fun to spot.

So a day that started out about a missing castle also took in other types of sightseeing- obviously these are just suggestions that you can adapt according to your family interests.

More info:  No Official Website