Worcester City Wall
Has been described as a Certain Urban Defence
There are masonry footings remains
| Name | Worcester City Wall |
| Alternative Names | |
| Historic Country | Worcestershire |
| Modern Authority | Worcestershire |
| 1974 Authority | Hereford and Worcester |
| Civil Parish | 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
The first serious attempt to date the early defences of Worcester by excavation was undertaken by the newly-formed Severn Valley Study Group. A cutting 27 ft. long and 4 ft. wide was made at a right angle to the inside face of the wall in the garden of Clopton's Bakery at no. 31, Sidbury St. At a depth of 4 ft. the wall was revealed as a substantial construction measuring 6 ft. thick and built with faced sandstone blocks. Between 6 ft. and 7 ft. deep against the wall, thick brown clay gave the first indication of what turned out to be a clay ramp sloping away from the wall. The brown clay gave way to distinct green clay similarly formed. While removing the green clay an increase in the thickness of the wall was noticed. The facing of the sandstone blocks below this point became very rough. Below the green day ramp a level layer of black humus about 1 ft. thick extended from one end of the trench to the other. The only interruption was what appeared to be an intrusion, probably cut as a drainage ditch at the end of the clay ramp. A fragment of late 12th- or early 13th-century pottery was found in this black humus layer and sealed by the clay ramp. Similar fragments were also found in the clay bank dating it to the same period. A construction trench for the wall (which is of one-period construction) had been dug through the clay bank and humus layer and on to the natural subsoil, proving that this particular wall cannot be earlier than 13th century
The thicker part at the bottom of the wall, i.e. the foundation, was 4 ft. deep. (Med. Arch. 1960)
This site is a scheduled monument protected by law
This is a Grade 2 listed building protected by law
Historic England Scheduled Monument Number
Historic England Listed Building number(s)
Images Of England
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s)
County Historic Environment Record
| OS Map Grid Reference | SO852549 |
| Latitude | 52.1924705505371 |
| Longitude | -2.21777009963989 |
| Eastings | 385200 |
| Northings | 254900 |
