Worcester, England

Worcester shown within Worcestershire

The city of Worcester, England (pronounced 'Wooster') (population 93,353 in 2001) is the county town of Worcestershire; the Severn river runs through the middle, with the city's large Worcester Cathedral overlooking the river.

Worcester was the site of the Battle of Worcester (September 3, 1651), in which Charles II's attempt to retake the country from the Cromwell and the Parliamentarians was decisively defeated, in the fields a little to the west and south of the city, near the village of Powick. Legend has it that Charles, having lost the battle was forced to hide from his pursuers in an oak tree; a pub in the city is still named "The Royal Oak" in commemoration of this. Worcester was one of the cities loyal to the king in that war, for which it was given the epithet "The Faithful City".

Industry is now quite varied; in the 19th and early twentieth century, Worcester was a major centre for glove manufacture, but this has declined greatly. Still located in the city are the Worcester porcelain factory (near the cathedral), and, somewhat out of the centre, the factory that makes Worcester's most famous product, Worcestershire sauce. Worcester is the home of what is claimed to be the oldest daily newspaper in the world, Berrow's Worcester Journal, which traces its descent from a newsheet that started publication in 1690.

Probably Worcester's most famous citizen was Edward Elgar, whose father ran a music shop at the end of the High Street; a statue of Elgar stands near the original location of that shop.

Announcing a new late night bus at 3am, Worcester councilors claimed that it was a "24-hour town".

External links

• http://www.thisisworcester.co.uk
• http://www.berrowsjournal.co.uk

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