Day 75 - A day in Worcester

You know by now that Sunday public transport for us is limited to trains, and with the weather forecast today being sunny we hopped on the Great Western Railway to Worcester. Now before I get going, I will have to tell you that there was so much to say about this city that we have decided to save some of our day's experience for another post. I think that the Cathedral itself is so monumental it deserves its own post and we will highlight that another day.

Worcester is the main City of Worcestershire. Yes, the home of the sauce by Lea and Perrins. For
most English Canadians, this sauce is very familiar with its traditional orange label. My quick research into the company found that it had been founded in Worcester by two chemists, John Lea and William Perrins, purely by accident based on a Bengali recipe brought to them by a local nobleman. While it is romantic to think that this company would still be owned by locals, it has passed hands a few times having been first acquired by HP Foods (The HP Sauce people) in 1930 and then HP Foods was acquired by Imperial Tobacco (the Cigarette people) in 1967 who then sold HP Foods to Danone (the Yogurt people) in 1988 and then Heinz (the Ketchup people) acquired HP Foods in 2005. Recently Heinz was merged with Kraft (the Every Food people) to form KraftHeinz, and Lea and Perrins has been carried along the entire journey. And Darwin thought his theories applied only to the natural environment.

Worcester is indeed a Cathedral town and it is the centerpiece of the city, but the adjacent pedestrian shopping lanes made for a wonderful Sunday outing. It was sunny but also cool and we needed to start our wandering with hot chocolate from Hotel Chocolat, a UK-based confectionery retailer. Angela and I believe in being fair and equitable so we also had to pop into Thornton's, another confectionery retailer, to balance out our chocolate purchasing.  Thornton's had been in decline lately but the shopkeeper pointed out that the company had recently been purchased by Ferroro Rocher (an Italian chocolate company). We walked through the Shambles district of the city where houses from the 1500s still remain. Many are pubs and restaurants that serve shoppers, visitors and the locals looking to enjoy the atmosphere that is created by all of this history.

King Charles House

Speaking of history, Worcester was founded along the banks of the Severn River by the Romans. The river was always a major trade route running for over 220 miles (said to be the longest river in the UK) from its headwaters in central Wales through the fertile agricultural lands of Shropshire, Worcestershire and Gloucestershire to the Severn Estuary and then the South Irish Sea. Land routes converged here to form the settlement which became Worcester. The city has always been a strategic site and has experienced a number of medieval battles. It's most famous battle was in 1651 when the Royalists led by Charles I fought against Cromwell and the Parliamentarians during the English Civil War. Charles was defeated, but escaped to the South of England and then France. He was eventually captured and executed.

Our walk took us past the Royal Worcester Pottery factory and museum, which was closed for renovations. Fortunately they opened a shop in town, so we were able to look at some fine china later in the day. Founded in 1751, Royal Worcester claims to be the oldest porcelain brand still in existence. It started because two men, a physician and a pharmacist, created a porcelain process that attracted local investment in order to construct a production factory. When King George III visited the facility in 1788, he granted it a Royal Charter and so its present name.

Kings School Worcester Campus

Near the museum is a stately college known as The Kings School Worcester. Its roots are found in the activities of the Benedictine monks who occupied the nearby Abbey (now the site of the Cathedral). However, when Henry the VIII decreed that the monastery be dissolved, he had the school refounded (and so the name) in 1541. It is a private school, as we would refer to it in Canada. In the UK it is referred to as a public or independent school. They serve students from 2 to 18 years of age with fees for the oldest students running about $22,000 Canadian per year (non-boarding). It is a beautiful site right along the bank of the Severn.

Our city walkabout finished along the river where one can walk on both sides and watch the rowers rowing and the swans swimming, and a partridge in a pear tree....oops I got carried away with the season.

Ale of the Day: By George Pale Ale, St. George's Brewery, Worcester