|
The
terrace on which Worcester stands, at the lowest
point that the Severn could be forded, encouraged
early settlement. Worcester has seen occupation
since prehistory and there was an Iron Age village
in the area of Lich Street (Whitehead, 1976, p11).
When
the motte of Worcester Castle was removed in 1833
the foundations of Roman buildings were uncovered
associated with coins dating from the 1st
century. This area, later occupied
by the cathedral and castle, seems likely to have
been the site of the original Roman town at Worcester.
It is supposed that this core area of the Roman
town was surrounded by a defensive circuit of
some sort.
In
the Roman period Worcester was a major iron-working
centre The Roman name for Worcester is believed
to be Vertis.
The
English bishopric of Worcester dates from the
late 7th century and has therefore
had one of the longest continuous existences in
the country, only exceeded by Canterbury, Rochester,
London, York and Lichfield.
The
origins of the diocese of Worcester date from
the appointment of a bishop to the Hwiccan sub-kingdom
of Mercia in
680. This was part of Archbishop
Theodore’s reorganisation of the English
church, a major part of which included the division
into five diocese of the great see of Mercia based
at Lichfield.
However,
the creation of the Hwiccan bishopric is not likely
to be the origin of Christianity in the area.
There would presumably have been native British
Christians in the area before the arrival of Anglo-Saxon
immigrants.
The
inference must be that Anglo-Saxons arriving in
the area were either Christians when they arrived
or were rapidly converted. If so, they are
likely to have been converted by the British rather
than the English Church. The antiquity of
the church of St Helen’s in Worcester has
been illustrated by Steven
Bassett (1991) who presented a powerful case
for this church pre-dating the cathedral and at
least the possibility of it being originally a
Roman Church.
The
first appointee to the new English diocese was
Tatfrith, a monk from Whitby. Tatfrith died
before he could be consecrated and another Whitby
monk, Bosel was appointed in his place and became
the first bishop. Unlike the
Westan-Hecanorum, or Magonsaetan, diocese
which may not have originally been based at Hereford,
there seems no reason to suppose that the Bishops
of Worcester cathedra was not in a church
at Worcester from the first.
In
731 Bede listed all the bishops of England.
In Mercia, Ealdwine was bishop, and Walhstod was
bishop of those people who live beyond the Severn
'provinciae Merciorum Alduini episcopus et
eis populis qui ultra Sabrinam ad occidentam habitant
Ualchstod episcopus.' Wilfred is listed
separately as bishop of the Hwicce, and presumably
had a cathedra at the monastery at Worcester.
Although
the first bishop was a monk, the original foundation
of Worcester
Cathedral, the church of St Peter, seems to
have been as a house of secular canons.
An adjacent house was endowed for monks and nuns
in 743 with a separate minster, dedicated to St
Mary. In 961 St Oswald introduced, or reintroduced,
Benedictine monks to Worcester. The Benedictines
served all the monastic Cathedrals apart from
Carlisle.
Worcester City Museums website has much information
about the city. |
