Category: Worcestershire

Cotheridge, Worcestershire – St Leonard – and The Firs, Elgar’s birthplace

Friday 31 May, the last day of the holiday – but we live life to the full! We were out of the flat nice and quickly, and headed towards Elgar’s birthplace. We were there so early we went and had an explore. St Leonard’s, Cotheridge church – SO 787547 – is now part of the Lower Teme Valley parish, in the Worcester West Rural Team – https://wwrt.churchinsight.com/Groups/305347/Lower_Teme_Valley.aspx. No guidebook, just a laminated sheet, and nothing about the building on the website, but at least it was open. Reading the sheet, they’ve done a good job of putting it in...

Stoulton, Worcestershire – St Edmund

I started the day by walking across the road to St Edmund’s church, Stoulton. S0 907497. When I go online in June to find out the details of the church, the website I find is that of Sandy Marchant, the owner of The Old Vicarage – https://www.stoultonworcester.org/. Have a look at it, find out about the holiday flats (but if we can’t book it again because a reader of northernvicar has got there first, I shall be most annoyed!), and read their Vision 2020 documents. This is what can be done when one or two people get the community...

Upton upon Severn, Worcestershire – St Peter and St Paul

After Pershore we went on to Upton upon Severn, and found it was a bigger village than we expected. We parked in the centre and found most of the shops were inaccessible if you have a Julie in a wheelchair. We went round by the old church, the bridge and Severn, then found we could get into the Old Butchers Shop – and they did a good pizza. They didn’t have a disabled loo – fortunately there is a public one in the village (another reason why Councils should not be allowed to close loos). We continued down to...

Pershore, Worcestershire – Holy Cross

Wednesday 29 May, and we drove to have an explore of Pershore. We parked by the church – SO 948 457 – and had a wonderful visit. Pershore Abbey is officially the Church of the Holy Cross. Website at http://pershoreabbey.org.uk/ an excellent guidebook in three parts – a short history, a guide, and a longer historical essay – and a very good children’s guide (though they can’t spell millennium). They also invite me to dress up and explore – I want grandchildren so I can! The earliest reference to a religious foundation here is in 681 when the King...

Avoncroft Museum of Buildings

Avoncroft Museum of Buildings – https://avoncroft.org.uk/ – is one of those places I have read about, but never got to. It is near Bromsgrove, and we found it easily. They have a mobility scooter you can borrow, so we were able to get to the whole site. They have an interesting mix of buildings, and other bits and pieces. The ecclesiastical pieces – this started as a church crawling blog after all – are the spire of St Paul’s church Smethwick and a tin tabernacle from Bringsty Common, Herefordshire, and a hearse. The original St Paul’s church was built...

Worcester Cathedral – Cathedral Church of Christ and the Blessed Virgin Mary – 4, Quire and Crypt

After the tower I needed a late lunch, then we went and explored the Quire. The volunteers directed us out of the main north door, then in to the Quire by another – easier than coping with a large lift. Then there is another smaller lift, so Julie could get to most places. Having said that, some of these photos might be of things elsewhere in the Cathedral – just enjoy them. The Quire is the original centre of the Cathedral and its worship – and it is worth looking up at the organ pipes and ceiling.  The organ...

Worcester Cathedral – Cathedral Church of Christ and the Blessed Virgin Mary – 3, The Tower

My last photo in the Nave was the Defibrillator – so now I go and climb the tower. 235 steps to climb 202 feet up the tower which was completed in 1374. Yes, of course I can. The first staircase is in one of the oldest parts of the Cathedral, dating from about 1250. That’s the first 110 steps, then there’s a bridge over the vaulting of the NW transept ceiling, and into the Clock Room. This room is used as a teaching centre for bell ringing complete with dumbbells. The leaflet is rather proud: “These are special training...

Worcester Cathedral – Cathedral Church of Christ and the Blessed Virgin Mary – 2, The Nave

Bank Holiday Monday in a Cathedral. Having explored the Cloister, we walked into the Nave. It was lovely that both doors from the Cloister, including the one with a wheelchair ramp, were wide open, as were the West Doors too. There was a group of youngsters skateboarding outside, and at one point they drifted into the Cathedral. No one pounced on them, thrust a leaflet under their noses, told them to remove their baseball hats – they were as welcome as anyone was else was. They had a wander round and explore, just like I did. There was a...

Worcester Cathedral – Cathedral Church of Christ and the Blessed Virgin Mary – 1, The Cloisters

The best space to spend a Bank Holiday Monday (27 May) is in Worcester Cathedral – http://worcestercathedral.co.uk/  – SO 850545. This may take a while to write up. As we had parked on the south side of the Cathedral – being a bank holiday no one stopped us driving into the Close – we started in the Cloisters. The original cloister of the Abbey would have been built in wood, and was rebuilt in stone in the C14 and early C15. In 1762 they replaced the glass, then there was a major Victorian rebuild in 1866. Today it may...

Croome, Worcestershire – Hall and St Mary Magdalene

Croome is a National Trust property not far south from Pershore, so we headed there on Sunday 26 May. The car park was filling up as we arrived, and there were queues to get in. However they soon sorted us, and the chap went to get the wheelchair accessible buggy. He drove us down – quite a way through the Park. When we got to the House we were introduced to the stair climber. It worked. The landscape and the house are the product of the vision (and money) of George William, 6th Earl of Coventry (1722-1809). He employed...