England Described, Treatise · County 40
Worceſterſhire.
SO called of the principal Town in it.Wigornienſis Comitatus.
Here are many Salt-pits, which the old Engliſhmen in their Language named Wiches.
Warwickſhire confineth on the Eaſt of this County, Gloceſterſhire on the South, it is bounded Weſtward with Herefordſhire and Shropſhire; North-Eaſt with Staffordſhire; it hath ſo temperate an air, and ſo favourable ſoil, that for healthfulneſſe and plenty, it is not inferiour to the neighbour Countreys, and in one part for dainty Cheeſe ſurpaſſeth them. It yeeldeth ſtore of Pears, of which they make a baſtard kind of Wine called Pyrry, which they drink very much, although it be (as other drinks of that kind) both cold and full of wind.
In every place there are ſweet Rivers, which afford a great abundance of the moſt delicate kind of fiſhes.
Severn that noble and renowned River carrieth his ſtream along, through the midſt of the Shire from North to South; and Avon that cometh down out of Warwickſhire to meet with Severn, watereth the South-part thereof.
Beawdly, worthily ſo called for the beautifull ſite thereof, ſtandeth moſt pleaſantly upon the hanging of an Hill, and hovereth over the River on the Weſt-ſide: on late dayes well known for the admirable talneſſe of Trees growing in the Foreſt of Wyre adjoyning, which now in manner be all gone.
Delicium rerum Bellus Locus, undique floret
Fronde Coronatus Virianae tempore Sylvae,
Kidderminſter a fair Town, and hath a great Mercat of all Commodities, well frequented, parted in twain by little River Stowre that runneth thorow it. There is a very beautifull Church.
Hertlebury-Caſtle.
Holt-Caſtle, ſo called of a very thick wood there.
Frankeley the Family of the Littletons, planted by John Littleton, aliàs Weſtcote the famous Lawyer, Juſtice in the Kings-Bench in the time of King Edward the Fourth, to whoſe Treatiſe of Tenures the Students of our Common-Law are no leſſe beholden, then the Civilians to Juſtinians Inſtitutes.
Bromeſgrove a Mercat Town.
Grafton.
Droitwich, ſome term it Durtwich, Ʋnum eſt ſatis mirabile, quia aqua illa per medium annum eſt ſalſa, ſcilicet à nativitate Domini uſque ad feſtum ſancti Johannis Baptiſtae, per aliud verò medium temporis eſt dulcis. Sed quod mirabilius eſt pro illo tempore quo eſt ſali neceſſaria, ſi non hauritur, ſuperfluit, per aliud verò temporis vix ſemper excreſcit. Gervaſ. in lib. de Ociis imperialibus citat…r Pet. Bechor. Reduct. Moral. l. 13. c. 3. De Anglia.of the Salt-pits, and the wettiſh ground on which it ſtandeth, where three fountains yeelding plenty of water to make ſalt of, divided aſunder by a little Brook of freſh water paſſing between, by a peculiar gift of nature ſpring out: out of which moſt pure white Salt is boiled for ſix Moneths every year, viz. from Mid-ſommer to mid-winter, in many ſet furnaces round about.
Richard De la Wich Biſhop of Chicheſter was here born, whom Pope Urban the fourth canonized for a Saint.
Fekenham-Foreſt.
Worceſter the principal City of this Vigornia and Wignornia.Shire, an ancient and beautifull place. It ſtandeth in a place riſing ſomewhat with a gentle aſcent, by the Rivers-ſide that hath a fair Bridge with a Tower over it, it is well and ſtrongly walled. There are fair and neat Houſes, many Churches. It is a Biſhops See. The Cathedral Church is a paſſing fair and ſtately building, adorned with the Monuments and Tombs of King John, Arthur Prince of Wales, and divers of the Beauchamps.
Powick, famous for Cherries.
Hanley-Caſtle.
Upton a Mercate Towne of great name.
Malvern-Hills, great and high Mountains, which for the ſpace of ſeven miles, or thereabout, do (as it were) by degrees riſe higher and higher, dividing this Shire from the County of Hereford.
Bredon-Hills farre leſſe.
Elmeſley-Caſtle.
Waſhborn a Village, whence came the ſurname to a very ancient and worſhipfull Family in this Tract.
Eoveſham, ſo called, as the Monks write, of one Eoves, Swinherd to Egwin Biſhop of Worceſter. A very proper Town ſituate upon an Hill ariſing from the River. A Town well known for the Vale under it, named thereof, The Vale of Eveſham, which for plentifull fertility hath well deſerved to be called the Granary of all theſe Countreys; ſo good and plentifull is the ground in yeelding the beſt Corn abundantly.
Charlton, now the ſeat of the Dingleyes.
Oſwaldſlow-Hundred, ſo called of Oſwald Biſhop of Worceſter, who obtained it for himſelf of King Edgar.
Auguſtines-Oke, at which Auguſtine the Apoſtle of the Engliſhmen, and the Biſhops of Britain met, and after they had diſputed and debated the matter hotly for a good while touching the Celebration of Eaſter, preaching Gods Word alſo to the Engliſh Nation, and of adminiſtring Baptiſme according to the Rites of the Roman Church; in the end, when they could not agree they departed on both ſides with diſcontented minds, upon their diſſenting opinions.
There are in this Shire an hundred fifty and two Pariſhes.