Work is due to start in earnest next week on Worcester Cathedral’s landscaping project, which will see improvements to College Yard (the main approach from the High Street), transforming the hard landscaping into an accessible, welcoming green space where the Cathedral and City come together.
Over the past few months tree management and archaeological enabling work has been completed and Fitzgerald Contractors Ltd have now been appointed to start work onsite on Monday (September 16). The archaeological work has been undertaken by Worcestershire Archaeology, alongside the Cathedral team, and some fascinating clues to the past have been unearthed in the process.
The College Yard area, on the north side of the Cathedral, was historically Worcester City’s burial ground for around 750 years, until the 19th Century. So, unsurprisingly the team has carefully excavated a small number of pre-Victorian skeletons, which will now be analysed before being sensitively re-interred in the Cathedral’s Charnel crypt.
A Roman cobbled surface was also uncovered close to the North Porch, providing a rare glimpse of Roman Worcester. In amongst the cobbles were fragments of more than one type of quern stone for grinding flour, the neck of a blue glass perfume bottle and a decorative stamp made from a sheep bone.
The cobbles also contained broken pottery which will help to date the surface, which is thought to have been out of use by the 4th Century AD, as it was covered over by mud containing a coin of this date. It is known that a medieval parish church (St Michael’s), and a detached bell tower that may even be pre-Norman once stood within the northeast corner of College Yard.
The belltower had a lead-roofed steeple, but the lead was stripped during the Civil War and the tower fell into disrepair. It was demolished towards the end of the 17th century.
St Michael’s remained, with a small timber-framed bell tower and adjoining houses, but these were all demolished in the 1840s. Excitingly, this latest archaeological work may have picked up hints of the bell tower, very disturbed due to the later houses and cellars that were built.
Most of the medieval archaeology discovered relates to the burial ground, but the team did also encounter structural remains, including an original Norman buttress that was cut back shortly before 1335 to construct the Sacrist’s lodging. The Sacrist looked after the Cathedral and its contents – from walls and roof to sacred vessels and vestments.
The team also found the buried walls of the Sacrists’ lodging (demolished sometime between 1712-15), with a wealth of medieval painted glass in the demolition material. Just close to this, where the trodden path to College Precincts splits from the main carriageway, was a concentration of light industrial activity which looks like it was once home to a Works Yard.
Logically next to the Sacrist’s house, the team found significant quantities of 14-16th Century window glass of various forms, blacksmithing waste and a pit of ochre, all within a building footprint which was probably of timber-framed form with internal timber stakes that had evidently burnt down. Further west, between the north porch and the Bishop’s house, the team also reached the buried walls of the charnel crypt, built in 1224.
A chapel once stood above the crypt, but this was demolished in the 17th Century, and the below-ground crypt re-roofed in 1866. The crypt is still used today.
Worcester Cathedral’s Archaeologist, Fiona Keith-Lucas, said: “We found some fantastic things during enabling archaeology work.
“Because we know the area is so rich in archaeology, we have been doing the work largely in advance of the main contract so things will move smoothly on site and not be held up. There will still be archaeologists working alongside Fitzgerald’s team to ensure that all archaeology is excavated and recorded properly, so these are just our preliminary findings.
“All artefacts are yet to be analysed, but we are getting a good feel for the site and its complexity. We hope to share our findings in more detail at a symposium in the summer of 2025.”
Thanks to the painstaking work by the talented team of archaeologists, the above ground work can now commence safely, and visitors can expect to be greeted by a stunning semi-circular fan outside the north porch - made using stone types that blend in with the Cathedral; a mixture of Forest of Dean paving and Italian porphyry, featuring reds that blend with the palette of the river cobbles being relayed towards the west gate. This is expected to be in place in time for Christmas.
Work will continue into the new year and phase one will be complete by March 2025. The longer-term aim is to create a pedestrianised route all the way around the Cathedral, from College Yard, through the west gardens, down to the river, then back through College Green and College Precincts, to the main College Yard entrance.
So, what can you expect to see in the coming weeks? Initially Heras fencing will go up in College Yard and repairs will start on the west flowing drainage, in order to safeguard the Cathedral and the new landscaping finishes.
Work will then start on the north porch fan. There will be onsite disruption as works take place, but the Cathedral will remain open and accessible to visitors throughout, with alternate entrance arrangements clearly signposted at all times.
This project has been made possible thanks to generous funding from the Kildare Trust, the Wolfson Foundation, The Dulverton Trust and the Towns Deal Levelling up Fund, as well as a number of anonymous donors.
