Worcestershire

A county that covers 674 square miles (1,746 sq km) in West Central England, with a population of around 550,000. The county town is Worcester. Bounded in the North by Shropshire and Staffordshire, East by Warwickshire, South by Gloucestershire, and West by Herefordshire

In Worcestershire there are the popular towns of Great Malvern, Worcester, Kidderminster, and Evesham.

 

Geography

Worcestershire is a hilly county. The Malvern, Cotswolds, Clent, and Lickey hills, are all partially or entirely within the county. The area is drained by the Severn and the Avon. Worcestershire is a hilly county that lies almost entirely in the basin of the Severn and its tributaries the Stour, the Teme and the Avon. The countryside is a broad undulating plain, broken in the North East by hills of moderate height, and in the South West by the Malvern Hills. The clay and loam soils are very fertile and agriculture is an important industry. The strata consists mainly of new red sandstone, lias, and oolite.

 

Industry

Coal and iron are found in the Dudley district although now in decline.

 

History

The county was created by Wessex in 1041 after the recovery of Mercia from the Danes. Simon De Montfort and his rebel army, was surrounded and slain by King Edward I at the battle of Evesham. The northern part of the county, with iron and coal deposits was part of the industrial Midlands area known as the Black Country and was extensively mined for these minerals as well as salt from the saline springs near Dudley. Iron and steel making caused the output of vast quantities of air pollution.