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| Name: | Precinct boundary: riverside wall (N of Water Gate) |
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| HER Reference: | WCM96358 |
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| Type of record: | Monument |
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| Grid Reference: | SO 848 544 |
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| Map Sheet: | SO85SW |
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| Parish: | Worcester (Non Civil Parish), Worcester City, Worcestershire |
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| Worcestershire |
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| Worcester, Worcestershire |
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Monument Types
- PRECINCT WALL (MEDIEVAL - 1066 AD to 1539 AD (between))
- PRECINCT WALL (POST MEDIEVAL - 1540 AD to 1900 AD (between))
Associated Events
- Watergate (Ref: WCM100291)
- Watergate (Ref: WCM100292)
Protected Status
Full description
Cathedral Priory precinct wall and riverside retaining wall.
Listing description refers to retaining wall along 1844 towpath extending c.220 metres north from the Water Gate (WCM 96349), therefore including the riverside gable end wall of the monastic reredorter (WCM 96380) and dorter (WCM 96379) {1}.
This monument refers only to the stretch of wall south of the dorter range. Immediately north of the Water Gate it is composed of sandstone masonry of longish rectangular blocks of late medieval character, with two chamfered offsets one about a metre above the other. There is a blocked doorway c.10 metres around the corner from the Water Gate, then from c.20 metres north, a uniformly built stretch commences which has clasping buttresses at regular intervals. This coincides with the extent of the garden south of the dorter range and is probably a 19th-century rebuild. It bends to the east (inland) shortly before the junction with the dorter range {2}.
It may have originated in instructions in 1236-7 to the bishop to crenellate his section of the riverside wall, or in the prior's 1369 licence to crenellate the cathdral priory {3}. It may alternatively have been one stage in a more complex and protracted process in the engineering of the gradient and river frontage to the west of the cathedral.
The 1732 south-west prospect of Worcester by the Buck brothers shows it as a plain wall with no distinguishing features. {ref}
Continues to S of Watergate as WCM 96357.
Listed: II* 620-1/3/696
Sources and further reading
| <1> | Unpublished document: 2001. Revised list of buildings of special architectural or historical interest. Department of Culture, Media and Sport, London. 620-1/3/696. |
| <2> | Unpublished document: Baker, N J. 2001. Field inspection, NJB, 9-01. |
| <3> | Article in serial: Beardsmore, C. 1980. Documentary evidence for the history of Worcester city defences. Trans Worcestershire Archaeol Soc. 3rd ser, 7. 60. |
Related records
| WCM96350 | Part of: The Cathedral Precinct (Monument) |
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