We had a couple of days with nothing planned so, rather than stay at home, we decided on two day trips. The first was to Worcester, the historic county seat (town) of Worcestershire. There are excellent road and rail links between Hereford and Worcester; the 25-30 mile journey takes about the same time (45 minutes) whether travelling by car or train. So we took the latter.
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| Photo 1: A Gulp of Magpies, Hereford (November 2024) |
The walk to the station is just under a mile and takes about 20 minutes at Mary's walking speed. On the way, Mary spotted a rather large number of magpies roosting in a tree on a bit of wasteland as we approached the station. There was probably a score or more - not all of them in the picture I took - of non-breeding magpies. In the garden we usually see anything from one to three magpies in a group. A group of magpies is known by many names including, but not exclusively, a conventicle, a gulp, a mischief, a tiding, a tribe and a tittering.
Worcester is famous for many things, among them are Lea & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce, Royal Worcester Porcelain, and the composer Edward Elgar but not the monkey wrench (as Google's Gemini reported) - that was Worcester, USA! Unfortunately, being a Monday, quite a few places were shut including the Museum of Royal Worcester.
One thing Worcester does have in abundance is swans ...
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| Photo 2: Swans on the River Severn at Worcester (November 2024) |
... largely down to the establishment of swan sanctuary along this stretch of the River Severn in the 1980s; angling is banned in the sanctuary which has reduced accidental deaths by ingestion of lead fishing weights¹ and entanglement in discarded fishing line. The Swan Food Project was set up to provide a source of nutritious pellets for the swans - available to buy at local retailers.
[Note 1: Fishing with lead weights was banned in 1987 though legacy lead weights still turn up every now and then]
This explained why the mute swans made a beeline for the river path shore, where we were standing, in the hope of a food bonanza.
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| Photo 3: Hungry Swans? |
We spent a little while in The Hive, the main city and university library, before heading via the swans to the Watergate entrance to Worcester Cathedral. This is the final resting place of John, King of England (1199 - 1216) ...
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| Photo 4: King John's Tomb, Worcester Cathedral (November 2024) |
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| Photo 5: Worcester Cathedral from the River (Severn) Path (November 2024) |
Worcester Cathedral (length = 130 m, width = 44 m, height = 62 m) is noticeably longer than Hereford Cathedral (length = 104 m, width = 78 m, height = 50 m) though not as wide.
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| Photo 6: Looking towards the West Window |
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| Photo 7: Worcester Cathedral Looking towards the High Altar |
Levels of ornamentation are much higher in Worcester Cathedral whether that is the painted ceilings ...
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| Photo 8: Painted Ceiling, Worcester Cathedral |
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| Photo 9: Tomb of a Local Dignitory |
I have to include a photograph of the altar frontal. Mary, as head broderer at Hereford Cathedral, wasn't overly impressed ...
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| Photo 10: Altar Frontal, Worcester Cathedral (November 2024) |
And, finally, there was a photographic exhibition in the Chapter House showing the naves of all 42 Anglican Cathedrals ...
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| Photo 11: Peter Marlow, The English Cathedral Exhibition |
One thing we didn't see were the peregrine falcons that nest regularly at Worcester Cathedral - wrong time of year.
We made our way slowly back to the railway station (Foregate Street) arriving back home in the dark around 6 pm. Tired (14,000 steps) but happy.
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