Summary

Civil War fort known as Fort Royal 230m west of St. Richard’s Hospice.

Source: Historic England

Details

This record was the subject of a minor enhancement on 27 May 2015. This record has been generated from an "old county number" (OCN) scheduling record. These are monuments that were not reviewed under the Monuments Protection Programme and are some of our oldest designation records.

This monument includes a Civil War fort situated on a prominent hill overlooking the southern part of the medieval city of Worcester. The monument survives as an enclosure with large earthwork banks with a partially buried exterior quarry ditch and a hollow way. The fort was constructed between 1643 and 1646 with modifications in 1651. The enclosed area is sub square in plan with low earthwork curtain walls each approximately 60m long. At each corner is a rounded earthwork bastion, the south western one being approximately 30m wide, protruding about 24m from the curtain walls. The entrance to the fort is denoted by sandstone piers that are visible on the north eastern side. Excavations during 1969 uncovered the exterior ditch on the eastern side. A hollow way connected the fort to the medieval city walls and is denoted by a partially buried ditch on the north western part of the site.

The fort was originally star shaped in plan and overlooked the Sidbury Gate of Worcester city walls.

Source: Historic England

Reasons for Scheduling

English Civil War fieldworks are earthworks which were raised during military operations between 1642 and 1645 to provide temporary protection for infantry or to act as gun emplacements. The earthworks, which may have been reinforced with revetting and palisades, consisted of banks and ditches and varied in complexity from simple breastworks to complex systems of banks and inter- connected trenches. They can be recognised today as surviving earthworks or as crop- or soil-marks on aerial photographs. The circumstances and cost of their construction may be referred to in contemporary historical documents. Fieldworks are recorded widely throughout England with concentrations in the main areas of campaigning. Those with a defensive function were often sited to protect settlements or their approaches. Those with an offensive function were designed to dominate defensive positions and to contain the besieged areas. There are some 150 surviving examples of fieldworks recorded nationally.

All examples which survive well and/or represent particular forms of construction are identified as nationally important. Despite landscaping into a public park and the construction of path and car park surfaces, the Civil War fort known as Fort Royal survives comparatively well. The significance of this site as part of the defence of Worcester during the Civil War considerably enhances the importance of this monument.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Alan Brooks, , Buildings of England Worcestershire, (2007)
Page, W, Willis-Bund, J W (editors), The Victoria History of the County of Worcester: Volume IV, (1924)
Other
PastScape Monument No:- 116142

Source: Historic England