History of Fort Royal

A group of the Friends of Fort Royal are working on a history of Fort Royal - the area rather than the park or ancient monument. We haven't a place to put up displays, or the money to create them, so we are posting material here to begin with. It would be good at a later date to exhibit or publish the results, perhaps in conjunction with the possible improvements to the battle site.

• You can post any text directly in a comment below,
• or email it to fortroyal1651@yahoo.co.uk with details of your name, street address and telephone number if possible.
  
• If you are attaching a picture or anything else to your email, please mention it in the subject line so that we can tell it's not a virus!
• Send us anything about the history of your house and the people who lived in it, your street, remembered local shops and factories, things you dug up in the garden!.
• Take a photo or scan in an old one. Let us know about any prints or slides you have if you can't scan them.

We don't have formal boundaries for the area Fort Royal covers, but the land bounded by London Road, the Railway and the Canal is certainly inside it.

There's holy ground in Worcester

There's holy ground in Worcester.
Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, both later Presidents of the USA, but at that time diplomats in Paris and London, came to Worcester in 1768. Standing on Fort Royal Hill, they declared "All England should come in pilgrimage to to this hill." The link, to the website of the Worcester News, tells why.

Where's Fort Royal, then?

Fort Royal is in Worcester, a City in England. It had a quiet history as a piece of open ground, perhaps sheep pasture, until 3 September 1651, when as a defensive fort of the Royalists under King Charles II, it was overrun by the Parliamentarians under Oliver Cromwell. The story is told well on the Worcestershire Archaeology pages Worcestershire Archaeology
The fort may then have been reduced to the ground, but the remains of the high earthworks are very evident, in what is now a pleasant public park near the the Commandery Museum. Many visitors come here to see and photograph the best views of Worcester Cathedral.
Friends of Fort Royal is a group of neighbours set up to take an interest in the park and its wider area, which is also called Fort Royal. Picture is by John Stafford © 2005