Worcestershire is an inland English county of very irregular outline, bounded on the N. by Shropshire and Staffordshire, E. by Warwickshire and Oxfordshire, S. by Gloucestershire, and W. by Herefordshire and Shropshire. Its extreme northern and southern length is 50 miles, and its greatest breadth, east to west, 26 miles; but from the irregularity of its borders its area is but 738 sq. m., or 472,453 acres. Pop. (1801) 146,445; (1851) 276,926; (1881) 380,283; (1891) 413,753. The Severn is the chief river, and is navigable throughout the county from Bewdley to Tewkesbury, passing by the city of Worcester. The Warwickshire or Upper Avon, which enters Worcestershire near Cleeve, and passes by Evesham and Pershore, falling into the Severn at Tewkesbury, is also navigable. The other rivers of the county are mostly feeders of these two—the Stour, the Salwarp, and the Teme of the Severn, and the Arrow of the Avon. A small portion of the north-east corner of the shire lies in the basin of the Trent. The canals were of great importance before the development of the railway system, the Stourport uniting the Trent and Severn navigations, and the Worcester and Birmingham leaving the Severn at Diglis, and connecting at Birmingham with the general canal system. The local railways are those of the Midland and Great Western systems. The surface of the shire is diversified and picturesque, with many landscapes of great beauty. The chief hill range is that of the Malvern, on the border next Hereford; the Cotswolds stretch between Worcester and Gloucester; the Clents command part of the Warwick and Stafford frontier, chiefly of the 'Black Country'; the Lickey range is more central. The Clee Hills lie well to the north-west in Shropshire, but high broken ground stretches thence to the verge of Worcestershire in the romantic forest of Wyre. It is to the constant presence of one or other of these bold upland regions that the valleys of the Severn and the Avon owe that singular combination of sylvan and pastoral beauties which makes the landscapes of the county typical of some of the most characteristic and attractive phases of English scenery. The geology of Worcestershire is varied and interesting. Triassic rocks occupy most of the central region, with the Lias and Oolite of the Cotswolds on the south, and on the north Permian, Carboniferous, and Devonian. In the upland to which the Clent and Lickey Hills belong Silurian and Archæan rocks occur, and in the Malvern range Silurian, Cambrian, and Archæan. Taken in connection also with their igneous features, the Malvern Hills are almost unsurpassed for geological interest in the kingdom. The Rowley Rag basalt in the north-east corner of the county is noteworthy. The Silurian strata of Dudley are highly fossiliferous, and there are a number of good fossil localities in the Malverns and near—chiefly Silurian and Devonian. The mineral wealth of Worcestershire has had chief influence on its more recent history. As a whole it is a highly fertile agricultural region, with upland sheep-walks, productive tillage ground, and a very extensive fruit-growing area. Plums, pears, and apples are grown in enormous quantities, the neighbourhood of Pershore being the chief plum-growing centre in the kingdom, while the apples and pears are largely used in the manufacture of cider and perry. The more northern districts are, however, chiefly engaged in manufacture. Salt has been raised from the brine-springs at Droitwich (fed by immense beds of rock-salt in the Trias) certainly for more than 1000 years. The manufacture of iron, carried on by the Romans, has developed into the busy industries of the unlovely 'Black Country,' of which Dudley, with iron-mines and collieries, is the chief centre. Special branches of iron and steel industries are represented by the chain manufacture at Cradley and Netherton; nail-making at Halesowen and Bromsgrove, with 'edge-tools and smaller wares; while Redditch and Feckenham make needles and fish-hooks, and Brierley Hill turns out immense quantities of the coarser hardwares. Other developments of local mineral resources are seen in the fireclay goods of Stourbridge, and the glass wares produced there and at Stourport. The famous porcelain-works of Worcester have not the same immediate local connection. In the middle ages a great deal of cloth was made, which may now be regarded as represented by the carpet-weaving of Kidderminster; and there is another important local industry in the gloving of Worcester city.
Little is known of the early history of the county, but the Romans seated themselves at Worcester as a frontier town when they defeated the Silures. In Saxon days it first fell into the hands of the Hwicci, and then became part of Mercia. The shire chiefly finds place in the national life in connection with its city; but three of the great decisive battles of English history were fought wholly or in part upon its soil. At Evesham, August 4, 1265, Simon de Montfort was defeated and slain; at Tewkesbury, May 4, 1471, the Lancastrians under Margaret suffered their sorest defeat; at Worcester, September 3, 1651, Cromwell gained his 'crowning mercy.' Some of the most active participants in the Gunpowder Plot were associated with Worcestershire (see SECRET CHAMBERS). Antiquities of the older type are not numerous; still there are some fine earthworks, and those on the Herefordshire Beacon, the highest point but one of the Malverns, are among the finest in England. (This hill is 1370 feet high; the Worcestershire Beacon, the highest point in the county, 1440 feet.) The architectural antiquities of the county are chiefly ecclesiastical. There is remarkably fine Early English work in the cathedral, with a very noteworthy Norman crypt, and much that is interesting in the remains of the religious houses, as at Malvern, Pershore, and Evesham. There are many half-timbered dwellings, some of great merit. The changes in the civil organisation of the county have not been great. Before 1832 the shire had nine members; Dudley and Kidderminster were then enfranchised, and the total increased to twelve; at present there are eight, one each for five county divisions, and for Worcester, Dudley, and Kidderminster. Worcester and Dudley are county boroughs, and the other municipalities are Bewdley, Droitwich, Evesham, and Kidderminster. Of Worcestershire worthies may be mentioned Sir Thomas Littleton, Bishop Bonner, Samuel Butler,
T. Blount, Ralph Sheldon, John Baskerville, Lord Lyttelton, S. Foote, Warren Hastings, W. Huskisson, and Sir Rowland Hill.
See works by T. R. Nash (2 vols. 1781-99), J. Chambers (worthies, 1820), Sir C. Hastings (nat. hist. 1834), G. E. Roberts (geology, 1860), Lees (botany, 1867), J. Noake (1868 and 1877), W. Niven (old houses, 1873), and the present writer, R. N. Worth (1889).