The area now known as Worcestershire has had human presence for over half a million years. Interrupted by two ice ages, Worcestershire has had continuous settlement since roughly 10,000 years ago. In the Iron Age, the area was dominated by a series of hill forts, and the beginnings of industrial activity including pottery and salt mining can be found. It seems to have been relatively unimportant during the Roman era, with the exception of the salt workings. During the Anglo-Saxon era, Worcestershire was an important base of Church power and learning. The county as a named political entity dates to this time, being formed in 918.
From the Middle Ages, the role of the city of Worcester becomes particularly important in the county. The city's merchants, Church, aristocracy and gentry become the main power brokers, and tensions between them can be seen. The county had an important role in the English Civil War, being part of the Royalists' front line, and already important for metal working and small arms. It was later the site of Charles II's defeat at the Battle of Worcester in 1651, and local Catholic aristocrats aided his escape. Northern Worcestershire produced a number of prominent religious leaders, many of whom left the Anglican church in the Great Ejection.
The northern part of Worcestershire, including the Dudley and Netherton enclave, was one of the major centres of the British Industrial Revolution. Dudley specialised in iron and coal production, Kidderminster in carpet production, Stourbridge in glass, Bromsgrove and areas of southern Birmingham in nail making, Redditch in needles and fish hooks. Canals and later railways aided export of local goods. Further south, Worcester's glove and porcelain industries became less important than manufacturing. Worcestershire is still important for agriculture, particularly in the Vale of Evesham. Local government reorganisations meant that the Dudley enclave and the King's Norton area of southern Birmingham are no longer in Worcestershire. Other smaller boundary changes have taken some parishes out of the county and added others.
Prehistory Paleolithic
There is evidence of human presence in Worcestershire from the Paleolithic period, roughly 700,000–500,000 years ago. Flint axe heads have been found near at Hallow near Worcester, for instance. However, evidence from this period is hard to come by, not least because hunter-gathering societies would roam extensively and not congregate in towns and villages. Tools have mostly been recovered from sand and gravel quarries in the county., The lack of finds appears to be contributing to under-investment in seeking out and preserving them.
The first inhabitants appear to have followed the Bytham River system, which at the time drained eastwards from Evesham to East Anglia. Glaciation pushed settlement back, and humans again appear around 300,000 years ago. Nearly 40 hand axes from this period have been recovered, mostly from near the last glaciation of around 10,000 BC. 15 axes were recovered at Kemerton.
Mesolithic Between 10,000 and 3,500 BC, at the start of the current Holocene period, the climate improved. Forests grew, allowing humans to reinhabit the area, again with a hunter-gatherer economy. Settlers of the Mesolithic period are often identified through their use of flint tools, such as the 1,400 fragments found near Kidderminster at Wribbenhall. Other finds included post holes, a hearth, gullies and a pit. This site has been dated to roughly 6,800 BC, making it the oldest settlement yet identified in Worcestershire. Pollen evidence shows that crops were already being grown and woodlands cleared.
Neolithic The evidence for the Neolithic period is more extensive. Finds were first located before the Second World War in Bewdley, Lindridge, Broadwas and, at Worcester, a skull. Farming has left many traces, for instance cropmarks on gravel terraces. Settlements can be identified from post holes, for instance at Huntsman's Quarry, Kemerton. However, the most obvious Neolithic evidence comes from their ritual landscape. At Fladbury, a possible cursus has been found, enclosures that may be defined in relationship to changes in the sky and stars. At Whittington Tump a hill has been heightened to make another ceremonial or burial monument.
Stone axes from the Neolithic show extensive trade links, including examples from Brittany and northern Italy or Switzerland, as well as Cornwall, North Wales and the Lake District. Pottery finds also start in this period. Finds at Clifton, Severn Stoke, include Grooved ware pottery, axes, and burnt stones used to heat water for cooking or possibly a sauna.
Bronze Age Bronze Age finds include weapons come from Worcestershire's valleys especially near potential fordable river crossings on the Avon such as Harvington, Evesham and Defford, and on the Severn, Bewdley, Holt, Worcester, Kempsey and Pixham. Flint axes, arrowheads, and flakes found in the Malvern area are attributed to early Bronze Age settlers. Burial sites are also important sources of information about the Bronze Age. Around twenty barrows have been found in the county and two have been excavated, at Holt and Wyre Piddle.
Worcestershire changed during the Bronze Age to a predominantly agricultural landscape. Peat evidence from near Bredon Hill and Birlingham in the Avon area shows that it was cleared by the earlier part of the period. A lack of cereal grain finds has been interpreted as indicating that the land was used for cattle farming. The clearance of forest land is also evidenced by alluvium deposits on the lower lands in the county, caused by river flooding. A move towards open settlements may be detected as the lands became more fully occupied.
Current field systems may date from the later Bronze Age. For instance, the evidence at Kerton and Wyre Piddle shows a relationship between the Bronze Age boundaries and contemporary fields. The "Shire Ditch", a late Bronze Age boundary earthwork possibly dates from around 1000 BC, its boundary being respected by later settlement patterns. Similarly, Roman field boundaries seem to have kept their alignment with a Bronze Age boundary at Childswickham.
Bronze Age evidence also shows bronze casting and textiles at Kemerton.
Iron Age From around 600BC, Iron Age became the predominant technology, being harder than bronze and easy to manipulate into many tools. In Worcestershire, the most visible reminder of the period is hill forts. There around ten or twelve extant, including British Camp, Wychbury Hill and Hanbury. The full list may include east of the Severn Bredon Hill, Conderton Camp, and Headless Cross; and west of the Severn, Woodbury Hill, Berrow Hill Camp and Gadbury Bank
A promontory fort can be found by the Severn at Kempsey. Many are visible to each other, suggesting that they were centres of organisation and power. Their functions may have included meeting places, a means to control livestock, grain storage, residences and tribal centres.
Farming in the period shows a mixture of settlements lasting long periods, but not being fully stable and permanent. The middle of the period seems to be marked by the abandonment of both farms and hill forts. However, there is also continuity between this period and the Roman occupation.
The Wyche Cutting, a pass through the Malvern hills, was in use during the Iron Age as part of the salt route from Droitwich to South Wales. A 19th-century discovery of over two hundred metal money bars near the Wyche cutting has been said to suggest that the Malvern area had been inhabited by the La Tène people around 250 BC.
Evidence of Iron Age salt production has been found at Droitwich itself. A pottery industry exporting into the surrounding area began in the Malvern area, continuing into the Middle Ages.
Roman
A period of client state relations, with tributes and political arrangements being made between the Roman Empire and Celtic Britons preceded the invasion. Caesar attempted it and Augustus planned to the same. Emperor Claudius successfully conquered Britain in a campaign starting in 43AD.
Excavations at Midsummer Hill fort, Bredon Hill, and Conderton Camp all show evidence of violent destruction around the year 48 AD. This may suggest that British Camp was also abandoned or destroyed around the same time.
Worcestershire was quickly behind Roman front lines. This means that there is little evidence of Roman military presence in the county, excepting some ten small road defences, such as one near Kempsey that appears to have belonged to the Roman Second Legion Augusta, headquartered at Isca Augusta, Caerleon in South Wales. There are also bridge remains over the Severn near Kempsey which have been attributed to the Romans.
Two forts have been found at Dodderhill next to the Droitwich salt workings. A villa or other high-profile building with mosaics has also been found here in 1847 during the construction of the canal and railway. There is evidence for Roman industrial production such as iron works in Worcester, but no sign of municipal buildings, although a small defended site has been detected, perhaps to guard the river crossing.
Excavations at Kings Norton found signs of a small Romano-British settlement, including kilns for pottery manufacture, and more recently Roman pottery and a Roman ditch at Parsons Hill, near Icknield Street.
Worcestershire as a whole does not seem to have been prominent in the villa system, except in its south eastern corner, near the Cotswolds, where Romanised agriculture was deeply established. Worcestershire was also not on the network of major Roman roads, although a number of roads have been detected.
Anglo-Saxon The Roman administrative system appears to have disappeared swiftly after the withdrawal of their troops. However, Worcestershire probably remained Romano-British in cultural, linguistic and religious terms. There is little archaeological evidence. There appears to have been farming activity in Worcester, such as a few farmhouses and evidence for grazing at Deansway. There is evidence that St Helen's Church in Worcester could have had a British origin. Salt workings in Droitwich appear to have continued.
Kingdom of the Hwicce
The conquest of the area by Anglo-Saxons appears to have been relatively late. Gloucester and Bath were taken around 577 by the West Saxons at the Battle of Deorham. In 613, the Battle of Chester pushed the Welsh beyond the River Dee. In these early years, it is possible that very minor kingdoms or fiefdoms were established, for instance of the Weorgoran, from which it is believed Worcester takes its name.
The area now known as Worcestershire was part of the early English kingdom of the Hwicce, which was quickly made subordinate to Mercia. The exact boundaries of their kingdom are uncertain, but it is likely that they coincided with those of the old Diocese of Worcester. The kingdom would, therefore, have included Worcestershire except for its northwestern tip. The toponym Hwicce survives in Worcestershire in the names of Wichenford, Wychbury Hill and Droitwich.
Diocese of Worcester
The diocese was founded in 679–680, and early bishops bore the title Episcopus Hwicciorum. The diocese seems to have benefited in the 8th century from the support of the kings of Mercia. Through royal support the bishopric was able to gradually extend its control over prominent minsters. Initially, these were under the control of Hwiccan royals, as family property. This appears to have been gradually transferred to the control of the Bishopric, under the sponsorship of the Mercian kings, the process driven by the self-interest of the Mercian monarchy. As well as undermining local rivals through this process, the Mercian kings also derived revenue from church lands in this period.