St Oswald and St Wulfstan - The First Cathedral

In 961, Oswald took the position of Bishop at Worcester cathedral. Oswald went on to build a massive building (started in the 960's and supposedly completed in 983). Unfortunately, this building was sacked badly by the Danes in the 11th Century. As a result of this Wulfstan, who had survived as a bishop through the Norman invasion of 1066 (and continued to serve until his death in 1095) was ordered to build a Norman cathedral on the site. The Normans were not renowned for biding their time, in fact only 3 years after the invasion (1069), a Mott and Bailey castle appeared on the site and in fact caused much disturbance as it took away much of the Monks ground and a moat was built right through a burial ground.

Wulfstan famously made the statement:

"We miserable people have destroyed the work of saints, pompously thinking we can do better: how much more eminent than us was St Oswald who built this church; how many holy men of religion have served God in it."

Work began in 1084 and by 1089, the monks had moved in to the Cotswold limestone building. The dimensions of the finished building were probably not far short of those of the current building and the Crypt remains as a fantastically preserved piece of evidence for the white washed beauty of the original cathedral.

Work continued into the 12th Century but a major set back in 1175 when the tower collapsed (what is likely, is that this was an extension to the shorter original tower). The tower was replaced and existed until the 14th Century when the present tower was built.