Tudor - 16th to 17th Century (1485 - 1602)

During the Elizabethan times Worcester's story is one of international trade and development and the solidification of a civilised city with new buildings and architecture. By the end of the Tudor rule, Worcester had a population in excess of over 8000. It had more than doubled in size from when it's medieval ancestors walked the streets. Worcester developed a cloth industry, it bought it's wool locally and sold as far afield as Brussels and Antwerp gaining a reputation for high quality cloth. This dominated the industry during this period. Extravagancies such as wines and potteries came from all around Europe and so proving Worcester's trade was far spread at the time. Although it is worth note that although Worcester became a highly developed centre for trade and religious pilgrimage, the majority populous lived in squalor and toiled hard to make a few people very rich, as was often the norm for the time.

In terms of buildings and estate management, this became highly developed. The picture below shows Warndon Court Farm, the first brick built building in the county.

This building below, Queen Elizabeth House, so named because of an endowment by the Queen to the hospital. Local legend suggests that she made an address to the people from the balcony, however this is not conclusive, although she did visit the city in 1575. The building is not actually on it's ordinal site as it was moved (by means of greased rails) in 1891 to make way for a road improvement scheme.