Welcome to the British History Podcast. My name is Jamie and this is Episode 254.

Worcester. This show is ad-free due to member support. And as a way of thanking members

for keeping the show independent, I offer members only content, including extra episodes

and rough transcripts. You can get instant access to all the members' episodes by signing

up for membership at the British History Podcast.com for about the price of a lot tape

per month. And thank you very much to Patrick, Brian and Joshua for signing up already.

If you read a Vold Britain, I mean even if you read of modern Britain, you'd be forgiven

if you thought it was all London. Just all London from top to bottom. Because London

really soaks up a ton of the spotlight. It's sort of like Stonehenge of the non-Neolithic

period. You just can't avoid it. And we won't avoid it here either. London will be covered

regularly because it has to be. But Britain, not even England, is entirely London. In fact,

a lot of people in Britain have never been to London. So for today, let's talk about a different

town. Because while London is important, it's not the only urban centre on the island. And while

we've been talking about the development of the economic landscape of the Anglo-Saxon

territories during the Viking Age, we haven't yet talked about how these towns specifically

functioned and developed. Instead, we've just been discussing this in the abstract. So let's

talk about Worcester and how it developed. Now Worcester is old, like Neolithic old. Though

in those early days, it was probably just the waypoint on a major Neolithic trade route.

But later on, in the Iron Ages, it became part of the territory of the British Kingdom of

Dubuining. And as the region was populated with hill forts, which was common at the time,

the area of Worcester became fortified. However, for the most part, Worcester just flew under the

radar until the Roman occupation. And actually, even when it was Roman, it wasn't a marquee site.

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