Worcester

Antique shops flourish practically everywhere in England. Obviously this is to a great extent due to the many visitors, both from overseas and from other parts of the country, wanting to take home with them a momento of their stay in a particular place. There is no doubt that it is also due, in no small part, to the enormous wealth of innovative designs in a wide variety of goods made *in this country over such a long period. It is surely true to say that tomorrow's antiques are generally today's utilitarian articles and the rarity value that many of the antiques possess is due to the original articles fragile nature. Certainly this must be true of the glassware and porcelain which is now so eagerly collected. Sadly, the craftsmen who worked on so many of the highly prized antiques collected today were not to know the fame and value that was to be placed on their work in years to come., This is well illustrated by the superb porcelain made by the Worcester Porcelain Factory, later to become the Royal Worcester Porcelain Company, which now forms a collection in the Dyson Perrins Museum in Worcester. As we examine the beautiful workmanship of such collections perhaps we should also spare a moment to wonder how much of what we are producing today will eventually be considered worthy of collection!

Worcestershire is another of England's 'garden counties' with its rich 'farmland supporting an abundance of apple orchards and hop fields as well as providing lush meadows for cattle grazing. Counties such as Worcestershire always seem doubly fortunate, for 'in addition to the value of the crops they are able to grow they invariably seem to have the added benefit of great natural beauty, and few would deny that this is so of Worcestershire. Any county in England would surely be proud to boast that the glorious Vale of Evesham, together with the equally lovely village of Broadway the 'Painted Lady of the Cotswolds' as it used to be known lay within its borders.

In the ninth century a form of ecclesiastical tax, known since early Biblical times as a Tithe, became compulsory in England. By tradition it consisted of a tenth part of a man's produce annually. In rural parts of the country, where farming was the main livelihood, it took, not surprisingly, the form of grain. This grain became the property of the church and required storage facilities. It was for this purpose that Tithe Barns were constructed and several of these remain throughout the country. One of the best preserved examples, built *in the fourteenth century, is at Bredon, in Worcestershire. After the passing of the Tithes' Commutation Act of 1836, tithes gradually became converted into rent charges and the old form eventually fell into virtual disuse.