Archive

In 2018 Historic England funded Worcestershire Archive and Archaeology Service, in partnership with Worcester City Historic Environment Record, to fully catalogue the practice archive of F.W.B and Mary Charles Chartered Architects. A selection of the archive was subsequently digitally captured and the resulting images have been made publicly accessible online.  Now, in 2019, The Vernacular...

The west bank of the River Severn in Worcester has seen enormous change over the past 100 years and, especially in the area around Hylton Road and Tybridge Street, has been the setting for large-scale building demolition and slum clearance. Perhaps most memorable and certainly most imposing of all those buildings was the Worcester Generating...

This is the twentieth in a series of blog posts celebrating the life and work of timber-frame building specialists F.W.B ‘Freddie’ and Mary Charles. Funded by Historic England, the ‘Charles Archive’ project aims to digitise and make more accessible the Charles Archive collection.   This blog explores the methods and techniques Freddie Charles used within...

This is the eighteenth in a series of blog posts celebrating the life and work of timber-frame building specialists F.W.B ‘Freddie’ and Mary Charles. Funded by Historic England, the ‘Charles Archive’ project has digitised and made more accessible the Charles Archive collection, which is now accessible at ADS.   This blog examines 31 High Street...

Ridge and furrow earthworks, the remains of former field systems, exist across Worcestershire. They are often overlaid by the straight boundaries of later inclosed fields and form an important part of the landscape character in Worcestershire and the identity of local areas.  The pressure for land for development and changes in agriculture in the second...

  The cold and ice of the last glacial reached its worst about 21,000 years ago. Since then the earth has become warmer, allowing humans to return to Britain 15,000 years ago across Doggerland, the area now covered by the North Sea. But the impact of the Ice Age remains all around us. Today, about...

This is the seventeenth in a series of blog posts celebrating the life and work of timber-frame building specialists FWB ‘Freddie’ and Mary Charles. Funded by Historic England, the ‘Charles Archive’ project aims to digitise and make more accessible the Charles collection. If you want to explore the High Street yourself we have downloadable trail...

This is the seventh in a series of blog posts celebrating the life and work of timber-frame building specialists FWB ‘Freddie’ and Mary Charles. Funded by Historic England, the ‘Charles Archive’ project aims to digitise and make more accessible the Charles Archive collection. Inspired by material found within the Charles Archive this blog explores the...

  The 20th century was a period of rapid industrial, economic, social, cultural and technological change. These changes, often driven and most certainly overshadowed by war, transformed the English landscape, adding another layer of complexity to England’s long history of re-invention. Many people, through the experiences of their parents and grandparents, feel a deep connection...

Adding a new layer: 20th century non-domestic buildings and public places in Worcestershire   The 20th century was a period of rapid industrial, economic, social, cultural and technological change. These changes, often driven and most certainly overshadowed by war, transformed the English landscape, adding another layer of complexity to England’s long history of re-invention.  ...