SIR – I am looking forward to Worcester’s commemoration of the Civil War and would not consider this inappropriate for the Faithful City.
Recent generations have come to regard our time honoured title as some sort of reward for loyalty to the Royalist cause but this clearly cannot be the case when there are historical references to Worcester as the Faithful City which long pre-date the Civil War.
Alderman Sir Hubert Leicester thoroughly researched this and had to concede the origins of our title to be “obscured in the mists of antiquity”.
I rather like the suggestion that this originated with Bishop Wulfstan’s oath of allegiance to William of Normandy. He was faithful to that oath when he rallied the citizens of Worcester to the support of Ursa, Sheriff of Evesham in suppressing a revolt.
JOHN HINTON,
Worcester
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