Worcester Porcelain and a trip up the Cathedral Tower

It was another beautiful day in Worcester.  I heard one person say that the weather forecast suggest a return  to misery on Tuesday.  Apparently, the Brits have had a terrible summer, so the beautiful weather we've had over the past week has been a super treat.  Our little Worcester group (Helen, Kathryn, Kaitlyn and I) was particularly thrilled to have such great weather today since it meant we could  have a full day wandering about our little corner of Worcester.

En route to our first stop, we passed this sign

You've got to love British signs.

Kathryn and I started off at the Worcester Porcelain museum.  It was "Heritage Day" so admission was half price.

The Porcelain Museum is located adjacent to the buildings which formed the Porcelain Factory.   As we entered, we encountered an exhibitor who had started working at the Worcester Porcelain Factory in 1950 at age 16. 

We learned that in the 18th and 19th centuries that girls as young as 6 and boys as young as 9 worked at the factory from 6-6 Monday through Saturday.  Often, children worked with their parents in the factory, which addressed the question of one of the writers for the Worcester Porcelain Factory website.  This writer was curious about how such young children could manage to concentrate on this work.  Some of these kids could go to school, many learned to read and write--but not all.  There was a disparity in the kind of work assigned girls as opposed to boys.  Boys could learn "finer" crafts. 

It all sounds rather oppressive to modern readers, but apparently, Worcester Porcelain Factory was considered a beneficent employer in comparison to some of the horrific conditions facing workers in other venues throughout England. 

Another issue concerned how workers were paid for their efforts.  Some workers were paid by the piece.  Given how long it took to produce each individual item, some workers (and we're talking 20th century here) had to find supplemental employment to make ends meet.

After going through the museum, one really gains an appreciation for the costs of these beautiful items.

Mr. Russell was sitting at the opening of the Museum demonstrating his craft.

Mr. Russell is a gilder who does fine, miniature work using metals on the surface of the glaze.  We learned that gilders found honey facilitated the application of gold on the surface of these fine pieces.  We also learned the decorative work was applied atop the glaze, not under it.  The work was unbelievably detailed, and excruciatingly time-consuming.

Mr. Russell indicated that he had to do six or seven firings.

His work is exquisite.

The museum is loaded to the gills with phenomenal pieces.  I ended up taking so many photos I wore out my camera's battery--and I just charged it last night.  Still, there were so many beautiful pieces, it is hard to choose which images to share.

This little beauty  above is known as the Wigornia Creamboat, one of the earliest known pieces of Worcester porcelain.  "Wigornia" is an early name for Worcester.

I don't remember what this piece was meant to do, but it was eye-catching, albeit excessive.

I loved this piece.  It is an 18th century eye bath made by the Worcester Porcelain Factory.  Before he died, one of the factory's founders, Dr. John Wall,  often prescribed eye baths to address eye problems which plagued citizens of the era.

There were many commemorative and commissioned pieces throughout the museum.

This was a set commissioned by Admiral Lord Nelson.  Apparently, Admiral Lord Nelson died before his complete order had been finished, and all that was finished was the breakfast set.  Lady Hamilton, Lord Nelson's mistress, was the beneficiary of that set.

These are two extraordinary pieces used for ice creams--some made with vegetables.

There are so many more pieces, but I have already overloaded on these images, so I'll conclude with two favorites, including this piece

which commemorated "A Midsummer's Night's Dream", as well as this  20th century piece

which was exhibited by a private collector at the museum for the day.  It was not a Worcester Porcelain piece, but I found the figure to be extraordinary.  I love her face.


After a little buckyou-uppo at the Cathedral Cafe (a delicious cream tea), Helen, Kaitlyn and I set off to climb the bell tower of the Worcester Cathedral.  We had attempted to go up earlier this week, but with students returning to school, the Cathedral closed the tower.

The day started cloudy, but by 11 a.m. the skies cleared making it a perfect opportunity to go up the tower.  It was well worth it.  The website claims there are 235 steps.   Frankly, that seems like a gross underestimate.  We were warned it would be strenuous, steep and narrow.  It was.  There are two main sections of stairs.  The first set of stairs goes up to a room where people learn how to ring the bells.

This set didn't seem so bad.  The passage way  wasn't terribly wide, but it wasn't oppressive.  The same could be said of the initial set of stairs.  The second set of stairs lived up to their reputation.  The first set of steps had a few mini-landings where folks could step aside and let others pass.

The height of the doorways was not an issue for me, but it would be a challenge for anyone over 5'6".  The second set of stairs were another story all together.  The passageway became increasingly more narrow with narrower steps as well. 

As I've gotten older, I've become increasingly more claustrophobic.  I was worried about that today, but Helen, Kaitlyn and I made it up to the top without incident.

The views were spectacular.

Helen's camera has the capacity to form panoramic views.  Here's a sample:

Helen and I took loads of photos, but it doesn't seem fair to overload this blog with too many tower-top shots.

Kaitlyn found getting down from the tower to be worse than the climb up; I found it to be much easier to walk down the stairs, but it was still tricky.. I went first down the stairs with Kaitlyn in the middle and Helen bringing up the rear.

We stopped by the Anchor for a drink--I had my first cider (not quite what I was expecting)-- and finished off the day with a meal prepared by the youngest of our group--and very tasty I might add--and then a screening of Part I of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

Tomorrow will be devoted to a quiet day of reading.