The Skeleton of the City.

A map of the historic core of Worcester. Based on the highly-detailed and accurate large-scale Ordnance Survey plans of the 1880s. It shows the extent of the built-up area as it was in 1779. Changes in the town plan known to have taken place after the Middle Ages have been edited out (e.g. College Street, inserted in the 1790’s).

As well as the streets, property or plot boundaries are shown. While some may have been of recent origin when surveyed in the 1880’s, many more are likely to have been extremely ancient, dating back to the earliest period of permanent development.

Stripped down to only the most ancient and persistent landscape features, this kind of map is a basic tool for urban archaeological analysis.