Worcestershire Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. Between 1974 and 1998, it was merged with the neighbouring county of Herefordshire as Hereford and Worcester. The cathedral city of Worcester is the largest settlement and county town. Other major towns in the county include Bromsgrove, Droitwich, Evesham, Kidderminster, Malvern, Redditch, and Stourport-on-Severn. The north-east of Worcestershire includes part of the industrial West Midlands; the rest of the county is largely rural. The county is divided into six administrative districts: Worcester, Redditch, Wychavon, Malvern Hills, Wyre Forest, and Bromsgrove. The county borders
Economics of English towns and trade in the Middle Ages Economics of English towns and trade in the Middle Ages The economics of English towns and trade in the Middle Ages is the economic history of English towns and trade from the Norman invasion in 1066, to the death of Henry VII in 1509. Although England's economy was fundamentally agricultural throughout the period, even before the invasion the market economy was important to producers. Norman institutions, including serfdom, were superimposed on a mature network of well established towns involved in international trade. Over the next five centuries the English economy would at first grow and then suffer an acute crisis,