Worcester No. 3 / Bedwardine / St. John-in-Bedwardine / Uueogorna / Vveogorna / Weogorna / Wigornia / Wirccester / Wirecestre

There are three entries for Worcester [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [http://domesdaymap.co.uk/place/SO8454/worcester/] [accessed 30 October 2014], neither of which mention cleric or church in it. We found no entry for Bedwardine in the Domesday survey. Noake (1848) notes that "the chapel of St. John, in Bedwardine, was [...] made parochial" ca. 1371, to replace the older unconsecrated chapel of St. John of Wyke [aka Wick] which had been taken down. There is no mention of a font in Noake. Miller (1890) remarks on some Norman pillars in this church, but "The font is modern, and was erected together with the stained glass windows in chancel, in memory of John Whitmore Isaac." The Victoria County History (Worcester, vol. 3, 1913) notes: "The church of St. John the Baptist in Bedwardine was originally a chapel of ease to the church of St. Cuthbert, Wick Episcopi. St. Cuthbert had in its turn been a chapelry attached to the church of St. Helen, Worcester [...] It is not clear when the chapel in St. John's began to be more important than the mother church [...] William Lynn, bishop in 1370 [...] determined, at the request of the parishioners, to abandon the church of Wick, which was already 'half deserted and attended by very few,' and make St. John's Chapel the parish church. [...] The new church was consecrated in 1371. [...] The north arcade of three bays is of the 12th century, but the arches were destroyed some years ago [...] The font is modern." Brooks & Pevsner (2007) note that the "church of the medieval suburb w[est] of the Severn" [river] was Norman in origin, "though nothing of this is visible outside" now, and report a carved stone and marble font dating from the 1884 renovation. [NB; according to the Parish web site [www.stjohninbedwardine.co.uk/churchhist.html] [accessed 5 October 201], "St John’s church dates from about 1165. Originally it was one of two chapels on the west bank of the Severn, the other being at Lower Wick"; we have no information on the medieval font].