A HISTORY OF WORCESTERSHIRE 



The Romano-British name of the place is not known nor has any 

 probable conjecture ever been suggested concerning it. The earliest forms 

 of the English name as preserved in Saxon charters are Wigeran (or 

 Wiogeran) Ceaster, and the first half of this, Wigeran or Wiogeran, 

 which has certainly nothing to do with the Hwicii, and probably is not 

 English at all, may conceivably contain some vestige of a British name. 

 But no name occurs in the Itinerary of Antonine or in any other Roman 

 document about Britain which can be identified with Worcester. Some 

 sixteenth-century writers suggested the Bravonium of the Itinerary, a 

 station on the road from Viroconium (Wroxeter) to Isca (Caerleon), and 

 in sixteenth century fashion went so far as to dub old Senatus, prior of 

 Worcester in 1189 a.d., Senatus Bravonius.^ But the route from 

 Wroxeter to Caerleon unquestionably ran through Herefordshire, not 

 through Worcestershire, and Bravonium is probably Leintwardine. 

 Others identified Worcester with Brannogenium, which Ptolemy names 

 as chief town of the Ordovices. But this guess must also be rejected, for 

 the Ordovices lived in North Wales. We must be content not to know 

 the Roman name of the place. 



Another ancient name has often been given to Worcester. This pro- 

 fesses to be a British and not a Roman name, and it is undoubtedly not 

 authentic, but its history is curious and worth a glance. It begins in or 

 about the seventh century when an unknown author compiled a list of 

 twenty-eight cities in Britain. The names of these cities are Celtic 

 with Caer prefixed ; most of them are entirely unknown and the value 

 of the whole list is extremely slight. However it contains a Caer 

 Guiragon, or perhaps Guoeirangon or Guoranegon (the manuscripts vary), 

 and with this name we are concerned. The list came into the hands of 

 a twelfth-century historian and antiquary, Henry of Huntingdon, who 

 altered it to his taste, inserted identifications apparently of his own 

 devising, and incorporated the result in his book. Among the identifica- 

 tions we find Caer Gorangon (so Henry spells it) equated with Wigornia, 

 that is Worcester. No reason is given ; and so far as one can see no 

 reason existed, beyond the obvious fact that Wigornia and Gorangon each 

 contains the letters gor and n. In this item, as indeed throughout the 

 list, Henry appears to have guessed in a manner which we should now 

 call most arbitrary, and no real value can be attached to his identifica- 

 tions. Unfortunately, having once been made they stuck. Medieval 

 chroniclers and modern antiquaries alike repeated them, connected other 

 names with them, and piled up spacious but baseless hypotheses. In the 

 case of Worcester, Caer Gorangon (respelt Caer Wrangon) was put 

 beside Bravonium and Brannogenium by sixteenth-century writers ; 

 Bravonium was rechristened Branonium and the three names fused into 



1 Leland De Scriptoribus Britann. (ed. Hall) and Genethllacon Edwardi (ed. Hearne in the Itinerary, ix. 

 p. xxviii.). Valentine Green in his Survey (1764) and History of Worcester (1796) states that Senatus 

 called himself Bravonius, but this is wrong : the epithet does not occur till the sixteenth century. Its 

 earlier occurrence would indeed be very remarkable, since the name Bravonium is preserved solely in 

 the Itinerary, and that work was unknown till about 1500 a.d. 



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