According to the celebrated local historian, the late Bill Gwilliam, the name Pitchcroft originates from the site’s full name, Pitchcroft Ham or, more anciently, Pitchcroft Holme, meaning the inner-island, a reference to the fact that the area acts as one of the city’s main floodplains. In times of flood, as seen all too often recently, the water can be as deep as three feet high across the entire site. The southern tip, now Croft Road car park, was locally referred to as Little Pitchcroft around the time the railway viaduct bisected the site in 1852.
During the first English Civil War, Royalist soldiers used Pitchcroft as the venue to recruit new members, drill and practise their archery, hence the naming of the nearby ‘Butts’, where the arrows fell at the foot or ‘butt’ of the city walls. Even Prince Rupert and Prince Maurice used the site and were caught unawares one morning during a siege when, according to contemporary reports, ‘suddenly a troop of five hundred horse attacked the Royals, who retired in confusion into the town.’ The military links to the site led to the area between Pitchcroft and the Tything being named Militia Meadow.
In a battle of another kind, local boxer and heavyweight champion, Tom Spring fought Jack Langan on a crowded and flooded Pitchcroft in January 1824. The fight, for a purse of 300 sovereigns, around £25,000 in today’s money, drew spectators from far and wide. Some 40,000 spectators braved the freezing conditions, the flood water and a crush caused by a temporary stand collapsing, to watch the contest. The bout lasted 77 rounds and ended with an exhausted Langan being carried prone but conscious from the ring.
Of course, Pitchcroft is most famous for horse racing which has taken place on the site since at least 1718, making Worcester one of the oldest racecourses in Britain and on a hot summer’s day its appeal is obvious. The railway’s arrival only contributed to the popularity of the meets especially as a specially constructed ‘spur-line’ took race-goers to within yards of the turnstiles on race-days.
The course layout has changed numerous times through its history with the once popular flat racing discontinued in 1966, but the National Hunt meetings, utilising the course’s fences, continues to provide exciting racing with large fields. In a popular move with spectators and jockey’s alike, summer jumping started at the course in 1995.
To view the original article this content was taken from, click here. The content was written by Judd Doughty who is a Lecturer and Course Leader in Sport at Worcester College of Technology.
