Pershore

The town contains much elegant Georgian architecture. In 1964 the Council for British Archaeology included Pershore in its list of 51 British "Gem Towns" worthy of special consideration for historic preservation,[3] and it has been listed as an outstanding conservation area. Parts of the abbey, which stand in an expanse of public grassland close to the centre of the town, date from the 11th century. The current structure is far smaller than the original building, which was plundered during the reign of Henry VIII at the Dissolution. The original nave was destroyed. The north transept collapsed later. The present nave occupies the western part of what would originally have been the choir.

Schools in Pershore follow the three-tier first school (ages 5–9), middle school (ages 9–12), high school (ages 12–18) system practised by parts of Worcestershire County Council. Pershore High School has a sixth form with all-weather sports pitches and sports hall.

Abbey Park First School and Abbey Park Middle School are on Abbey Road, they are both situated down the same drive. Pershore High School is on Station Road, which is on the outskirts of Pershore, bordering Pinvin, a small village.

Holy Redeemer Roman Catholic Primary School, situated on Priest Lane beside Holy Redeemer, Pershore's only Catholic church, stands outside the 3-tier model. It is a primary school (ages 5–11) which acts as a feeder school to Blessed Edward Oldcorne Catholic College in Worcester.

Pershore College, a school of horticulture and other land-based activities,[4] became a campus for Warwickshire College (now WCG) following a merger in 2007.

The town has a community arts centre, a Volunteer Centre, and a morris dance tradition.[5]

Pershore's football club, Pershore Town F.C., play in the West Midlands (Regional) League Premier Division. It also has a women's team, Pershore Town Ladies, who play in the new Herefordshire and Worcestershire Women's County Football League. Pershore Sports club, which houses Pershore Cricket Club who play in the Birmingham and District League, is situated at The Bottoms on Defford Road. Pershore Rugby Club has a clubhouse and pitches by the river in nearby Wyre Piddle. Multiple BTCC title winning team, Team Dynamics, is also based there. Wychavon Kayak & Canoe Club [8] is situated on the river at Pershore Riverside Centre. Pershore Plum Plodders is an England Athletics affiliated running club serving Pershore and the surrounding villages. The Abbey Park includes a bowls club, children's play area and skateboard park (2006), consisting of a mini ramp and a street section. Pershore Tennis Club, based at the Horticultural College, has three indoor and five outdoor courts, with junior, social and adult sections.

The high street has retail and food outlets, just off the High Street is a covered market and there are two supermarkets, one in the town and one on the outskirts.

Pershore Old Bridge

About 0.5 miles (0.80 km) outside the town is Pershore Old Bridge over the River Avon. A bridge was originally built on the site, in about 1413, by monks, supposedly after their abbot, Upton, was drowned falling from stepping-stones. The scene is included in the historical window installed in 1862–64 in Pershore Abbey.

In 1644, during the English Civil War, a later bridge was damaged and almost destroyed. In subsequent years the bridge was maintained by re-using stones from nearby Elmley Castle and from the abbey. In 1926 the bridge was taken out of service for road traffic and is now used only as a footbridge.

See also Category:People from Pershore
Natives

• Hugh Bennett (1862–1943), cricketer.
• Claude Choules (1901–2011), was the world's last living veteran of both world wars and supercentenarian.
• Giles Collier (1622–1678), Anglican divine.
• George Dowty (1901–1975), inventor and businessman.
• Florence Feek (1876-1940)[9] Suffragette
• George Mason I (1629–1686), progenitor of the politically significant Mason family in America.

Residents

• Nigel Clark, singer with pop band Dodgy[10]
• Michael Collie (1966–present), TV presenter, BBC Midlands Today.
• Kay Kinsman, (1909-1998), visual artist and mature student at Bishop's University, Lennoxville, Quebec
• Maurice McCanlis (1906–1991), sportsman.
• Charles Shadwell (1898–1979), musician.
• Toyah Willcox, actor and singer, and her husband Robert Fripp of rock band King Crimson.[11]
• Ian Catskilkin, guitarist with alt pop band Art Brut
• Lee Jackson, drummer with punk rock noiseniks Fights and Fires

Pershore is twinned with Bad Neustadt an der Saale in Germany and Plouay in France.

Like much of the British Isles, Pershore has a temperate maritime climate. Maximums range from 7.7 °C (45.9 °F) in January to 22.4 °C (72.3 °F) in July and minimums from 1.7 °C (35.1 °F) in January and February to 11.9 °C (53.4 °F) in August.[12] The January record high strangely occurred when it was dark; On 9 January 2015, temperatures rose to 16.1 °C (61.0 °F).[13] On 12 December 1981 the lowest reading of −22.0 °C (−7.6 °F) was recorded.[14] The warmest temperature ever recorded was 35.6 °C (96.1 °F) on 3 August 1990.[15] On 30 March 2017, Pershore recorded its warmest March day on record, beating the previous record set in 2012.[16]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Pershore.

• Pershore Tourist Information
• "Pershore" . Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). 1911.