Editing Alcester (section)

==History==
Alcester was founded by the [[Roman Britain|Romans]] in around AD 47 as a walled [[fort]]. The walled town, possibly named ''Alauna'' developed from the military camp. It was sited on [[Icknield Street]], a [[Roman roads in Britain|Roman road]] that ran the length of [[Roman Britain]] from south-west [[England]] to south [[Yorkshire]]. The town was also just north of the [[Fosse Way]], another important thoroughfare in Roman Britain.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.alcester-tc.gov.uk/information/history-of-alcester/ |title=History of Alcester – Alcester Town Council |access-date=25 January 2020 |archive-date=19 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191219050535/https://www.alcester-tc.gov.uk/information/history-of-alcester/ |url-status=live }}</ref> By the end of the [[2nd century]], Roman Alcester had developed into a bustling trading and market town: A small walled area in the centre of the town was surrounded by an extensive grid of roads serving a complex of workshops and their associated housing, which specialised in trades such as [[tanning (leather)|tanning]], metal working and [[pottery]] manufacture. Some of the houses of Roman Alcester appear to have been well endowed, with features such as heating, painted [[plaster]] and [[mosaic]] floors. Along with most Romano-British towns, it appears to have gone into decline in the [[4th century]] when the Romans began to leave Britain. Detailed [[archaeology|archaeological]] work began in the 1920s.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Slater |first1=Terry |title=A History of Warwickshire |date=1997 |isbn=0-85033-991-X |pages=25–29}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Alcester Roman Town |url=https://www.ourwarwickshire.org.uk/content/catalogue_her/alcester-roman-town |publisher=Our Warwickshire |access-date=3 May 2022 |archive-date=19 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220519110758/https://www.ourwarwickshire.org.uk/content/catalogue_her/alcester-roman-town |url-status=live }}</ref>

In the [[Early Middle Ages]], ''Alencestre'' had become an [[Anglo-Saxon]] [[market town]] in the [[Kingdom of Mercia]]. Alcester was also the site of [[Alcester Abbey]], a [[Benedictine]] [[monastery]] founded in 1138 by Ralph le Boteler.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/WAR/Alcester/Gaz1868 |title=Genuki: ALCESTER - Extract from National Gazetteer, 1868, Warwickshire |website=genuki.org.uk |access-date=25 January 2020 |archive-date=25 January 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200125092834/https://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/WAR/Alcester/Gaz1868 |url-status=live }}</ref> Richard de Tutbury, the last [[abbot]], resigned his office in 1467<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/warks/vol2/pp59-61 |title=Houses of Benedictine monks: Abbey of Alcester &#124; British History Online |website=british-history.ac.uk |access-date=25 January 2020 |archive-date=25 January 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200125092826/https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/warks/vol2/pp59-61 |url-status=live }}</ref> and Alcester [[Abbey]] was absorbed into the neighbouring [[Evesham Abbey]]. By 1515 Alcester Abbey was in ruins as a result of the neglect of various abbots, and later during the [[dissolution of the monasteries]] under [[Henry VIII of England|Henry VIII]] it was largely demolished. The ruins were granted to the local Greville family, who used much of the stone to rebuild their family seat of Beauchamp Court.<ref>{{PastScape|mnumber=328443/ |access-date=31 October 2014}}</ref>

Alcester competed in the competition for [[City status in the United Kingdom|city status]] as part of the [[Platinum Jubilee Civic Honours]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Alcester in the running for city status in Jubilee competition |url=https://www.redditchadvertiser.co.uk/news/19807439.alcester-running-city-status-jubilee-competition/ |access-date=2021-12-28 |website=Redditch Advertiser |language=en |archive-date=28 December 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211228193857/https://www.redditchadvertiser.co.uk/news/19807439.alcester-running-city-status-jubilee-competition/ |url-status=live }}</ref>