HEREFORDSHIRE, WORCESTERSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE - Geography and history
Warwickshire lies to the south and east of Birmingham and Coventry, and is bordered by the Cotswold hills to the south. Herefordshire and Worcestershire, lying to the west of Warwickshire, is almost twice the area, but has a lower population density. The western part of Hereford and Worcester, which was formerly the distinct county of Herefordshire, contains the Malvern hills and the Black mountains that border onto Wales. The eastern part of the county is lower lying, and is predominantly rich in agricultural land. The three counties cover an area of 5,900 km2 and had a population density of 210 inhabitants per km2 in 2002.
The principal towns in Warwickshire lie in the north, close to the West Midlands conurbations of Birmingham and Coventry. The administrative centre is Warwick; other towns include Rugby, Nuneaton and Leamington. In Herefordshire and Worcestershire, too, the principal towns are near the West Midlands border: Worcester, Kidderminster, Bromsgrove and the new town of Redditch.
The M5 motorway, connecting Birmingham with the Southwest, traverses Hereford and Worcester, and the M40 connecting Birmingham and London passes close to Warwick. Express rail services run via Birmingham to the north, while Hereford is on the main route to south Wales.
Agriculture and communications lead the way
Traditionally, Herefordshire and Worcestershire are agricultural counties, and Warwickshire too, although influenced by the growth of industries to the north, retains a significant agricultural sector. Availability of good agricultural land ensures that dairy farming predominates. However the proximity of Birmingham and Coventry to the north ensures a substantial market-gardening sector, particularly in Herefordshire and Worcestershire. Ancillary industries (agricultural engineering and food processing) have also developed in both counties, but the main industrial centres have grown up in the north of both counties as engineering and metals manufacturing spread from Birmingham and Coventry. While expanding the industrial base of these regions, this has made towns such as Worcester, Bromsgrove and Rugby vulnerable to any downturns in the manufacturing sector. More recently, other growth has come from the transport and distribution industries, which exploit the counties' central location and availability of land for development in the expanding industrial towns of Bromsgrove and Redditch.
There have also been improvements to road and rail links. Ease of communications also benefits the significant tourist industries based on Warwick and Stratford-upon-Avon, the birthplace of William Shakespeare.
New towns encourage population shift
In Herefordshire, in 2001, around 7 per cent of the work force is engaged in agriculture. In the more industrial districts of Worcester, Redditch and Nuneaton & Bedworth agriculture is negligible. In fact, agriculture is generally less important in Worcestershire and Warwickshire. In no district did it employ more than 5 per cent of the work force, in 2001.
The total population of the three counties was of 1.2 million inhabitants in 2002, which increased by 12 per cent since 1982. Population over recent decades has grown in all three counties, due mainly to the migration of people from the conurbations of Birmingham and Coventry to the north. The districts showing the fastest growth in population since 1980s were Worcester and Wychavon, whose populations both increased by around a fifth between 1982 and 2002. All districts in the three counties experienced population growth during this period.
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