Centuries-old Worcester Cathedral ferry service continuing to row to keep its history alive
The service is over halfway through its season for another year, with its history believed to go back beyond the 1300
A service which has been taking people from one side of the River Severn in Worcester to the other for hundreds of years has been rowing away for another year to keep its long-standing history going.
The Worcester Cathedral Ferry became official in 1378 when a Watergate was built, but it's believed it was in operation long before 1300.
Run entirely by oars, its current boat 'Doris' has been on the water in the city since 1983 after it was found by former ferry master Mark Glossop, who retired in 2024, when he was on holiday in Dorset.
Originally called Moonraker, the boat was renamed Doris after Doris Kinnersley - a local woman who helped out places in the city.
Mr Glossop handed over the role to Stephen Cope following his retirement, who himself has been involved for around 14 years.
"There’s been a ferry point at the cathedral we reckon for about one and a half thousand years," he said.
"We can trace it back to the time when it wasn't the Cathedral ferry, it was the Priory ferry, because there was a priory in Worcester at about 500 AD."
Long-standing history
From 1540 to the present day, the ferry has been running between the Cathedral Watergate and Chapter Meadows following the dissolution of the priory.
According to the ferry service's website, several ferries have operated along the river in the past, but they now believe it is the only one still working through just oars.
Mr Cope said they do all they can to maintain 'Doris' and keep her looking her best, with a recent fundraiser raising about £5,000 for them to carry out improvements and upgrades.
"She needs to be treated with love and kindness and dignity and respect, and that's exactly what she gets out of season when we take her out of the water," he said.
"The provision and what the passengers experience hasn't changed from what it was 40 years ago.
"It's what the passenger doesn't see that we've modernised, so even though she's made of mahogany, she is about 60 odd years old."
Volunteers key to keeping it going
Starting in April, the ferry runs over Saturdays and Sundays and bank holidays until September.
Mr Cope said volunteers continue to play such a key role in helping to keep it going and a drop in numbers would have a real impact.
"We need an average of 2 or 3 new volunteers every year to keep the service going," he said.
"It's a simple matter of fact that volunteers eventually run out of time, either because age overtakes them, or in one case this year, their circumstances have drastically changed, and then they're not available to give the time that they have previously given and we have to replace them.
"If we can't replace them, then the service suffers, at the moment, we have just enough volunteers by a scrape to provide a full service, if we lost one, we'd have to drop down to one day a weekend, we’d probably lose a Saturday or lose a Sunday, which is what happened during Covid."
The last timetabled date for the service this year is Sunday 13 September.