At the 2021 census it had a population of 30,462.[1] It includes Great Malvern on the steep eastern flank of the Malvern Hills, as well as the former independent urban district of Malvern Link. Many of the major suburbs and settlements that comprise the town are separated by large tracts of open common land and fields, and together with smaller civil parishes[5] adjoining the town's boundaries and the hills, the built up area is often referred to collectively as The Malverns.[6]
Archaeological evidence suggests that Bronze Age people had settled in the area around 1000 BC, although it is not known whether these settlements were permanent or temporary.[7] The town itself was founded in the 11th century when Benedictine monks established a priory at the foot of the highest peak of Malvern Hills.[8]: 17–24 [9] During the 19th century Malvern developed rapidly from a village to a sprawling conurbation owing to its popularity as a hydrotherapyspa based on its spring waters.[10]: 197–198 Immediately following the decline of spa tourism towards the end of the 19th century, the town's focus shifted to education with the establishment of several private boarding schools in former hotels and large villas. A further major expansion was the result of the relocation of the Telecommunications Research Establishment (TRE) to Malvern in 1942. QinetiQ, TRE's successor company, remained the town's largest local employer in 2009.[11]
The name Malvern is derived from the ancient British or old Welshmoel-bryn, meaning "Bare or Bald Hill",[13] the modern equivalent being the Welshmoelfryn (bald hill).[14] It has been known as Malferna (11th century), Malverne (12th century), and Much Malvern (16–17th century).[15]
Flint axes, arrowheads, and flakes found in the area are attributed to early Bronze Age settlers,[16]: 2 and the "Shire Ditch", a late Bronze Age boundary earthwork possibly dating from around 1000 BC, was constructed along part of the crest of the hills near the site of later settlements.[7] The Wyche Cutting, a pass through the hills, was in use in prehistoric times as part of the salt route from Droitwich to South Wales.[16]: 3 A 19th-century discovery of over two hundred metal money bars suggests that the area had been inhabited by the La Tène people around 250 BC.[16]: 5 Ancient folklore has it that the British chieftain Caractacus made his last stand against the Romans at the British Camp,[17] a site of extensive Iron Age earthworks on a summit of the Malvern Hills close to where Malvern was to be later established. The story remains disputed, however, as Roman historian Tacitus implies a site closer to the river Severn.[18] There is therefore no evidence that Roman presence ended the prehistoric settlement at British Camp. However, excavations at nearby Midsummer Hill fort, Bredon Hill, and Croft Ambrey all show evidence of violent destruction around the year 48 AD. This may suggest that the British Camp was abandoned or destroyed around the same time.[19]
A study made by Royal Commission in 2005 that includes aerial photographs of the Hills "amply demonstrates the archaeological potential of this largely neglected landscape, and provides food for thought for a number of research projects".[20] A pottery industry based on the Malverns left remains dating from the Late Bronze Age to the Norman Conquest, shown by methods of archaeological petrology.[21] Via the River Severn, products were traded as far as South Wales. The Longdon and other marshes at the foot of Malvern Chase were grazed by cattle. "Woodland management was considerable", providing fuel for the kilns.[21]
Little is known about Malvern over the next thousand years until it is described as "an hermitage, or some kind of religious house, for seculars, before the conquest, endowed by the gift of Edward the Confessor".[8]: 14 The additions to William Dugdale's Monasticon include an extract from the Pleas taken before the King at York in 1387, stating that there was a congregation of hermits at Malvern "some time before the conquest".[9] Although a Malvern priory existed before the Norman Conquest, it is the settlement of nearby Little Malvern, the site of another, smaller priory, that is mentioned in the Domesday Book.[22] A motte-and-bailey castle built on the top tier of the earthworks of the British Camp just before the Norman Conquest was probably founded by the Saxon Earl Harold Godwinson of Hereford. It was destroyed by King Henry II in 1155.[23]
The town developed around its 11th-century priory, a Benedictine monastery, of which only the large parish church and the abbey gateway remain.[15] Several slightly different histories explain the actual founding of the religious community. Legend tells that the settlement began following the murder of St. Werstan, a monk of Deerhurst, who fled from the Danes and took refuge in the woods of Malvern, where the hermitage had been established.[8]: 11 [24][25] St Werstan's oratory is thought to have been on the site of St Michael's Chapel, which is believed to have stood on the site of Bello Sguardo, a VictorianVilla, which was built on the site of Hermitage Cottage. The cottage was demolished in 1825 and ecclesiastical carvings were found in it, along with a mediaeval undercroft, human bones, and parts of a coffin.[26] Although the legend may be monastic mythology, historians have however concluded that St. Werstan was the original martyr.[27]
The Abbey Gateway in the town centre is now the home of the Malvern Museum
The first prior, Aldwyn, founded the monastery on his bishop's advice, and by 1135 the monastery included thirty monks.[24] Aldwyn was succeeded by Walcher of Malvern, an astronomer and philosopher from Lorraine in France, whose gravestone inside the priory church records details that the priory arose in 1085 from a hermitage endowed by Edward the Confessor.[24] An ancient stained glass window[28] in the Priory church depicts the legend of St. Werstan, with details of his vision, the consecration of his chapel, Edward the Confessor granting the charter for the site, and Werstan's martyrdom.[29]
An 18th-century document states that in the 18th year of the reign of William the Conqueror (probably 1083), a priory was dedicated to St Mary the Virgin.[30]Victoria County History describes how a hermit Aldwyn, who lived in the reign of Edward the Confessor, had petitioned the Earl of Gloucester for the original site (of the Priory) in the wood, and cites his source as "Gervase of Canterbury, Mappa Mundi (Rolls ser.)".[31]
Large estates in Malvern were part of crown lands given to Gilbert "the Red", the seventh Earl of Gloucester and sixth Earl of Hertford, on his marriage to Joan of Acre the daughter of Edward I, in 1290. Disputed hunting rights on these led to several armed conflicts with Humphrey de Bohun, 3rd Earl of Hereford that Edward resolved.[32] Nott states that Gilbert made gifts to the Priory, and describes his "great conflict" with Thomas de Cantilupe, Bishop of Hereford, also about hunting rights and a ditch that Gilbert dug, that was settled by costly litigation. Gilbert had a similar conflict with Godfrey Giffard, Bishop and Administrator of Worcester Cathedral (and formerly Chancellor of England). Godfrey, who had granted land to the Priory,[8]: 52 had jurisdictional disputes about Malvern Priory, resolved by Robert Burnell, the current Chancellor.[33]
A discussion in 2005 about the stained glass windows of the Priory Church in terms of the relationship between Church and Laity stresses the importance of Malvern in the development of stained glass. It refers to "the vast and strategically important estates of which Malvern was a part" in the 15th and 16th centuries, to a widespread awareness of Malvern Priory, to the likelihood of a pilgrimage route through the town. The discussion also mentions Thomas Walsingham's view that Malvern was a hiding place of the Lollard knight Sir John Oldcastle in 1414.[34] Chambers wrote, in relation to the stained glass, "the situation of Malvern was so much admired by Henry VII, his Queen (Elizabeth of York) and their two Sons, Prince Arthur, and Prince Henry" that they made substantial endowments.[35]
As a Royal forest, the area and the surrounding chase were subject to forest law. By Tudor times, royal lands had become used as commons and forest law had fallen into disuse.[36]
Post dissolution
During the Dissolution of the Monasteries the local commissioners were instructed to ensure that abbey churches used for parish worship, should continue or could be purchased by parishioners. Malvern Priory was thus acquired by a William Pinnocke and with it, much of the 15th century stained glass windows.[35] The monastic buildings were taken apart and anything usable was sold off. With the exception of the church building (of which the south transept adjoining the monastery's cloisters was destroyed), all that remains of Malvern's monastery is the Abbey Gateway (also known as the Priory Gatehouse) that houses today's Malvern Museum.
King Charles I attempted to enclose and sell two thirds of the Chase, as part of a wider attempt to raise revenue for the Crown from the sale of Royal forests. The attempts to enclose the lands, used as commons, resulted in riots, part of a pattern of disturbances that ran across the disafforested royal lands.[38] In 1633, the Court of Exchequer Chamber decreed the rights of the public to two thirds of the lands on the Malvern Hills, and rights of Sir Cornelius Vermuyden and his descendants, and the Crown, to one third (quoted in the preamble to the Malvern Hills Act of 1884).[39] By that time, Malvern had become an established community and the major settlement in the Malvern Chase.[35]
Development as a spa (17th–19th centuries)
The spa town of Great Malvern was laid out and developed largely during the 19th century
The purported health-giving properties of Malvern water and the natural beauty of the surroundings led to the development of Malvern as a spa, with resources for invalids for tourists.[10]: 197 According to legend, the curative benefit of the spring water was known in mediaeval times.[37] The medicinal value and the bottling of Malvern water are mentioned "in a poem attributed to the Reverend Edmund Rea, who became Vicar of Great Malvern in 1612".[37] The occulist Richard Banister wrote about the Eye Well, close to the Holy Well, in a short poem in his Breviary of the Eyes (see Malvern water), in 1622.[40][41][42] In 1756, Dr. John Wall published a 14-page pamphlet on the benefits of Malvern water, that reached a 158-page 3rd edition in 1763.[43] Further praise came from the botanist Benjamin Stillingfleet in 1757, the poet Thomas Warton in 1790, and William Addison, the physician of the Duchess of Kent (mother of Queen Victoria) in 1828, all quoted in a review by the medical historian W.H. McMenemy.[44][45] In his lecture about Malvern at the Royal Institution, Addison spoke of "its pure and invigorating air, the excellence of its water, and the romantic beauty of its scenery".[46] Similar views appeared in the press, Nicholas Vansittart brought his wife Catherine to Malvern for a rest cure in 1809.[47][48] Chambers, in his book about Malvern, praised Elizabeth, Countess Harcourt (daughter-in-law of the 1st Earl Harcourt), whose patronage contributed to the development of hillside walks.[35]
Bottling and shipping of the Malvern water grew in volume. In 1842, Dr. James Wilson and Dr. James Manby Gully, leading exponents of hydrotherapy, set up clinics in Malvern (Holyrood House for women and Tudor House for men).[49][50] Malvern expanded rapidly as a residential spa.[10]: 127 Several large hotels and many of the large villas date from its heyday. Many smaller hotels and guest houses were built between about 1842 and 1875. By 1855 there were already 95 hotels and boarding houses and by 1865 over a quarter of the town's 800 houses were hospitality venues. Most were in Great Malvern, the town centre, while others were in the surrounding settlements of Malvern Wells, Malvern Link, North Malvern and West Malvern.[10]: 190 [51]
The extension of the railway from Worcester to Malvern Link was completed on 25 May 1859.[57] The following year, "Besides middle class visitors ... the railway also brought working class excursionists from the Black Country with dramatic effect ... At Whitsuntide ... 10,000 came from the Black Country to the newly opened stations at Great Malvern and Malvern Wells.[10]: 191 Throughout June to September, day trips were frequent, causing the "town to be crowded with 'the most curious specimens of the British shopkeeper and artisan on an outing' ".[10]: 191
Following Malvern's new-found fame as a spa and area of natural beauty, and fully exploiting its new rail connections, factories from as far as Manchester were organising day trips for their employees, often attracting as many as 5,000 visitors a day. In 1865, a public meeting of residents denounced the rising rail fares – by then twice that of other lines – that were exploiting the tourism industry, and demanded a limitation to the number of excursion trains. The arrival of the railway also enabled the delivery of coal in large quantities, which accelerated the area's popularity as a winter resort.[10]: 126
The 1887 Baedeker's includes Malvern in a London–Worcester–Hereford itinerary and described as "an inland health resort, famous for its bracing air and pleasant situation" and "a great educational centre", with five hotels that are "well spoken of", a commercial hotel, the Assembly Rooms and Gardens, and many excursions on foot, pony and by carriage.[58] Other descriptions of the diversions mention bands, quadrilles, cricket (residents vs visitors) and billiard rooms.[10]: 197 [25]The Duchess of Teck stayed, with her daughter Mary (later queen consort of George V), in Malvern in the Autumn of 1891, joined by Lady Eva Greville. and the Duke of Teck.[59] The Duchess was "perfectly enchanted with Malvern and its surroundings" and, with the Duke, visited Malvern College.[60] The Duchess returned to open the new waterworks at Camp Hill in 1895.[25] In 1897, the painter Edward Burne-Jones came to Malvern for the "bracing air", on the recommendation of his doctor, but stayed in his hotel for a week.[61] The 7-year-old Franklin D. Roosevelt visited in 1889, during a trip to Europe with his parents.[62]
By 1875 encroachment on Malvern's wastelands by landowners had reached new heights and action was taken by the people of Malvern and the Commons Society to preserve the hills and common land and to prevent encroachment. Local lords of the manor indicated that they would like to give their rights to the wastes to the public. After preventing the enclosure of a common in 1882, negotiations were initiated with the owners of the northern hills and the first Malvern Hills Act was secured in parliament in 1884. Later Acts empowered the Malvern Hills Conservators to acquire land to prevent further encroachment on common land and by 1925 they had bought much of the manorial wastelands.[10]: 193 [16]: 247, 248
Towards the end of the 19th century, the popularity of the hydrotherapy had declined to the extent that many hotels were already being converted into private boarding schools and rest homes, and education became the basis of Malvern's economy.[10]: 195 By 1865, the town already had 17 single-gender private schools, increasing to 25 by 1885. The area was well suited for schools due to its established attractive environment and access by rail. Children could travel unaccompanied with their trunks by rail to their boarding schools near the stations in Great Malvern, Malvern Wells, and Malvern Link. Malvern St James (formerly Malvern Girls College), in a former hotel, opposite Great Malvern railway station, has a tunnel (now derelict) to the basement of the building, which is visible from both platforms of the station.[63]
20th century
Malvern began to develop into a modern town in the early 1900s, with a continuing strong agricultural presence. Modernisation continued, and the World War II years transformed the population and its activities, establishing the town as a centre of scientific research.[16]: 230
Council House (built 1874), viewed from Priory Park, is the headquarters of the District Council.[64]Council wards of Malvern town
Malvern is a town and civil parish governed at the lowest tier of local government by Malvern Town Council, part of the Malvern Hills District of the County of Worcestershire (a district comprising 68 civil parishes and 22 electoral wards).[65][66] The ward boundaries were redefined from the wards of the former Malvern Urban District Council (1900–1974). Through the many changes in local government infrastructure since the beginning of the 20th century, the importance and distinction by local boundaries of the historical areas of Great Malvern, Malvern Link, North Malvern, Cowleigh, and other neighbourhoods, have been lost.
The original parish of Great Malvern included the hamlet of Guarlford and the chapelry of Newland, and stretched from the River Severn on the east to the Malvern Hills on the west. Guarlford became a separate civil parish in 1894 when, under the Local Government Act of 1894, urban district councils were created for Malvern and Malvern Link. The Guarlford parish covered much of eastern Malvern, including parts of Great Malvern, Pickersleigh, Poolbrook, Barnards Green, Hall Green and Sherrard's Green. By 1900 however, the urban districts of Malvern and Malvern Link amalgamated, absorbing parts of neighbouring parishes to create a town of six wards under the Malvern Urban District Council.[10]: 197 In 1934 the boundaries changed again, and those areas came under the control of the Malvern council.[67]
Residents of Malvern Town in the six Malvern Town Council electoral wards are represented by 15 elected members.[68] The council is supported by a team of senior executives that includes a Town Clerk, a Deputy Town Clerk, a PA to the Town Clerk and chairman, an Operations and Events Officer, a Finance Officer, two Operations Managers, an Operations Supervisor, and eight Grounds Maintenance Operatives.[12] The wards are based on the distribution of the population and generally ignore the names of the neighbourhoods and suburbs they contain, and use loaned names:
Chase — named after Malvern Chase — covering much of the adjacent town centre suburb Barnards Green, the extensive Ministry of Defence property occupied by QinetiQ, the campus of The Chase School, the village of Poolbrook, and the largely rural south-eastern area of the adjoining Poolbrook and Malvern commons.
Dyson Perrins, the northern part of Malvern adjacent to Link with the campus of Dyson Perrins School and the former MoDDERA North Site, and the former hamlets of Interfield, Halfkey, and Upper Howsell; this ward includes a new neighbourhood of the town — Malvern Vale.
Link, that covers most of the area north of the Link Common from Link Top, through Malvern Link to Newland, and Upper and Lower Howsell.
North Malvern - West Malvern, Served by West Malvern Road, an area immediately west of the range of hills between Link Top and West Malvern civil parish that includes the former village of Cowleigh.
Pickersleigh, that includes the part of the former Great Malvern boundaries east of the railway between Barnards Green and Malvern Link to Madresfield, the former hamlets of Hall Green and Sherrards Green, and part of Barnards Green.
Priory, covering much of Great Malvern, including all the town centre, and otherwise areas west of the railway between North Malvern and Malvern Wells civil parish.[69]
The town centre comprises two main streets at right angles to each other: the steep Church Street and Bellevue Terrace, a relatively flat north–south extension of the A449 which forms Malvern's western extremity along the flank of the hills. Among the many shops are two large modern supermarkets, both in Edith Walk, formerly a steep and unmade lane that served the rear entrances of the shops in Church Street. Many of the traditional high street shops such as butchers, bakers, grocers etc., are now health food shops, art and craft shops, charity shops, law firms, and estate agents.
The offices of Malvern Town Council, the Malvern Hills Conservators, The Malvern Hills AONB Partnership, and Malvern Hills District Council are in the town centre. The town's amenities include the Malvern Theatres complex, the Priory Park, the Splash leisure and swimming complex, the main library, the police station, the tourist information centre, and the museum. In the heart of the town is a statue of the composer Edward Elgar, while other statuary is dedicated to Malvern water.
Great Malvern station, a listed example of classical Victorian railway architecture, is close to the nearby former Imperial Hotel by the same architect, E. W. Elmslie.[63]
Suburbs and neighbourhoods
Detail of buildings and shops in Church Street, Great Malvern
Malvern's rapid urbanisation during the latter half of the 19th century spread eastwards and northwards from Great Malvern, the traditional town centre on the steep flank of the Worcestershire Beacon, and engulfed the manors and farms in the immediate area. It was often the farms, such as Pickersleigh (now known as Pickersleigh Court and previously known as Pickersleigh House), near Great Malvern, and the Howsells in Malvern Link which merged with Great Malvern in 1900 that gave their names to many of the new neighbourhoods. The urban agglomeration continued to spread, and by the middle of the 20th century had reached the suburban parishes of West Malvern, Malvern Wells, Newland, Madresfield, and Guarlford.
Climate
Malvern lies in the Lower Severn/Avon plain affording it a degree of shelter caused by virtue of its nestling in between the Cotswold hills to the east, the Welsh Hills and Mountains to the west, and Birmingham plateau to the north. Although as with all the British Isles it has a maritime climate, the local topography means summer warmth can become emphasised by a slight foehn effect off the surrounding hills. The record maximum stands at 35.8c(96.4f) set in August 1990.[70] Typically 17.3 days[71] of the year will reach 25.1c(77.2f) or higher and the annual warmest day should reach 29.8c(85.6f)[72] according to the 1971–00 observing period.
Winter temperature inversions can also occur given the correct conditions allowing very low minima to occur. Nonetheless, on average the region is one of the warmest non-coastal areas in the UK, with overall night time minima in particular rivalling more urban areas. Indeed, despite the notable low absolute minima (several weather-observing sites nearby having fallen below −20 °C in the past) the annual average frost ratio is a mere 33 days per year (1971–00), actually lower than more urbanised weather station locations such as London's Heathrow Airport. A new absolute minimum of −19.5 °C (−3.1 °F) was recently set[73] during the record cold month December 2010. Prior to this the coldest nights were recorded in the winter of 1981/82; -18.1 °C (−0.6 °F)[74] in December 1981, −18.0 °C (−0.4 °F)[75] in January 1982.
The sunniest year was 2003, when 1776 hours[76] of sunshine were recorded.
Rainfall averages around 740mm per year[77] with over 1 mm being recorded on 123 days of the year.[78]
Snowfall is highly variable. When winter low pressure systems move from south-west to north-east the Malvern area is often on the northern flank, meaning heavy snowfall while areas further south and east receive rain or no precipitation at all. However, when snowfall arrives by means of convective showers driven by northerly, north–westerly or north–easterly winds the area tends to be one of the least snowy parts of the UK, owing to its sheltered positioning.
Climate data for Malvern, elevation 62m, 1971–2000, Sunshine 1961–90
At the 2011 UK census, the civil parish of Malvern had a population of 29,626.[80] Together with the neighbouring parishes of West Malvern, Malvern Wells, Little Malvern and Newland (the settlements of which largely unite with that of Malvern) the population of the wider "Malverns" urban area is 34,517 (as of 2011).
For the purposes of statistical reporting the Office for National Statistics groups the population of the North Malvern ward of the Malvern civil parish with that of the West Malvern civil parish.[81][82] For every 100 females, there were 91.7 males. The average household size was 2.4.[83] Of those aged 16–74 in Malvern, 48.1% had no academic qualifications or one General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE),[84] above the figures for all of the Malvern Hills local government district (39.7%) and England (45.5%).[85] According to the census, 2.3% were unemployed and 35.0% were economically inactive.[84] 19.7% of the population were under the age of 16 and 11.5% were aged 75 and over; the mean age of the people of the civil parish was 41.5. 66.8% of residents described their health as "good", similar to the average of 69.1% for the wider district.[85][86]
Ethnicity
The 2011 census found the White British ethnic group to be by far the largest in Malvern with 93.2% identifying as such. The next largest ethnic group was White Other, which accounted for 3.2% of the population, followed by the Asian and Mixed Race categories, which made up 1.9% and 1.2% of the population. Black ethnic groups made up 0.3% and the Other group constituted 0.2% of the population.
Population development
Victorian pillar box on the corner of Priory Road and Orchard Road
The area remained a village and cluster of manors and farms until "taking of the water" in Malvern became popularised by Dr. Wall in 1756. By the 1820s the Baths and the Pump Room were opened; in 1842 Drs. James Wilson and James Manby Gully opened up water cure establishments in the town centre.[87] By the middle of the 19th century, with the arrival of the railway, bath houses and other establishments catering for the health tourists flourished. By the early 20th century Malvern had developed from a small village centred on its priory to a town with many large hotels and Victorian and Edwardian country villas.
Malvern's population grew in 1942 when the Telecommunications Research Establishment (TRE) moved to Malvern, bringing 2,500 employees, increasing to around 3,500 by 1945.[16]: 259, 260 [88] In the early 1950s, several large housing estates were built in Malvern by the government to provide accommodation for the staff and their families. A significant proportion of the current population of Malvern are present and former employees of the facility (now called QinetiQ), and its previously attached military contingent from REME and other units of all three British armed forces.[89]
Malvern had already become an overspill for the nearby city of Worcester, and the new motorways constructed in the early 1960s brought the industrial Midlands within commuting distance by car. With this development came the construction of large private housing developments. The town continues to swell as increasingly more farmland, especially in the Malvern Link area between the villages of Guarlford and Newland, is turned over to housing projects creating new communities and suburbs.[90]
Due to frequent merging of parishes and changes in boundaries, accurate figures based on specific areas are not available.
Year
Population
Notes
1563
105 families
Probably what is now the town centre area with nearby farms and manors.[15]
View of the QinetiQ facility from the Malvern Hills. Malvern College campus in the foreground, and the village of Poolbrook to the rear
Since 1942, research and development into defence physics and electronics has been the major source of employment in Malvern, when, during World War II, the Telecommunications Research Establishment (TRE) moved there from Worth Matravers on the south coast, for safety from enemy action.[11][92][93] The Radar Research and Development Establishment (RRDE) was moved to Malvern at the same time. Initially, TRE was housed at Malvern College.[88][94]
TRE was the main United Kingdom research and development organization for radio navigation, radar, infrared detection for heat-seeking missiles, and related work for the Royal Air Force (RAF), during World War II and the years that followed. It was regarded as "the most brilliant and successful of the English wartime research establishments" under "[Albert] Rowe, who saw more of the English scientific choices between 1935 and 1945 than any single man".[95] TRE and RRDE merged in 1953 to form the Radar Research Establishment (RRE), which was further renamed to Royal Radar Establishment (also RRE) in 1955.[16]: 258 In 2001, the facility was partly transferred from governmental ownership to private ownership, and became QinetiQ. The DSTL, which is the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory, has since closed down, with the remaining staff moving to other DSTL sites.[96]
Other manufacturing and service industries are mainly grouped in the Spring Lane Industrial Estate that was developed in the 1960s and the adjoining Enigma Business Park that was begun in the 1990s.[99]
Pipe organs have been built in Malvern since 1841 by Nicholson Organs. Nicholson organs can be found in Gloucester and Portsmouth Cathedrals, and Great Malvern Priory.[100] Cars have been constructed in Malvern since 1894 by Santler (Britain's first petrol car) and 1910 by the Morgan Motor Company, one of the world's longest-existing private constructors of automobiles produced in series.[101] The Morgan Motor Car is a traditional sportsroadster and over the years has become a 'cult' vehicle, exported all over the world from the factory in Malvern Link.[102] Specialist glass tubing and microscope slides are produced by Chance Brothers in their factory in Malvern next door to the Morgan Motor works.[103]
Agriculture and horticulture
Malvern is a centre for agricultural industry. The 70-acre (280,000 m2) Three Counties Showground, operated by the Three Counties Agricultural Society,[104] is a few miles to the south of Malvern on the road to Upton upon Severn. It has been the permanent venue for the Royal Three Counties Show, held each year in June, since 1958. Representing the counties of Worcestershire, Herefordshire and Gloucestershire, it is one of the most important agricultural shows in the UK, and can be traced back to 1797.[105] It attracts an average of 93,000 visitors over its three-day event, and the event almost doubles the town's local population.[105] The showground also hosts the Royal Horticultural Society's Spring Gardening Show,[106] followed by many other events throughout the year including other regular gardening shows. The Lobelia pioneers William Crump and Dr. Brent Elliott[107] worked in Malvern and were awarded the Victoria Medal of Honour of the Royal Horticultural Society.[107] A tea rose was named for the Malvern rose grower Mrs. Foley Hobbs in 1910 (see page 119 of cited work[108]). As well as agricultural and horticultural shows, the showground holds regular antique and flea markets throughout the year. These have become some of the largest in the UK, attracting thousands of visitors each year.[109][110]
The town centre and its environs contain many examples of Regency, Victorian and Edwardian villas and hotels. Many of the houses were built during the Industrial Revolution and Malvern's boom years as a spa town by wealthy families from the nearby Birmingham area. Following the collapse of the spa industry, many of the hotels and villas became schools, and some have since been further converted to apartments, while some of the smaller hotels are now retirement homes. The Imperial Hotel in red brick with stone dressings, which later became a school, is one of the largest buildings in Malvern. It was built in 1860 by the architect E. W. Elmslie who also designed the Great Malvern railway station, and the Council House on the plot where Dr. Gully's original house stood. The Grove in Avenue Road in 1867, originally to be his private residence in 1927 became part of the Lawnside School for girls, and in 1860 Whitbourne Hall, a Grade II* listed building, in Herefordshire.[111][112] The Imperial was the first hotel to be lit by incandescent gas. It was equipped with all types of baths, and brine was brought specially by rail from Droitwich.[113]
Much architecture and statuary in the town centre is dedicated to Malvern water, including the St Ann's Well, which is housed in a building dating from 1813.[10]: 124
Music
Sir Edward Elgar, British composer and Master of the King's Musick, lived much of his life around Malvern.[114] His Pomp and Circumstance, March No. 1, composed in 1901 and to which the words of Land of Hope and Glory were later set, was first performed in the Wyche School next to the church in the presence of Elgar.[115] A sculpture group by artist Rose Garrard comprising the Enigma fountain together with a statue of Elgar gazing over Great Malvern stands on Belle Vue Terrace in the town centre. The Elgar Route, a 40-mile (64 km) drive passing some key landmarks from Elgar's life, passes through Malvern.[116]
Malvern Concert Club, founded in 1903 by Elgar, holds concerts held in the Forum Theatre, Malvern Theatres. Its programmes focus on renaissance, baroque, classical, romantic and contemporary music.[117]
The Chandos Symphony Orchestra, under the professional direction of Michael Lloyd, has over 100 players. It specialises in performances of major works of the 19th and 20th Centuries.[118] The Autumn in Malvern Festival is an annual event featuring performances of artists of music, poetry, writers and film makers held during October every year.[119] The Colwell and other brass bands of the early century were part of the music of the town.[108] The British violinist Nigel Kennedy lived in Malvern for many years and gives concerts in the town's culture venue.[120][121]Julius Harrison (1885–1963), lived in Pickersleigh Road for most of the 1940s and was music director at Malvern College and director of the early Elgar Festivals in Malvern.[122]
Malvern Theatres pre 2023Malvern Theatres entrance 2024
Malvern Theatres, housed in the Winter Gardens complex in the town centre, is a provincial centre for the arts.[125] The first Malvern Drama Festival, which took place in 1929, was dedicated to Bernard Shaw and planned by Sir Barry Jackson.[126] A number of works have had their first performances at Malvern, six by Shaw including In Good King Charles's Golden Days, the 1929 English première of The Apple Cart,[16]: 255 and the world première of Geneva in 1938.[127] In 1956 Malvern held a Shaw centenary week.[128] In February 1965 a Malvern Festival Theatre Trust was set up, and extensive refurbishment was undertaken. J. B. Priestley presided over the opening ceremony of the first summer season.[126] In 1998, a further £7.2 million major redesign and refurbishment took place with the help of contributions from the National Lottery Distribution Fund (NLDF), administered by the government Department for Culture, Media and Sport.[125] As part of a government funded £20 million extension planned for completion in 2026, a £2.25 million extension including a modern frontage was opened in July 2023.[129]
The Theatre of Small Convenience entered the Guinness World Records in 2002 as the smallest theatre in the world. Housed in a former Victorian public convenience in the centre of the town in Edith Walk, the theatre had a capacity of 12 people.[130] Before closing in 2017, the theatre regularly hosted puppetry, professional and amateur actors, drama, poetry, storytelling, and opera.
Literature
William Langland's famous 14th-century poem The Visions of Piers Plowman (1362) was inspired by the Malvern Hills and the earliest poetic allusion to them occurs in the poem And on a Maye mornynge on Malverne hylles. Langland, the reputed writer, was possibly educated at the priory of Great Malvern.[131] Several roads and buildings in Malvern are named after him.
Malvern entered the writings and lives of several 17th–19th century poets. These include
Lord Macaulay: "Till twelve fair counties saw the blaze on Malvern's lonely height" (The Armada).[139]
C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien are among the authors that have frequented Malvern. Legend states that, after drinking in a Malvern pub one winter evening, they were walking home when it started to snow. They saw a lamp post shining out through the snow and Lewis turned to his friends and said "that would make a very nice opening line to a book". The novel The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by Lewis later used that image as the characters enter the realm of Narnia.[140][141] Tolkien found inspiration in the Malvern landscape[142] which he had viewed from his childhood home in Birmingham and his brother Hilary's home near Evesham.[143] He was introduced to the area by Lewis, who had brought him here to meet George Sayer, the Head of English at Malvern College. Sayer had been a student of Lewis, and became his biographer, and together with them Tolkien would walk the Malvern Hills. Recordings of Tolkien reading excerpts from The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings were made in Malvern in 1952, at the home of George Sayer. The recordings were later issued on long-playing gramophone records.[144] In the liner notes for J.R.R Tolkien Reads and Sings his The Hobbit & The Fellowship of the Rings, George Sayer wrote that Tolkien would relive the book as they walked and compared parts of the Malvern Hills to the White Mountains of Gondor.[143]
The poet W. H. Auden taught for three years in the 1930s at The Downs School, in the Malvern Hills. He wrote many poems there, including: This Lunar Beauty; Let Your Sleeping Head; My Love, Fish in the Unruffled Lakes; and Out on the Lawn I Lie in Bed. He also wrote the long poem about the hills and their views, called simply The Malverns.[145][146]
In his 1941 novel Mr Lucton's FreedomHalesowen-born novelist Francis Brett Young describes sleeping out on the Malvern Hills and seeing the sunrise over the town.[147][148]
Art
The Enigma Fountain and statue of Edward Elgar, a group of sculptures by artist Rose Garrard, on Belle Vue Terrace
Works of art in Malvern include fountains, statues, and Malvern water spouts by the sculptor Rose Garrard. Among her sculptures are the statue of Sir Edward Elgar and the Enigma Fountain (Unveiled by Prince Andrew, Duke of York on Belle Vue Terrace, Malvern on 26 May 2000).[149] and the drinking spout, Malvhina, also on Belle Vue Terrace, which was unveiled on 4 September 1998.
The Malvhina Fountain in the town centre, a sculpture by artist Rose Garrard.
David Prentice, artist and one of the founder members of Birmingham's Ikon Gallery, has lived and worked in Malvern since 1990. He started painting the Malvern Hills when he retired in 1983.[152]
Elgar, a drama documentary made in 1962 by the British director Ken Russell, was filmed on location in Malvern and Worcester. Several scenes were filmed in Malvern at locations including 'Forli' in Alexandra Road, 'Craeg Lea' in Malvern Wells and St Ann's Well in Great Malvern.[154] Made for BBC Television's long-running Monitor programme, it dramatised the life of the composer Edward Elgar. The film significantly raised the public profile of the composer.[155]
The Malvern landscape forms the backdrop for Penda's Fen, a 1974 British television play written by David Rudkin and directed by Alan Clarke for the BBC's Play for Today series. It tells the story of Stephen, a vicar's son who has visions of angels, Edward Elgar, and King Penda, the last pagan ruler of England.[156][157] The final scene of the play, where the protagonist has an apparitional experience of King Penda and the "mother and father of England" and King Penda, is set on the Malvern Hills.[158]
Malvern spring water flows freely from a number of fountains or spouts throughout the Malvern area. Upkeep of these historical springs is funded by several organisations, including the Town Council, the Heritage Lottery Fund, The Malvern Spa Association, and the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.[166] The water became famous for containing "nothing at all".[44] It was the reason for Malvern becoming a spa town and has formed a part of both local and national culture since Queen Elizabeth I made a point of drinking it in public in the 16th century, and Queen Victoria refused to travel without it.[167] It is also a bottled water used by Queen Elizabeth II[168] Until November 2010 when the plant was closed due to lack of profitability, millions of litres of Malvern water were bottled annually by Coca-Cola Enterprises under the Schweppes brand in a factory near Malvern and distributed worldwide. Malvern water is still being bottled from the original source by a family-run business under the name Holywell Spring Water.[169]
In addition to the 12th century priory, during and shortly after Malvern's expansion throughout the second half of the 19th century over twenty Christian churches were built. Many of these are reproductions of 13th and 14th century architecture including Church of St Matthias, Malvern Link (C of E) begun in 1843, which has a full set of ten ringing bells on which the first full peal of Grandsire Triples was rung on 1 June 1901.[172] One of the most recent buildings is St Mary's Church (C of E), in Sherrards Green, a modern church built in 1958.
Pevsner mentions the following 19th and early 20th century churches in Malvern in his book on Worcestershire:[29]
All Saints, (The Wyche), 1903, by Nevinson and Newton (or possibly Troyte Griffith);
St. Andrew in Poolbrook, 1885, contains a font inscribed 1724, by Blomfield; Ascension (Leigh Sinton Road) 1903, by Sir Walter Tapper, with a high metal screen by G. Bainbridge Reynolds;
Christ Church (Avenue Road), 1875–6, by T. D. Barry & Sons, with unexpected cross gable;
Chapel of the Convent of the Holy Name, (Ranelagh Road), 1893, by Comper, with wagon roof and stained glass;
St. Joseph (Newtown Road), 1876, by T. R. Donnelly;
St. Matthias (Church Road), original by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, 1844–46, enlarged and altered by F. W. Hunt, 1880–81, painted dado and stained glass;
Our Lady and St. Edmund (College Road), 1905, by P. P. Pugin;
St. Peter (St. Peter's Road), 1863–6, by G. E. Street, with crazy paving of Malvern granite;
Holy Trinity, (Worcester Road), 1850–1, by S. Daukes, enlarged 1872 by Haddon brothers; with plate and stained glass;
Congregational Church, (Queen's Drive), 1875, by J. Tait of Leicester;
Malvern has a community hospital on Worcester Road in Malvern Link. The hospital was constructed on the grounds of a former independent preparatory school, Seaford Court, and began operation in 2010. It was officially opened by The Princess Royal in March 2011.[173] This replaced the former community hospital on Lansdowne Crescent.[174]
Major health facilities are provided by hospitals in Worcester. The town has seven health centres,[175] including a health complex in Malvern Link[176] and a group practice on Pickersleigh Road.[177] Malvern also has several nursing and retirement homes for the care of senior citizens. The Malvern area is covered by the Midlands Air Ambulance service, which has operated from the site of Strensham motorway services since 1991.[178]
Malvern is served by the West Midlands Ambulance Service operated by the NHS Trust.[179] The ambulance station is in Victoria Road, Great Malvern, near the town centre.
Malvern bus services include several circular urban routes connecting the main residential and commercial areas and out-of-town shopping malls.[181] Other routes serve the surrounding villages and Worcester city centre. Most services are operated by First Midland Red.[182][183]
Elementary education is provided by thirteen primary schools in the town and its suburbs including eight Church of England, one Roman Catholic, and four non-denominational state schools.[186] With the exception of The Grove (1962), Poolbrook Primary School (1977), and Northleigh (1991) that replaced the Cowleigh C of E school destroyed by arson in 1989,[187] all the Malvern primary schools were established between 1836 and 1916, during and shortly after the town's rapid development as a spa.[186]
Hanley Castle High School, with around 1000 pupils, including its sixth form centre, is a specialist Language College and was founded in 1326 as a chantry school, making it one of the oldest schools in England. Although the school is in the village of Hanley Castle, about 4 miles (6.4 km) from the town, many of its pupils come from the Malvern area.[190]
Malvern College is a coeducationalpublic school, founded in 1865. Until 1992, it was a school for boys aged 13 to 18. Following a merger with Ellerslie School for Girls in 1992 it became coeducational. Among its alumni are two Nobel Laureates (James Meade[193] and Francis William Aston[194]), an Olympic Gold medalist (Arnold Jackson),[195] and leading politicians. Further acquisition of Hillstone and merger with The Downs (in nearby Colwall) preparatory schools has established an independently run coeducational feeder school, The Downs Malvern, for pupils up to 13 years old.
Malvern St James was formed in 2006 by the merger of Malvern Girls' College and St James's School, West Malvern (formerly St James's and The Abbey) and other mergers with local private schools over the last thirty years. It is now the last of the independent girls' schools in the Malvern area. The main building of Malvern St James on the campus of the former Malvern Girls' College is the former Imperial Hotel, built in the second half of the 19th century.[191] Hatley St James, a Victorian mansion on Albert Road South, and former residence of the Seton-Karr family, was used as a house for the school.[196]
The Abbey College is an international boarding school providing education mainly for students from countries outside the United Kingdom. Founded in 1974, it provides pre university preparation for mixed gender students aged 14 to 20.
Further education
Malvern Hills College is a centre for further education providing government certificate vocational courses for adults and post 14-year-old students.[197] Malvern also has an active University of the Third Age that was founded at Malvern Hills College in 1995. Its inaugural meeting was attended by around 150 members of the public, and by 2011 it had over 80 interest groups and 1,100 members.[198]
Leisure
Priory Park with Malvern Theatres complex and Priory Church tower in the background
The Priory Park with its adjoining Malvern Splash pool and Winter Gardens complex occupies a large area in the centre of the town. The Winter Gardens complex is home to the Malvern Theatres, a cinema, a concert venue/banqueting room, bars and cafeterias.[126] For almost half a century, the Malvern Winter Gardens has also been a leisure centre and a major regional venue for classical music, and concerts by major rock bands of the 60s, 70s and 80s.[199] The Splash Leisure Complex flanks the eastern boundary of Priory Park and has an indoor swimming pool and gymnasium. In the town centre is also an extensive public Library that includes access to the Internet and many community services.
The Manor Park Club multi-sports complex, close to the town centre, provides the area with indoor and outdoor sports facilities including tennis, squash, indoor bowls, racketball, archery and table tennis. It is assisted by grants from various bodies, including the Malvern Hills District Council, the Sport England Lottery, and the Lawn Tennis Association.[201] In 2010, a new indoor facility was unveiled at the club by tennis player Tim Henman.[202] Traditional outdoor bowls is played on a green in Priory Park. Other public areas such as Victoria Park in Malvern Link provide space for field sports and tennis. Malvern Town FC has a footballfirst team that plays in the Hellenic Football League and which has twice reached the third qualifying round of the FA Cup. The Malvern Hills are a popular launching site for hang gliding and paragliding and Malvern has a local hang gliding club.[203] Cricket is provided for at Barnards Green Cricket Club, a professional class ground.
In addition to those born in Malvern, many notable people came to the town to provide or partake of its Hydrotherapy, to be educated or to teach at the large number of independent boarding schools such as Malvern College with its long list of notable alumni, and its elementary school, The Downs, and Malvern St James for girls, that still remain active into the 21st century.
Julius Harrison (1885–1963), was a contemporary of Elgar, and Professor of Composition at the Royal Academy of Music. He was music director at Malvern College and director of the early Elgar Festivals in Malvern. He lived in Pickersleigh Road from most of the 1940s.[122]
C. S. Lewis, novelist, was a pupil at the preparatory school Cherbourg House and Malvern College. He boarded at these two establishments between early 1911 and June 1914.[210]
Jenny Lind, opera singer, lived and died in Malvern, and is buried in Great Malvern cemetery.[211]
Haile Selassie, emperor of Ethiopia, visited Malvern during his 1936–1941 exile, staying at the Abbey Hotel and attending the Holy Trinity Church.[216]
^Hencken, T. (1938). "The Excavation of the Iron Age Camp on Bredon Hill, Gloucestershire 1935–1937". Archaeological Journal. 95. Heritage Marketing and Publications.
^Bowden, Mark (2005). Field, David; Winton, Helen (eds.). The Malvern Hills: An Archaeological Landscape. English Heritage. ISBN978-1-873592-82-3.
^Culbertson, C. G. (1978). "In memoriam. William H. McMenemy, M.D". American Journal of Clinical Pathology. 70 (1): 112.2–112. doi:10.1093/ajcp/70.1.112a. PMID358823.
^R.A., Smith (10 April 1956). "Physics at the Radar Research Establishment, Malvern". Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series A, Mathematical and Physical Sciences 235 (1200): 1–10. Bibcode:1956RSPSA.235....1S. doi:10.1098/rspa.1956.0060. S2CID110025325.
^Putley, Ernest. Science comes to Malvern, TRE a Story of Radar 1942 to 1953.
^Price, Philip; Palmer-Price, Julia. "The Grove, Malvern". Philip Price & Julia Palmer-Price. Archived from the original on 26 March 2012. Retrieved 3 January 2010.
^ abGriffiths, Alan; Griffiths, Joyce B. (2001). Great Malvern – a photographic history of your town. Salisbury: Black Horse Books. p. 42. ISBN978-1-904033-52-3.
^Duriez, Colin (July 1992). The J.R.R. Tolkien handbook: a comprehensive guide to his life, writings, and world of Middle-earth. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House. p. 253. ISBN978-0-8010-3014-7.
^ abSayer, George (1979) [based on an August 1952 recording]. J.R.R. Tolkien Reads and Sings his The Hobbit and the Fellowship of the Rings (Liner). J.R.R. Tolkien. Caedmon Records.
^Hamilton, Jean; Lambourne, Lionel (1980). British Watercolours in the Victoria and Albert Museum. Sotheby Parke Bernet. p. 295. ISBN978-0-85667-111-1.
^Woodward, Philip (2006). Woodward on Time: A Compilation of Philip Woodward's Horological Writings. British Horological Institute Limited. ISBN978-0-9509621-6-0.
^Winsche, Richard (1 October 1999). The History of Nassau County Community Place-Names. Interlaken, New York: Empire State Books. pp. 61–62. ISBN978-1557871541.
Further reading
Bowden, Mark; Field, David; Winton, Helen (2005). The Malvern Hills: An Ancient Landscape. English Heritage. ISBN1-873592-82-5.
Dixey, Mary; Stewart, Duseline (1996). The wonderful world of Lawnside: the history of a Malvern School c.1852–1994. Malvern: Lawnside Old Girls' Association.
Garrard, Rose (2010). A Malvern Treasury. Malvern: Garrard Art Publications. ISBN978-1-905795-56-7.
Garrard, Rose (2008). Donkey's Years on the Malvern Hills. Malvern: Aspect Design. ISBN978-1-905795-18-5.
Hastings, G. W. (1911). The Story of Malvern. Cornish Brothers Ltd.
Poulton-Smith, Anthony (2003). Worcestershire Place Names. The History Press. ISBN0-7509-3396-8.
Waite, Vincent (1968). Malvern Country. J. M. Dent & Sons. ISBN0-85033-335-0.
Worcester & The Malverns. Cassini Revised New Series Historical Map (1899–1901 Facsimile ed.). Cassini Publishing Ltd. 2007. ISBN978-1-84736-348-0.
Worcester & Great Malvern (PPR-WGM): Four Ordnance Survey Maps from Four Periods from Early 19th Century to the Present Day. Cassini Past and Present Map (Folded map ed.). Cassini Publishing Ltd. 2007. ISBN978-1-84736-265-0.
