Malvern Wells

Malvern Wells
250px Village centre, Malvern Wells
Malvern Wells  Malvern Wells shown within Worcestershire
OS grid reference	SO773422
Civil parish	Malvern Wells
District	Malvern Hills
Shire county	Worcestershire
Region	West Midlands
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	MALVERN
Postcode district	WR14
Police	West Mercia
Fire	Hereford and Worcester
Ambulance	West Midlands
EU Parliament	West Midlands
UK Parliament	West Worcestershire
List of places UK England Worcestershire

Malvern Wells is a village and civil parish near Great Malvern in the Malvern Hills District of Worcestershire, England. The parish of Malvern Wells, once known as South Malvern, was formed in 1894 from parts of the civil parishes of Hanley Castle, Welland, and the former parish of Great Malvern, and owes its development to the 19th century boom years of Malvern as a spa town. Malvern Wells is a centre of commercial bottling of Malvern water.

Location

It lies on the eastern slopes of the Malvern Hills south of Great Malvern (the town centre of Malvern) and takes its name from the Malvern water issuing from springs on the hills, principally from the Holy Well and the Eye Well. Its northern end also includes the Wyche Cutting, the historic salt route pass through the hills forming the border between the counties of Herefordshire on the western side of the Malvern Hills at the village of Upper Colwall and the Worcestershire side in the east. The actual cutting through the granite hill face is at a height of 856 feet above sea level.

Wells

In 1558 Queen Elizabeth I granted the land to John Hornyold, lord of the manor, under the premise that any pilgrim or traveller should be able to draw rest and refreshment from the Holy Well, a covenant which still stands today. The first record of spring water being bottled in the UK is from 1622, at Holy Well. Holy Well was later used by the Schweppes Company as the source for bottled Malvern Water sold at the Great Exhibition of 1851.

The Holy Well, location of a bottling plant for Malvern water

Amenities

All Saints, the parish church, was built by a local builder, William Porter, to a design by Troyte Griffith - a friend of Edward Elgar who is depicted in the "Enigma Variations". The church was consecrated on 19 November 1903. There is evidence to suggest that Elgar composed part of the "Enigma Variations" in the church, but his offer of the original manuscript of his oratorio "The Apostles", as a gift to the church, was refused by the Anglican church authorities because Elgar was a Roman Catholic and the oratorio was heavily based in that tradition. Next to the church is the Wyche School; "Land of Hope and Glory", set to Elgar's Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1, was first performed here in the presence of Elgar. In later life Elgar came to dislike the nationalistic overtones which became associated with the setting.

Education

Primary education in the parish is provided by Malvern Wells Church of England School and the Wyche Church of England School that feed the two Malvern secondary schools of The Chase in Barnards Green, and Dyson Perrins in Malvern Link.

Transport

Rail

There are two stations in Malvern. The nearest railway station is Great Malvern.

Buses

Local bus services are operated by LMS Travel and First Midland Red.

Air

The nearest major airport is Birmingham International approximately one hour by road via the M5 and M42 motorways. Gloucestershire Airport located at Staverton, in the Borough of Tewkesbury near Malvern is a busy General Aviation airport used mainly for private charter and scheduled flights to destinations such as the islands of Jersey, Guernsey, and the Isle of Mann, pilot training, and by the aircraft of emergency services.

Notable residents

• Edward Elgar, composer. Elgar and his wife leased a house they named 'Craig Lea', an anagram of the family's initials, at 86 Wells Road Road, Malvern Wells.
• The novelist and travel writer Georgiana Chatterton died here on 6 February 1876.

External links

• Malvern Wells Parish Council
• All Saints Church
• Historical information
• Malvern Gazette Local Malvern weekly newspaper