Malvern, Worcestershire

The name Malvern is derived from the ancient British or old Welsh moel-bryn, meaning "Bare or Bald Hill", the modern equivalent being the Welsh moelfryn (bald hill). It has been known as Malferna (11th century), Malverne (12th century), and Much Malvern (16–17th century). ==History==

Bronze Age to monastic times Flint axes, arrowheads, and flakes found in the area are attributed to early Bronze Age settlers, 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. The contemporary antiquary John Leland described the Malvern Hills and Hanley Castle. An Elizabethan land grant of 1558 mentions Holy Well.--> 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). Lord Tennyson and Samuel Wilberforce. At a total length of 163 miles (262 km), the 1960s constructed M5 is the fourth-longest motorway in the UK, with accesses near Malvern by passing Worcester city centre, providing direct routes to the areas of Birmingham and Bristol bringing them into commuter distance. Modern manufacturing and service industries were established in Spring Lane Industrial Estate that was developed in the 1960s and the adjoining Enigma Business Park that was built in the 1990s. The early 21st century saw further investment in the arts emphasising the town's status as a regional centre for music and theatre. ==Governance==

(built 1874), viewed from Priory Park, is the headquarters of the District Council. Since the boundary reform of 2023 Malvern Town Council has nine newly named electoral wards: Chase (4), Great Malvern, Link (4), Lygon (1), Pickersleigh (2), Pound Bank (1), St Joseph (1), Upper Howsell (2), and West (2). The new wards wards are represented by a total of 20 elected councillors (in parentheses) and are based on the distribution of the population and some ignore the names of the neighbourhoods or suburbs they contain, and use loaned names. Malvern Hills District Malvern Hills District comprises 68 civil parishes and 22 electoral wards. The ward boundaries were redefined from the wards of the former Malvern Urban District Council (1900–1974), and again in 2023. Through the many changes in local government since the beginning of the 20th century, the importance and distinction of the local boundaries of the historical areas of Great Malvern, Malvern Link, North Malvern, Cowleigh, and other neighbourhoods, have been much diminished while some place names have been used for electoral wards of Malvern Town Council. Historical 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 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. In 1934 the boundaries changed again, and those areas came under the control of the Malvern council. ==Geography==

Town centre 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 Malvern 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. Suburbs and neighbourhoods 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. Typically 17.3 days of the year will reach 25.1c(77.2f) or higher and the annual warmest day should reach 29.8c(85.6f) 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 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) in December 1981, −18.0 °C (−0.4 °F) in January 1982. The sunniest year was 2003, when 1776 hours of sunshine were recorded. Rainfall averages around 740mm per year with over 1 mm being recorded on 123 days of the year. 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. {{Weather box|location = Malvern, elevation 62m, 1971–2000, Sunshine 1961–90 ==Demography==

At the 2021 UK census, demographics for Malvern, part of the larger Malvern Hills area, show an older, predominantly White British population. The civil parish of Malvern that includes the neighbouring urban settlements of West Malvern, Malvern Wells, Little Malvern and Newlandhad a population of 30,462 and covers 19.90 km². The 2021 census found the White British ethnic group to be by far the largest in Malvern with 95.2% identifying as such. The next largest ethnic group was White Other, which accounted for 3.2% of the population, followed by the Asian, 642 people, and Mixed Race categories 546 people, with a Black ethnic group of 151 people and the other group constituted 96 of the population. Population development on the corner of Priory Road and Orchard Road|alt=Photo of a Victorian cast iron readitional red letterbox still in use 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. 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. 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. 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. ==Economy==

Research and development to the rear|alt=Photo QinetiQ from Malvern Hills. Malvern College in foreground, village of Poolbrook in background 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. With the recognised science and technology developments in the Malvern area, Malvern Hills Science Park was built in 1999, ==Culture==

Architecture 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. Most of the 1960s concerts were staged by Bannister promotions while later events were promoted by Cherry Red, a London-based independent record label formed in 1978. 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. 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. Local radio stations are BBC Hereford and Worcester, Heart West Midlands, Radio Wyvern, Capital Mid-Counties, Greatest Hits Radio Herefordshire & Worcestershire, Hits Radio Herefordshire & Worcestershire, and Smooth West Midlands. The Malvern Gazette founded 1855, and the Malvern Observer a freesheet launched in 2013 are local Malvern newspapers published weekly. Malvern water 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. and since 2016 also with Bagnères-de-Bigorre, a spa town in France. ==Places of worship==

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. 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: • 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; • Emmanuel, (Countess of Huntingdon's Connexion), 1874, by Haddon Brothers.* ==Health and emergency services==

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. Major health facilities are provided by hospitals in Worcester. The town has seven health centres, The ambulance station is in Victoria Road, Great Malvern, near the town centre. Other emergency services are provided by West Mercia Police from a station in Victoria Road, and the Hereford and Worcester Fire and Rescue Service that has a station in Worcester Road, Malvern Link. ==Transport==

The A449 road runs through the centre of Malvern, connecting it to Worcester and Ledbury. The M5 motorway is accessible at junctions 7 and 8 to the east of Malvern. The M50 motorway, also known as the Ross Spur, to the south is accessed at junction 1 on the A38 road between Tewkesbury and Malvern. Great Malvern and Malvern Link railway stations are approximately one mile (1.6 km) apart. Great Western Railway and West Midlands Trains operate services as far as Hereford, Birmingham New Street, and London Paddington. Several circular urban bus routes connect the main residential and commercial areas and out-of-town shopping malls. Other routes serve the surrounding villages and Worcester city centre. Most services are operated by First Midland Red. Air services operate from Birmingham Airport, about an hour's drive away on the M5 and M42 motorways. Gloucestershire Airport, at Staverton, in the borough of Tewkesbury, is a busy general aviation airport, used mainly for private charter and scheduled flights to such destinations as the islands of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. ==Education==

Primary schools 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. Dyson Perrins Church of England Academy in the northern part of the large suburb of Malvern Link, a Church of England school with almost 1000 pupils, is a specialist Sports College. 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 from the town, many of its pupils come from the Malvern area. 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 and higher education Malvern Hills College, founded and built in 1928 was a centre for further education providing government certificate vocational courses for adults and post 14-year-old students until it closed down in the summer of 2021. The theological college which offers undergraduate and graduate degrees also accepts Christians from a variety of Protestant Christian denominations. ==Leisure==

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. 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. 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 Worcestershire Way, a waymarked long-distance trail in Worcestershire, runs from Bewdley to Great Malvern. ==Sport==

The Manor Park Club multi-sports complex, close to the town centre, provides 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. In 2010, a new indoor facility was unveiled at the club by tennis player Tim Henman. Traditional outdoor bowls is played on a green in Priory Park. Victoria Park in Malvern Link provides space for field sports and tennis. Malvern Town F.C. has a football first team that plays in the 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. Cricket is provided for at Barnards Green Cricket Club, a professional class ground. ==Notable people==

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. A significant number of people were scientists at the Telecommunications Research Establishment, and its successor the Royal Radar Establishment, the country's largest secret defence research facility with around 4,000 civil servants and military personnel, and the quango it became (as of 2011), QinetiQ. ==Related settlements==

Malvern is the source of the name of many towns and villages, including Malverne, in New York state, as one of the many in the US and around 15 others around the world in current or former British possessions. ==References==