Great Malvern in 1843
Great Malvern, eight miles south-west from Worcester, is not a market-town, but contained in 1841 a population of 2,768, including 150 visitors. It is much resorted to by invalids, not only for its medicinal springs, St. Ann's Well and Holy Well, but for the beauty and salubrity of the situation. The wells are between Great Malvern and Little Malvern, which latter is a small village about three miles to the south. The Malvern Hills, which are in the immediate neighbourhood, vary from one to two miles in width, and rise in most parts with a very gentle ascent ; they afford extensive and beautiful views into Wales and the adjoining English counties. The living is a vicarage, of the average net annual value of £181. The church, which formed part of an extensive monastery, is a fine Gothic building of cathedral form, 170 feet long by 60 feet wide ; the tower, 124 feet high, in the centre of the building, is surmounted with battlements and pinnacles, and has six bells with chimes. The architecture of the whole structure is very rich and light. When the monastery was dissolved by Henry VIII, the inhabitants bought the church and made it parochial. Of the rest of the monastery nothing remains except a gateway, which is in a good state of preservation. The monastery was originally endowed by Edward the Confessor. |