Malvern Wells
| Malvern Wells | |
| Worcestershire | |
|---|---|
 Village centre, Malvern Wells | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | SO773422 |
| Location: | 52°4’43"N, 2°19’56"W |
| Data | |
| Population: | 3,196 |
| Post town: | Malvern |
| Postcode: | WR14 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Malvern Hills |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
West Worcestershire |
Malvern Wells is a village in Worcestershire, to the south of Great Malvern, leaning up against the east side of the Malvern Hills. It 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.
The population of the parishes of Malvern Wells and Little Malvern was recorded in 2011 as 3,196.
The name Malvern Wells is first attested in 1831.[1][2]:341 The name comes from the Malvern water issuing from springs on the hills, principally from the Holy Well and the Eye Well.[3]
History
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 Britain is from 1622, at Holy Well.[4] Holy Well was later used by the Schweppes Company as the source for bottled Malvern Water sold at the Great Exhibition of 1851.[5]
Malvern Wells railway station, as part of the Worcester and Hereford Railway, opened on 25 May 1860, then closed again on 19 January 1861 before reopening 1 February 1864. It was closed finally on 5 April 1965.[6]
Parish church
The Church of All Saints 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 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 there in the presence of Elgar.
Outside links
| ("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Malvern Wells) |
References
- ↑ Watts, Victor, ed (2004). The Cambridge Dictionary of English Place-Names, Based on the Collections of the English Place-Name Society. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521168557., s.vv. Great MALVERN, Little MALVERN, West MALVERN, Malvern Wells.
- ↑ Coates, Richard; Breeze, Andrew (2000). Celtic Voices, English Places: Studies of the Celtic Impact on Place-Names in Britain. Stamford: Tyas. ISBN 1900289415..
- ↑ Malvern Wells PC – wells Retrieved 14 October 2009
- ↑ Smart, Mike (2009), The Malvern Hills, London: Frances Lincoln Ltd, p. 17, ISBN 978-0-7112-2915-0
- ↑ Official Malvern Water brochure, Coca-Cola Enterprises Ltd (2009)
- ↑ Butt, R. V. J., (1995) The Directory of Railway Stations, Yeovil: Patrick Stephens.