Malvern

Malvern is a spa town in Worcestershire, in England. It lies at the foot of the Malvern Hills, a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

The name Malvern is derived from the ancient British or old Welsh moel-bryn, meaning ‘Bare or Bald Hill’.

Malvern is largely Victorian, but the oldest parts of the town are around the Priory Church. The church was founded in 1085 when Benedictine monks established a priory at the foot of the highest peak of the Malvern Hills.

Archaeological evidence suggests that Bronze Age people had settled in the area around 1000 BC. Iron and Bronze Age forts and tracks ran along the hills. Flint axes and arrowheads found in the area are attributed to early Bronze Age settlers. The ‘Shire Ditch’, a late Bronze Age boundary earthwork, dating from around 1000 BC, was constructed along part of the crest of the hills near the site of later settlements.

During the 19th century Malvern developed rapidly from a village to a sprawling urban area, owing to its popularity as a hydrotherapy spa based on the therapeutic qualities attributed to its springs. It was the Georgian desire of taking the waters and then later the Victorian demand of the water cure that transformed Malvern into a Water Cure town. The first Water Cure house was built in 1845.

You can still see many of these impressive buildings, which are in use as public buildings.