Great Malvern is an area of the

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

of Malvern, in the Malvern Hills district, in the county of

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Shropshire, Staffordshire, and the West Midlands (county), West ...

, England. It lies at the foot of the Malvern Hills, a designated

Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty An Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB; , AHNE) is one of 46 areas of countryside in England, Wales, or Northern Ireland that has been designated for conservation due to its significant landscape value. Since 2023, the areas in England an ...

, on the eastern flanks of the

Worcestershire Beacon Worcestershire Beacon, also popularly known as Worcester Beacon, or locally simply as ''The Beacon'', is a hill whose summit at is the highest point in Worcestershire. It is part of the Malvern Hills which run about north-south along the Here ...

and North Hill, and is the historic centre of Malvern and includes its town centre. It is a designated conservation area in recognition of the special architectural and historic interest of the area. The growth of Great Malvern began with the founding of an 11th-century priory. During the 19th century, it became a popular centre for hydrotherapy and swelled to include the bordering settlements of Barnards Green, Malvern Link with Link Top, Malvern Wells (South Malvern), North Malvern, and West Malvern. This urban area, along with the hills they surround and several villages, are collectively referred to as ''The Malverns''. Great Malvern is a

seat of local government The seat of government is (as defined by ''Brewer's Politics'') "the building, complex of buildings or the city from which a government exercises its authority". In most countries, the nation's capital is also seat of its government, thus that ...

, being the location of the headquarters of Malvern Town Council, the Malvern Hills Conservators and Malvern Hills AONB Partnership, and Malvern Hills District Council. It has many of the town's amenities including 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 main post office.

Location

Great Malvern is approximately south-west of the city of Worcester, on the eastern slopes of the Malvern Hills. The elevation of the town ranges from about 50 to 200 metres (164 to 656 feet) above sea level. The

River Severn The River Severn (, ), at long, is the longest river in Great Britain. It is also the river with the most voluminous flow of water by far in all of England and Wales, with an average flow rate of at Apperley, Gloucestershire. It rises in t ...

runs roughly north-south about to the east of the town. Belle Vue Island (a public terraced garden on an "island" between roads) is the finishing point for the Worcestershire Way, a waymarked

long-distance trail A long-distance trail (or long-distance footpath, track, way, greenway) is a longer recreational trail mainly through rural areas used for hiking, backpacking, cycling, equestrianism or cross-country skiing. They exist on all continents exc ...

that runs from Bewdley to Great Malvern.

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. In the heart of the town is a statue of the composer

Edward Elgar Sir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet, (; 2 June 1857 – 23 February 1934) was an English composer, many of whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire. Among his best-known compositions are orchestr ...

, while other statuary is dedicated to Malvern water. 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. As well as traditional high street shops such as butchers, bakers, grocers etc., there are also cafés, bookshops, health food shops, art and craft shops, galleries, antique dealers, delis, restaurants, complementary therapists, charity shops, law firms, and estate agents. There is also a

public library A public library is a library, most often a lending library, that is accessible by the general public and is usually funded from public sources, such as taxes. It is operated by librarians and library paraprofessionals, who are also Civil servic ...

that includes access to many community services. On the Worcester to

Hereford Hereford ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of the ceremonial county of Herefordshire, England. It is on the banks of the River Wye and lies east of the border with Wales, north-west of Gloucester and south-west of Worcester. With ...

railway line is the Victorian Great Malvern station, a listed example of classical Victorian railway architecture close to the nearby former Imperial Hotel by the same architect, E. W. Elmslie. There are many specimens of mature trees in Great Malvern. When Lady Foley, the widow of Edward Thomas Foley, sold off parts of her estate in the 1800s, she stipulated that all plots around the town centre should be planted with trees.

History

Toponymy

The name ''Malvern'' is first attested in a

charter A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified. It is implicit that the granter retains superiority (or sovereignty), and that the ...

of around 1030, as ''Mælfern'', and then in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

of 1086 as ''Malferna''. The name derives from the

Common Brittonic Common Brittonic (; ; ), also known as British, Common Brythonic, or Proto-Brittonic, is a Celtic language historically spoken in Britain and Brittany from which evolved the later and modern Brittonic languages. It is a form of Insular Cel ...

words that survive in modern Welsh as ("bare") and ("hill"); thus it once meant "bare hill". The name perhaps applied originally to the hill now called Worcester Beacon, after which Great Malvern was then named. Additions corresponding to the ''Great'' part of ''Great Malvern'', made to distinguish the settlement from Little Malvern, are first attested in 1228 (''Magna Malverna'', using the Latin word for "great") and 1521 (''Moche Malv'ne'', using the English word ''much''). Great Malvern in turn then gave its name to the whole range of hills beside which it lies, the Malvern Hills. Before the beginning of academic place-name studies, the name attracted some fanciful explanations.

William of Malmesbury William of Malmesbury (; ) was the foremost English historian of the 12th century. He has been ranked among the most talented English historians since Bede. Modern historian C. Warren Hollister described him as "a gifted historical scholar and a ...

's ''Gesta Pontificum'' suggests that the name comes from the

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

words ("badly") and ("flourishes"), implying that it meant "thrives poorly" and that this was used ironically because spiritual life in Malvern was so successful. Jabez Allies, a nineteenth-century

antiquarian An antiquarian or antiquary () is an aficionado or student of antiquities or things of the past. More specifically, the term is used for those who study history with particular attention to ancient artefacts, archaeological and historic si ...

from Worcestershire, speculated that ''-vern'' derived from supposed Brittonic words ''sarn'' or ''varn'' meaning "pavement" or "seat of judgement".

Monastic Malvern

The town developed around its 11th-century priory, a Benedictine monastery, the remains of which make up some of the early parts of Great Malvern Priory, now a large

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the Church (building), church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in com ...

. Several slightly different histories explain the actual founding of the religious community. Legend tells that the settlement began following the murder of St. Werstan, a monk of Deerhurst, who escaped and fled through the Malvern Chase, finding sanctuary on the Malvern Hills and establishing a hermitage near St. Ann's Well.Severn Burrow, C.F: 1948, ''A little city set on the hill: the story of Malvern'' St Werstan's oratory is thought to have been located on the site of St Michael's Chapel, which is believed to have stood on the site of Bello Sguardo, a Victorian

Villa A villa is a type of house that was originally an ancient Roman upper class country house that provided an escape from urban life. Since its origins in the Roman villa, the idea and function of a villa have evolved considerably. After the f ...

. Bello Sguardo was built on the site of Hermitage Cottage. The cottage was demolished in 1825 and

ecclesiastical {{Short pages monitor In 1897, the painter

Edward Burne-Jones Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones, 1st Baronet, (; 28 August 183317 June 1898) was an English painter and designer associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood's style and subject matter. Burne-Jones worked with William Morris as a founding part ...

came to Malvern for the "bracing air", on the recommendation of his doctor, but stayed in his hotel for a week. The 7-year-old

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. He is the longest-serving U.S. president, and the only one to have served ...

visited in 1889, during a trip to Europe with his parents. Fearing that Malvern would become the "Metropolis of Hydrotherapy", a Malvern Hills Act had been secured in parliament in 1884 and later Acts empowered the Malvern Hills Conservators to acquire land to prevent further encroachment on common land and by 1925 they had bought much of the manorial wastelands. Towards the end of the 19th century, the popularity of the hydrotherapy had declined to the extent that many hotels were already being converted into private boarding schools and rest homes, and education became the basis of Malvern's economy. By 1865, the town already had 17 single-gender private schools, increasing to 25 by 1885. The area was well suited for schools due to its established attractive environment and access by rail. Children could travel unaccompanied with their trunks by rail to their boarding schools near the stations in Great Malvern, Malvern Wells, and Malvern Link. The Girls College, in a former hotel directly opposite Great Malvern railway station, has a dedicated (now derelict) tunnel to the basement of the building, which is clearly visible from both platforms of the station.

Governance

In 1900 the former urban districts and towns of Great Malvern and Malvern Link were merged and the area forms the current six (parish) wards that constitute the

of Malvern, which has a

town council A town council, city council or municipal council is a form of local government for small municipalities. Usage of the term varies under different jurisdictions. Republic of Ireland In 2002, 49 urban district councils and 26 town commissi ...

(based in Great Malvern). In 1951 the parish of Great Malvern had a population of 9954. On 1 April 1974 the parish was abolished. As Great Malvern is no longer an area with an administratively-defined boundary, it straddles the wards of Priory and (to small extents) Pickersleigh and Chase. The other tiers of local government that cover Great Malvern are Malvern Hills District Council (also based in Great Malvern) and

Worcestershire County Council Worcestershire County Council is the county council for the non-metropolitan county of Worcestershire in England. Its headquarters are at County Hall in Worcester, the county town. The council consists of 57 councillors and there is no over ...

(based in Worcester).

Culture and leisure

The Priory Park with its adjoining Malvern Splash pool and Winter Gardens occupies a large area in the centre of the town. The Winter Gardens complex is home to the Malvern Theatre, a leading provincial centre for dramatic arts, a cinema (film theatre), a concert venue/banqueting room, bars and cafeterias. For almost half a century, the Malvern Winter Gardens has also been a major regional venue for classical music, and concerts by legendary rock bands of the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. The Splash Leisure Complex flanks the eastern boundary of Priory Park and has an indoor swimming pool and gymnasium. Located between the former community hospital and the Malvern Hills College are the grounds and buildings of the Manor Park Club Multi Sports Complex that provides the Malvern area with extensive indoor and outdoor sports facilities. It is assisted by grants and loans from various bodies, including the Malvern Hills District Council, the Sport of England (Lottery) and the

Lawn Tennis Association The Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) is the national governing body of tennis in Great Britain, the Channel Islands, and the Isle of Man founded in 1888. The LTA promotes all levels of lawn tennis. The organization believes tennis can provide ...

Drama

Malvern Theatres, housed in the Winter Gardens complex in the town centre, is a provincial centre for the arts. The first Malvern Drama Festival, which took place in 1929, was dedicated to Bernard Shaw and planned by Sir Barry Jackson. A number of works have had their first performances at Malvern, six by Shaw including In ''Good King Charles' Golden Days'', the 1929 English première of '' The Apple Cart'', and the world première of ''Geneva'' in 1938. In 1956 Malvern held a Shaw centenary week. In February 1965 a Malvern Festival Theatre Trust was set up, and extensive refurbishment was undertaken. J B Priestley presided over the opening ceremony of the first summer season. In 1998, a further £7.2 million major redesign and refurbishment took place with the help of contributions from the National Lottery Distribution Fund (NLDF), administered by the government Department for Culture, Media and Sport. The Theatre of Small Convenience entered the ''

Guinness Book of World Records ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a British reference book published annually, listi ...

'' in 2002 as the smallest theatre in the world. Located in a former Victorian public convenience in the centre of the town in Edith Walk in, the theatre has a capacity of 12 people. The theatre regularly hosts puppetry, professional and amateur actors, drama, poetry, storytelling and opera, and has become a regular venue of the Malvern Fringe Festival. The theatre has hosted a range of famous actors over the years including Simon Callow, Nicholas Hoult and Jane Asher.

Literature

William Langland's famous 14th century poem ''The Visions of

Piers Plowman ''Piers Plowman'' (written 1370–86; possibly ) or ''Visio Willelmi de Petro Ploughman'' (''William's Vision of Piers Plowman'') is a Middle English allegorical narrative poem by William Langland. It is written in un-rhymed, alliterative ...

'' (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, was possibly educated at the priory of Great Malvern.

C. S. Lewis Clive Staples Lewis (29 November 1898 – 22 November 1963) was a British writer, literary scholar and Anglican lay theologian. He held academic positions in English literature at both Magdalen College, Oxford (1925–1954), and Magdalen ...

and

J. R. R. Tolkien John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (, 3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer and philologist. He was the author of the high fantasy works ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''. From 1925 to 1945, Tolkien was the Rawlinson ...

are among the authors that have frequented Malvern. Legend states that, after drinking in a Malvern pub one winter evening, they were walking home when it started to snow. They saw a lamp post shining out through the snow and Lewis turned to his friends and said "that would make a very nice opening line to a book". The novel '' The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe'' by Lewis later used that image as the characters enter the realm of Narnia. J.R.R. Tolkien found inspiration in the Malvern landscape which he had viewed from his childhood home in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

and his brother Hilary's home near

Evesham Evesham () is a market town and Civil parishes in England, parish in the Wychavon district of Worcestershire, in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands region of England. It is located roughly equidistant between Worcester, England, Worceste ...

. He was introduced to the area by C. S. Lewis, who had brought him here to meet George Sayer, the Head of English at

Malvern College Malvern College is a Private schools in the United Kingdom, fee-charging coeducational boarding school, boarding and day school in Malvern, Worcestershire, Malvern, Worcestershire, England. It is a public school (United Kingdom), public school ...

. Sayer had been a student of Lewis, and became his biographer, and together with them Tolkien would walk the Malvern Hills. Recordings of Tolkien reading excerpts from ''

The Hobbit ''The Hobbit, or There and Back Again'' is a children's fantasy novel by the English author J. R. R. Tolkien. It was published in 1937 to wide critical acclaim, being nominated for the Carnegie Medal and awarded a prize from the ...

'' and ''

The Lord of the Rings ''The Lord of the Rings'' is an Epic (genre), epic high fantasy novel written by English author and scholar J. R. R. Tolkien. Set in Middle-earth, the story began as a sequel to Tolkien's 1937 children's book ''The Hobbit'' but eventually d ...

'' were made in Malvern in 1952, at the home of George Sayer. The recordings were later issued on long-playing

gramophone record A phonograph record (also known as a gramophone record, especially in British English) or a vinyl record (for later varieties only) is an analog sound storage medium in the form of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove. The g ...

s. In the liner notes for ''J.R.R Tolkien Reads and Sings his The Hobbit & The Fellowship of the Rings'', George Sayer wrote that Tolkien would relive the book as they walked and compared parts of the Malvern Hills to the White Mountains of Gondor. Great Malvern is the setting for several episodes in Jonathan Coe's 2004 novel ''The Closed Circle''.

Architecture

In 1969 Great Malvern was designated a Conservation Area by the Local Authority in recognition of the architecture which includes

Stucco Stucco or render is a construction material made of aggregates, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as a decorative coating for walls and ceilings, exterior walls, and as a sculptural and ...

ed, Classical, Victorian,

Regency In a monarchy, a regent () is a person appointed to govern a state because the actual monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge their powers and duties, or the throne is vacant and a new monarch has not yet been dete ...

, Edwardian,

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an Architectural style, architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half ...

and

Italianate The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style combined its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century It ...

styled buildings. 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 A council house, corporation house or council flat is a form of British Public housing in the United Kingdom, public housing built by Local government in the United Kingdom, local authorities. A council estate is a building complex containing ...

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. The Imperial was the first hotel to be lit by incandescent gas. It was equipped with all types of baths and brine was brought specially by rail from Droitwich. Much architecture and statuary in the town centre is dedicated to Malvern water, including the St Ann's Well, which is housed in a building dating from 1813. The drinking spout, ''Malvhina'', by the sculptor Rose Garrard, was unveiled on 4 September 1998. The Enigma Fountain, also by Garrard, was unveiled by The Duke of York in 2000.

Music

Sir Edward Elgar, British composer and Master of the King's Musick, lived much of his life around Malvern and is buried in Little Malvern Roman Catholic churchyard. A sculpture group by artist Rose Garrard comprising the ''Enigma'' fountain together with a statue of Elgar gazing over Great Malvern stands on Belle Vue Terrace in the town centre. The ''Elgar Route'', a drive passing some key landmarks from Elgar's life, passes through Malvern. Malvern Concert Club, founded in 1903 by Elgar, holds concerts are held in the Forum Theatre, Malvern Theatres. Its programmes focus on in renaissance, baroque, classical, romantic and contemporary music. In the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, the Malvern Winter Gardens was a major regional venue for concerts by popular rock bands, including T-Rex,

The Jam The Jam were an English rock band formed in 1972 in Woking, Surrey, consisting of Paul Weller, Bruce Foxton and Rick Buckler. They released 18 consecutive top 40 singles in the United Kingdom, from their debut in 1977 to their break-up in ...

AC/DC AC/DC are an Australian rock band formed in Sydney in 1973. Their music has been variously described as hard rock, blues rock and Heavy metal music, heavy metal, although the band calls it simply "rock and roll". They are cited as a formativ ...

Black Sabbath Black Sabbath are an English rock band formed in Birmingham in 1968 by guitarist Tony Iommi, drummer Bill Ward (musician), Bill Ward, bassist Geezer Butler, and vocalist Ozzy Osbourne. After adopting the Black Sabbath name in 1969 (the band ...

, The Undertones, and

Joy Division Joy Division were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Salford in 1976. The group consisted of vocalist, guitarist and lyricist Ian Curtis, guitarist and keyboardist Bernard Sumner, bassist Peter Hook and drummer Stephen Morris (musici ...

. Many of the events were promoted by Cherry Red, a London-based

independent record label An independent record label (or indie label) is a record label that operates without the funding or distribution of major record labels; they are a type of small and medium-sized enterprise, small- to medium-sized enterprise, or SME. The labels ...

formed in 1978. The Chandos Symphony Orchestra, under the professional direction of Michael Lloyd, has over 100 players. It specialises in performances of major works of the 19th and 20th Centuries. The ''Autumn in Malvern Festival'' is an annual event featuring performances of artists of music, poetry, writers and film makers held during October every year. The Colwell and other brass bands of the early century were part of the music of the town. The opera singer Jenny Lind lived and died in Malvern, and is buried in Great Malvern cemetery. Julius Harrison (1885–1963), who was a contemporary of Elgar and Professor of Composition at the

Royal Academy of Music The Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in London, England, is one of the oldest music schools in the UK, founded in 1822 by John Fane and Nicolas-Charles Bochsa. It received its royal charter in 1830 from King George IV with the support of the firs ...

, lived in Pickersleigh Road for most of the 1940s. He was music director at Malvern College and director of the early Elgar Festivals in Malvern.

Malvern Fringe Festival The Malvern Fringe Festival was an arts festival (founded 1977) which took place in Great Malvern, England. The main events of the Malvern Fringe Festival were the annual Malvern May Day and parade, and the annual three-day festival held in Jun ...

was officially founded in 1977 as a reaction to the Malvern Festival which was perceived to be biased towards classical music and appealing towards a national and international audience rather than a local one. It takes place over three days in June as a fringe to the Elgar Festival. The Fringe also organise the Malvern May Day and Parade, an annual community event which has been held in Priory Park on the Saturday before the May Bank Holiday since 1993 and various musical and other live events throughout the year. The Fringe aims to be inclusive; bridging the generation gap by providing a varied programme of events for the local people of Malvern aimed at all ages.

Art

Works of art in Great Malvern include fountains, statues, and Malvern water spouts by the sculptor Rose Garrard. Among her sculptures are the statue of Sir Edward Elgar and the ''Enigma Fountain'' (Unveiled by Prince Andrew, Duke of York on Belle Vue Terrace, Malvern on 26 May 2000). and the drinking spout, ''Malvhina'', also on Belle Vue Terrace, which was unveiled on 4 September 1998. A sculpture of two buzzards by Walenty Pytel was installed in Rosebank Gardens, Great Malvern to commemorate the Queen's Diamond Jubilee in November 2012. Paintings of Great Malvern include Joseph Powell's ''Great Malvern Priory ... from the North East'' (1797), now in the British Watercolours collection of the

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (abbreviated V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.8 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and named after Queen ...

and J. M. W. Turner's ''Porch of Great Malvern Abbey''.

Television

Elgar Sir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet, (; 2 June 1857 – 23 February 1934) was an English composer, many of whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire. Among his best-known compositions are orchestr ...

'', a drama documentary made in 1962 by the British director

Ken Russell Henry Kenneth Alfred Russell (3 July 1927 – 27 November 2011) was a British film director, known for his pioneering work in television and film and for his flamboyant and controversial style. His films were mainly liberal adaptations of ...

, was filmed on location in Malvern and Worcester. Several scenes were filmed in Malvern at locations including the Bluebird Tea Rooms in Church Street and St Ann's Well in Great Malvern. Made for BBC Television's long-running ''

Monitor Monitor or monitor may refer to: Places * Monitor, Alberta * Monitor, Indiana, town in the United States * Monitor, Kentucky * Monitor, Oregon, unincorporated community in the United States * Monitor, Washington * Monitor, Logan County, Wes ...

'' programme, it dramatised the life of the

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

Edward Elgar. The film significantly raised the public profile of the composer. Great Malvern railway station featured in 1975 as the commuter-belt railway station in the first episode of

Survivors (1975 TV series) ''Survivors'' is a British post-apocalyptic fiction drama television series created by Terry Nation and produced by Terence Dudley at the BBC, that broadcast from 1975 to 1977. It concerns the plight of a group of people who have survived ...

, the post-apocalyptic fiction

drama Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on Radio drama, radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a g ...

television series created by Terry Nation and produced by Terence Dudley at the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

Education

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries following the decline in Malvern's popularity as a spa town, many private boarding schools were established in Great Malvern, often occupying the premises of former hotels and large villas. Two large independent 'public' schools –

for boys and girls and Malvern St James for girls – now remain following mergers of Malvern's many private primary and secondary schools.

is a coeducational public school, founded in 1865. Until 1992, it was a school for boys aged 13 to 18. Following a series of mergers from 1992 to 2008 with private primary schools in the area it has become coeducational with pupils from 3 to 18 years old. Among its alumni are two Nobel Laureates ( James Meade and Francis William Aston ), an Olympic Gold medallist ( Arnold Jackson), and leading politicians. Malvern St James was formed in 2006 by the merger of Malvern Girls' College and St. James' School, West Malvern (formerly St James' and The Abbey) and other mergers with local private schools over the last thirty years. It is now the last of the independent girls' schools in the Malvern area. The main building of Malvern St James on the campus of the former Malvern Girls' College is the former Imperial Hotel, built in the second half of the 19th century. There are several state-controlled or voluntary-assisted primary schools in the Great Malvern area. Secondary schools serving the area are located in the suburbs of Barnards Green, Malvern Link, and the nearby village of Hanley Castle, and further afield in the city of Worcester.

Transport

Rail

Great Malvern railway station is located just off Avenue Road, downhill from the priory church and town centre, and provides direct services to Worcester,

, Bristol, Westbury, Weymouth,

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

and London.

Bus

Several local bus services connect Great Malvern with the surrounding area.

Air

The nearest major airport is

approximately one hour by road via the M5 and M42 motorways. Gloucestershire Airport located at Staverton, in the borough of Tewkesbury is a busy

general aviation General aviation (GA) is defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) as all civil aviation aircraft operations except for commercial air transport or aerial work, which is defined as specialized aviation services for other ...

airport used mainly for private charter and scheduled flights to destinations such as the islands of

Jersey Jersey ( ; ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey, is an autonomous and self-governing island territory of the British Islands. Although as a British Crown Dependency it is not a sovereign state, it has its own distinguishing civil and gov ...

Guernsey Guernsey ( ; Guernésiais: ''Guernési''; ) is the second-largest island in the Channel Islands, located west of the Cotentin Peninsula, Normandy. It is the largest island in the Bailiwick of Guernsey, which includes five other inhabited isl ...

, and the

Isle of Man The Isle of Man ( , also ), or Mann ( ), is a self-governing British Crown Dependency in the Irish Sea, between Great Britain and Ireland. As head of state, Charles III holds the title Lord of Mann and is represented by a Lieutenant Govern ...

, pilot training, and by the aircraft of emergency services.

Notable people

Haile Selassie I Blue Plaque Great Malvern

* Thomas Attwood (1783-1856), Liberal politician and economist, died at Great Malvern. * Robert Conquest (1917–2015), Anglo-American historian and recipient of the

Presidential Medal of Freedom The Presidential Medal of Freedom is the highest civilian award of the United States, alongside the Congressional Gold Medal. It is an award bestowed by decision of the president of the United States to "any person recommended to the President ...

(2005); born in Great Malvern * Anne Darwin,

Charles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English Natural history#Before 1900, naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all speci ...

's daughter, is buried in the graveyard of Malvern Priory. *

, composer, taught in Great Malvern. He is buried, along with a number of relatives, in the graveyard of nearby St Wulstan's Roman Catholic Church. *

Haile Selassie Haile Selassie I (born Tafari Makonnen or ''Ethiopian aristocratic and court titles#Lij, Lij'' Tafari; 23 July 189227 August 1975) was Emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974. He rose to power as the Ethiopian aristocratic and court titles, Rege ...

, emperor of Ethiopia, visited Malvern during his 1936–1941 exile, staying at the Abbey Hotel. * Jenny Lind, opera singer, lived and died in Malvern, and is buried in Great Malvern cemetery. *

, later President of the USA, stayed at the Aldwyn Tower Hotel in St Ann's Road, Great Malvern, while convalescing from an illness at the age of 7. *

Cher Lloyd Cher Lloyd (born 28 July 1993) is an English singer. She participated on the The X Factor (UK series 7), seventh series of the television talent show ''The X Factor (UK TV series), The X Factor'' in 2010, where she finished in fourth place. F ...

, singer, was born and lived in Malvern. * Jacqui Smith, former Labour Home Secretary, was born and lives in Malvern.

References

External links

Visit The Malverns
— Great Malvern {{Authority control Market towns in Worcestershire Former civil parishes in Worcestershire Malvern, Worcestershire