Droitwich News, Droitwich Sport, Droitwich Leisure - From The Droitwich Spa Advertiser

Friends of Coughton Court

From the Redditch Advertiser, first published Tuesday 10th Jul 2007.

RAY Sturdy spoke to members about Malvern Memories.

He illustrated his talk with many slides showing Malvern at the turn of the 20th century and compared buildings and vistas with those of the present day.

Malvern has been famous for its spring waters for more than 1,000 years.

In the reign of Henry VIII the priory was bought by the local people to avoid its destruction.

At the time it was the only large building there.

Then the fame of the waters spread.

Queen Victoria visited for her health and told of the benefit she received from taking the waters so others followed her.

The spa was well maintained and gardens were planted.

The railway came to Malvern which now advertised itself as "an alpine and spa resort".

The Imperial Hotel was built opposite the station where cabs waited to take passengers to the many smaller places of accommodation which sprang up.

George Bernard Shaw and Charles Dickens visited.

Originally, the roads were not metalled so the ways were muddy but, when the road were improved, traffic increased.

Malvern Boys College was a fashionable school.

The Royal Malvern Spa provided entertainment, advertising itself as the Crystal Palace of Malvern.

The water from local springs really put Malvern on the map.

People could collect their own from Holy Well in wicker covered containers.

Local quarries mined the hard stone to build new houses.

New roads were built so a group of conservators was formed to protect the hills.

Hydrotherapy cures because popular - cold baths, fresh air and "drinking the waters".

Saint Anne's Well became a place to buy refreshments.

A toposcope was constructed on Worcester Beacon, a place where beacons had been lit for centuries to alert people to historic happenings.

Photographers roamed the hills, there was a studio at Saint Anne's Well.

Horses and traps took people through the Wych Pass.

Cyclists, including Sir Edward Elgar, took to the hills - there was a delightful picture of the old gentleman on his bicycle. His grave is in the local graveyard.

Jenny Lind, the "Swedish Nightingale", lived there and is buried there.

Schweppes bottled water at Colwall and beer was brewed using water from the local wells.

Picture postcards of the day give an insight into the local area.

They were very popular as, if posted early, they would be delivered the same day, all for one ha'penny!

Malvern people could now travel by rail to the seaside, to Weston-super-Mare and avail themselves of the bathing machines.

A girls college was opened. It had its own access tunnel to and from the railway station, this tunnel is still in use today.

Gas lamps were installed along the roads.

They survive, together with Victorian postboxes.

The railway station retains its decorative iron pillars.

Today, the hills retain their beauty and attract walkers and cyclists.

The conservators still protect the area.

The Three Counties Showground nestles below the hills.

Mr Sturdy concluded his talk with a slide of a colourful sunset over the Malverns.

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