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Getting inspired in Malvern
Malvern Priory sits at the heart of the town and dates back as far as the 11th century
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Malvern Priory sits at the heart of the town and dates back as far as the 11th century. JP/Simon Marcus Gower
This is a place of legends, inspiration and healthy pursuits. Among its legends is one that revolves around its founding. The inspiration is in the landscape and it has inspired at least two great imaginative authors.
It is a place where natural spring waters rise and so spas have existed to allow people to benefit from their health giving properties.
The authors of The Chronicles of Narnia and The Lord of the Rings were visitors here and it is said that the great bulk of the Malvern Hills gave them inspiration for at least parts of their works of fantasy. It is claimed that C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien once spent an evening drinking and chatting together in a Malvern pub.
It was a winter’s evening and snow lay all about and more snow gently fell on the ground. As they wrapped themselves in their winter coats, it is said, the two authors looked out at the wintry scene and Lewis, upon seeing a street lamp shining through the snow, turned to Tolkien and said “that would make a wonderful opening line to a book”.
That image would later appear at the opening of the Narnia adventures.
Whether or not the tale of the two authors emerging from a pub is mere fancy hardly seems to matter.
They certainly were visitors here and like most visitors to this small town huddled beneath the looming hills they could not help but be impressed. The natural beauty and the natural resources that go with it must have played a part in the original human settlement here.
The origin of human settlement at Malvern is the stuff of legend and some dispute, too. The legend tells of a monk who in around 1050 fled from a Saxon monastery in nearby Gloucestershire. The monastery there was destroyed by marauding “Northmen”, otherwise known as Vikings, and so the monk, known as Werstan, sought sanctuary in the Malvern Hills.
Werstan, it seems, stayed near a well that is today known as St. Anne’s Well, at a point that stands just above the modern town. He lived in a cave when he first arrived in the area and also built a small chapel.
He was not safe there though and was caught and killed by Celts, thus becoming a martyr for his faith and in turn a saint.
In the 11th century a Benedictine monastery was developed which became the Priory, which still stands today.
Within the Priory a stained glass window was created to commemorate St. Werstan the martyr and so the birth of Malvern was effectively monastic; St. Werstan came to be known as the patron saint of Malvern’s Springs and Wells and these waters have played a big part in the existence and growth of the town. In the 19th century in particular it grew as a center of hydrotherapy.
Large hotels and villas were established in the town as the rich and indeed the famous came to the town to partake of its beneficial waters. Charles Darwin brought his daughter to Malvern in 1851 for Malvern Water Treatment and in 1889 the future US president Franklin D. Roosevelt was brought here at the age of seven when he was convalescing from an illness.
The Malvern water has, evidently, for centuries been seen as health giving. It is claimed that in the 16th century Queen Elizabeth I was a regular drinker of the water and it is also said that Queen Victoria would not travel without a supply of it.
Today this famous water is bottled by the Coca-Cola Company under its Schweppes brand and so is sent around the world to be enjoyed by millions of people, not just royalty. It can of course though be enjoyed locally and many hikers are grateful for it as they walk the range of the Malvern Hills.
J.R.R. Tolkien was one such hikers. He had a friend by the name of George Sayer who was the head of the English department of Malvern College. It is said that Sayer and Tolkien would take walks together through the hills of Malvern and during these walks Tolkien would retell tales from his famous books.
It is said that he would look at parts of the Malvern Hills and compare them to the White Mountains of Gondor of his imagination. These green and bulky hills then triggered his imagination and that in turn brought intrigue and entertainment to millions of readers of his books and the films that sprang from them.
Whether it is for our physical health or for our imaginative spirits, Malvern has been a destination for people to enjoy for many centuries. The overshadowing hills and the waters that come from them both invigorate and inspire.
Malvern is today a relatively small and tranquil town and this seems fitting and in line with its origins as a monastic refuge. It is a town and a part of England that does wonders for the spirit.
— JP/Simon Marcus Gower
