England, Picturesque and Descriptive: A Reminiscence of Foreign TravelCook, Joel
History
England, Picturesque and Descriptive: A Reminiscence of Foreign Travel
Cook, Joel
England -- Description and travel
The town of Great Malvern, on the eastern slope of the hills, is
elevated five hundred and twenty feet, and is in high repute as a
watering-place. It had its origin in a priory, of which there still
remains the fine old church, with a surmounting gray tower and an
entrance-gateway which have escaped the general ruin of the monastery.
Within this ancient church the ornaments of some of the old stalls in
the choir are very quaint, representing a man leading a bear, a dying
miser handing his money-bags to the priest and doctor, and three rats
solemnly hanging a cat on a gallows. The priory was the nucleus about
which gathered the town, or, properly speaking, the towns, for there are
a series of them, all well-known watering-places. Great Malvern has
North Malvern alongside it and Malvern Link on the lower hills, while to
the southward are Malvern Wells and Little Malvern, with West Malvern
over on the Hereford side of the ridge. They are aggregations of pretty
villas, and the many invalids who seek their relief are drawn about in
Bath-chairs by little donkeys. The view from the Worcestershire Beacon
is grand, extending over a broad surface in all directions, for we are
told that when the beacon-fires that were lighted upon this elevated
ridge warned England of the approach of the Spanish Armada,
"Twelve fair counties saw the blaze
From Malvern's lonely height."
The advantages the Malvern range offers as a sanitarium are pure air and
pure water. The towns are elevated above the fogs of the valleys, and
the rainfall is small, while both winter's cold and summer's heat are
tempered. St. Anne's Well and the Holy Well are the great sources of
pure water. The latter is at Malvern Wells, and the former on the side
of the Worcestershire Beacon, at an elevation of eight hundred and
twenty feet. Both are slightly alkaline, but St. Anne's Well is the most
famous, and is tastefully enclosed. Water-cure establishments abound
here, and with such air, such water, and such magnificent scenery it is
no wonder that the Malvern Hills are among the most popular resorts of
England.
[Illustration: ST. ANNE'S WELL.]
THE RIVER WYE.
[Illustration: BUTCHERS' ROW, HEREFORD.]
[Illustration: OUTHOUSE WHERE NELL GWYNNE WAS BORN.]
[Illustration: HEREFORD CATHEDRAL.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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