Malvern Wells is a village and civil parish south of Great Malvern in the Malvern Hills district of Worcestershire, England. The parish, once known as South Malvern, was formed in 1894 from parts of the civil parishes of Hanley Castle, Welland, and the former parish of Great Malvern, and owes its development to the 19th-century boom years of Malvern as a spa town. Malvern Wells is a centre of commercial bottling of Malvern water. The population of the parishes of Malvern Wells and Little Malvern was recorded in 2011 as 3,196.
Location
Malvern Wells lies on the eastern slopes of the Malvern Hills south of Great Malvern and north of Little Malvern. It takes its name from the Malvern water issuing from springs on the hills, principally from the Holy Well and the Eye Well. The northern end of the parish includes the Wyche Cutting, the historic salt routepass through the hills, which form the border between the counties of Herefordshire and Worcestershire. The actual cutting through the granite hill face is at a height of 856 feet above sea level. The northern part of the parish includes the "Fruitlands" housing estate. In the southern part of the parish is the settlement of Upper Welland. To the east of the village of Malvern Wells, and also in the parish, is the Three Counties Showground.
All Saints, the parish church, was built by a local builder, William Porter, to a design by Troyte Griffith – a friend of Edward Elgar who is depicted in the "Enigma Variations". The church was consecrated on 19 November 1903. There is evidence to suggest that Elgar composed part of the "Enigma Variations" in the church, but his offer of the original manuscript of his oratorio "The Apostles", as a gift to the church, was refused by the Anglican church authorities because Elgar was a Roman Catholic and the oratorio was heavily based in that tradition. Next to the church is the Wyche School; "Land of Hope and Glory", set to Elgar's Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1, was first performed there in the presence of Elgar. In later life Elgar came to tire of the work for "its jingoism and the fact it overshadowed everything else he wrote." The Malvern Wells War Memorial honours local people killed and injured in the First and Second World Wars. It was designed by the Arts and Crafts architect and designer C.F.A. Voysey, and was unveiled in 1920. The village has a petrol station, a convenience store, a post office and several other small businesses.
Education
, a secondary school and English language centre mainly for international students, is found at 253 Wells Road. Primary education is provided by Malvern Wells Church of England School and the Wyche Church of England School, which feed the two Malvern secondary schools of The Chase in Barnards Green, and Dyson Perrins in Malvern Link. Wells House School, a preparatory school for boys, closed in 1991.
Transport
The nearer of the two Malvern railway stations to the village is Great Malvern on the Worcester to Hereford line. It has services to Birmingham and to London Paddington station. The village is served by a daily long-distance coach service between Worcester and London Victoria. There are regular bus links with Great Malvern and Malvern Link.
