BMSGH HomeGREAT MALVERN
Descriptive Notes:
The church originally served a Benedictine Priory, founded in 1085. It was largely rebuilt between 1420 - 60 and is one of the most important pieces of Perpendicular architecture in the county. The crellatations and stone panelling were widely copied.
Status:
Ancient Parish [25]
Including:
A chapel at Newland, which was a separate Civil Parish in 1866 and a separate Ecclesiastical Parish in 1728.
A hamlet at Guarlford, which was a separate Civil Parish in 1894 from the part of this parish not in Great Malvern Urban District. It was a separate Ecclesiastical Parish in 1866 by the union of this hamlet & part of Madresfield Ancient Parish.
Further ecclesiastical boundary changes were:
In 1869 to create Great Malvern Holy Trinity Ecclesiastical Parish.
In 1872 to create Great Malvern Christ Church Ecclesiastical Parish.
In 1926 to create Wyche Ecclesiastical Parish. [25]
Location:
O.S. Ref: SO775458
8 miles S.W. of Worcester
Parish Church:
St.Mary & St.Michael (The Priory)
Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction:
Archdeaconry & Diocese of Worcester [1]
Hundred:
Lower Pershore [11] [25] [28]
Poor Law Union:
Upton-upon-Severn [3] [25]
Adjoining Parishes:
Leigh; Madresfield; Powick; Severn Stoke; Hanley Castle; Colwall (Herefordshire); Mathon; Cradley (Herefordshire) [1]
Parish Registers:
| Coverage | Source | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Microform at WLHC | Christenings | 1556-1974 | [5] |
| Marriages | 1556-1973 | [5] | |
| Burials | 1556-1940 | [5] | |
| Banns | 1754-[1763] | [5] | |
| Transcripts at WLHC | Christenings
& Burials |
1556-1837 | [27] |
| Marriages | 1556-1837 | [27] | |
| Originals at WRO | Banns | 1824-63 | [12] |
Bishops' Transcripts:
Begin 1612 Worcestershire Library and History Centre [22]
International Genealogical Index (IGI):
[19]
| Coverage | ||
|---|---|---|
| Parish Registers | Births / Christenings | 1709-1868 |
| Marriages | 1709-1875 | |
| Countess of Huntingdon | Births / Christenings | 1828-1837 |
| Marriages | 1709-1875 |
Register Copies:
At BMSGH Shop
The Priory (Part 1) Christenings & Burials 1556/1708/9 Marriages 1556/1753
The Priory (Part 2) 1709-1837 Marriages 1754-1837
At BMSGH Reference Library [7]
Great Malvern, The Priory Part 1 Christenings & Burials 1556-1708/9, Marriages 1556-1753/4, Part 2 Christenings & Burials 1709-1837 Marriages 1754-1837
Gt. Malvern Priory Church Registers of Burials 1556-1709, Marriages 1556-1754,
At Society of Genealogists [68]
MALVERN, GREAT : Christenings 1556-1644, 1654-1801, Marriages 1556-1644, 1658-59, 1666-1754, Burials 1556-1648, 1654-1809, will of John Webb, vicar of parish 1724 [Microfilm.] Published Salt Lake City : Genealogical Society of Utah, 1967
MALVERN,
GREAT :
Christenings 1801-68, Marriages 1754-1864, banns 1754-63, Burials
1801-37
[Microfilm.] Published Salt
Lake City :
Genealogical Society of Utah, 1967
Monumental Inscriptions and Associated Documents:
At Worcestershire Library and History Centre [51]
St.Mary & St.Michael (The Priory)
As recorded on Handlist of Monumental Inscriptions and Associated Documents) [51]
Inscriptions on gravestones in churchyard (1973 transcript)
Inscriptions in North Transept, choir & aisles (1983 transcript)
Inscriptions on memorials in nave & aisle (1982-3 transcript)
Inscriptions on memorials in south nave, aisle floor & behind communiontable (1980 transcript)
Great Malvern Cemetery: Transcripts of register of burials (loose sheets) Nov 1861-Dec1942 [52]
At Society of Genealogists [59]
MALVERN, GREAT (Priory) : Monumental Inscriptions: in Bloom's Worcestershire Monumental Inscriptions, part 1 [Manuscript.] IN: Bloom's Worcestershire Monumental Inscriptions, part 1 Published , Nd. Author Bloom, J Harvey (transcriptions.)
War Memorials:
For the names of those commemorated on Malvern War Memorial, located outside Malvern Library in Graham Road, Malvern, see:
http://www.rememberthefallen.co.uk/Casualties/ListByMemorial/Malvern War Memorial
Census Records:
All the censuses between 1841 and 1901 are now available on a number of fee-paying (Subscription or PayAsYouGo) sites including Ancestry.co.uk, FindMyPast.co.uk, thegenealogist.co.uk and genesreunited.co.uk. The 1911 census is available in full or in part on some of these sites. We are unable to advise on the choice of site since researchers' personal preferences will be influenced by the content and search facilities offered by each site. Some sites offer a free trial.
Access to the library edition of Ancestry.co.uk is widely available at most record offices, including Worcestershire Library and History Centre, and some libraries. You are advised to book time on their computers before making a visit.
A free-to-view site is being developed at freecen.org.uk for the 1841, 1851, 1861, 1871 and 1891 censuses. Coverage of Worcestershire parishes is rather sparse at this time.
Census returns can usually be viewed at Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints' Family History Centres.
Some repositories offer census details on microform, disc or printed copy. These include:1841-1901 at Worcestershire Library and History Centre [14]
Search Services (Fee paying) - BMSGH and Independent:
Burial 1660-1860 Worcestershire Burial Index
Marriage see Worcestershire Marriage Index
Manorial Records:
Worcestershire Record Office [50]
Court rolls 1716-28, 1729-58, 1800-08, 1820-1909; Maps by John Doharty, junior 1744; Presentments, view of frankpledge, copies of court roll, case and opinion re tithes 1754-63 & [18th cent.]
Schools Records:
The following school
records are original documents. Note reference number and contact staff
at
Worcestershire
Record Office:
Great Malvern Wesleyan
School
Summary
of attendances and fees register - 1876
- 95 - Ref:
BA 7430
Malvern District Education
Committee
Attendance
book - 1936
- 58 - Ref:
BA 5703
A handlist of other records of schools and of other educational establishments held by Worcestershire Record Office for this parish can be found here.
Other Sources:A number of local family history books relating to Malvern are listed by the Malvern Family History Society on their website. More details can be found at (www.mfhs.org.uk). Those listed include:
The Malverns Images of England by Brian Iles. Tempus Publishing Ltd - ISBN 0 7524 3667 8
Around Malvern in Old Photographs by Keith Smith - ISBN 0-86299-587-6 - Published by Alan Sutton Publishing, Gloucester
Aquae Malvernensis by Cora Weaver & Bruce Osbourne - ISBN 1- 873809- 07- 7
The Malvern Water Cure by John Winsor Harcup - ISBN0-9507540-3-X
The Malverns by Pamela Hurle -ISBN 0-85033-8190-0
Bygone Malvern by Pamela Hurle - ISBM 0-85033-725-9
At Society of Genealogists :-
Billings directory & gazetteer 1855 [Malvern extracts] : Malvern directories (1820-62) - Published Malvern Wells : Kerry Tombs
Guide to Malvern priory church [c. 1969] - Published St. Albans : The Campfield Press - Author: Hamand, L A
A history of Malvern - Published Stroud : Sutton Publishing Ltd, 1978 - Author: Smith, Brian S
The Malvern register 1865-1904 ... revised ..- Published Malvern, 1905 - Author: Cookson, R T C
Worcestershire directory 1820 [Malvern extracts] : Malvern directories (1820-62) - Published Malvern Wells : Kerry Tombs
Slater's Worcestershire directory 1862 [Malvern extracts] : Malvern directories (1820-62) - Published Malvern Wells : Kerry Tombs
Directories:
MALVERN (GREAT),
a parish in the lower division of the hundred of PERSHORE, county of
WORCESTER,
8 miles (W.) from Worcester, containing, with the
chapelry of Newland,
1693 inhabitants. This place is romantically situated on the eastern
declivity
of a range of hills, separating the counties of Worcester and Hereford
and
extending from north to south for nearly nine miles, the greatest
height being
one thousand four hundred and forty feet, and varying from one to two
miles in
breadth from east to west: of these the most prominent are the
Worcestershire
and Herefordshire beacons, the summits of which command most extensive
and
interesting views of the surrounding country; comprehending, in the
distance,
the counties of Monmouth, Radnor, Brecon, Salop, Warwick, and Stafford;
and
nearer, the counties of Worcester, Hereford, and Gloucester, with their
stately
cathedrals, together with the fertile and richly-cultivated tract of
country
watered by the Severn, and finely clothed with wood. Around the base of
the
Herefordshire beacon is a double intrenchment, from six to twelve feet
deep,
and in some places more than thirty feet broad, dug by Gilbert de
Clare, Earl
of Gloucester, as a boundary between his portion of Malvern Chase and
that
belonging to the Bishop of Hereford; and in other parts of these
mountains are
similar works. The more ancient portion of the village is irregularly
built,
and consists of houses scattered on the declivity of the mountain;
but
since the celebrity of the springs and the purity of the air have made
it a
place of fashionable resort, handsome ranges of modern houses have been
erected;
and, in detached situations and at different degrees of
elevation, several
beautiful villas have been built as private summer residences.
There are a chalybeate and a bituminous spring, the water of which is remarkable for its purity, and for its gently aperient and diuretic properties: the former is in the eastern part of the village, near the church; the latter, called Holywell, is situated two miles to the south of it; and on the eastern ridge of the hill, and at St. Anne's well, on the north side of the Worcestershire beacon, there are some respectable hotels, and every accommodation has been provided for drinking the waters, and for hot and cold bathing: the public library is a neat building of the Doric order; and in every direction there are romantic and agreeable walks.
The living is a discharged vicarage, in the archdeaconry and diocese of Worcester, rated in the king's books at £8. 3. 4, endowed with £200 private benefaction, and £400 royal bounty, and in the patronage of Edward Foley, Esq. The church, dedicated to St. Mary, formerly the church of the Benedictine abbey, was, at the dissolution, purchased by the inhabitants, and made parochial: it is a venerable and elegant cruciform structure, partly rebuilt under the direction of Sir Reginald Bray, in the reign of Henry VII, and combining the Norman and the later English styles of architecture, with a fine square embattled tower rising from the centre; the exterior is in the later English style, and, with the exception of the south side, which, from its having been anciently concealed by the cloisters of the abbey, is of plainer character, exhibits a good specimen of that style, and the north porch is very rich; the interior retains much of the original character ; the nave is in the Norman style, with low massive piers and circular arches ; the chancel is in the later English style, and is lighted by a fine range of clerestory windows, with rich and elegant tracery; the east window and that in the north transept are particularly beautiful, and several portions of the ancient stained glass, and of the original wood work in the roof, the carved seats, and other evidences of its antiquity, are remaining. A few years since, the church was repaired and beautified at the expense of the neighbouring gentry, to commemorate which a small window was fitted in, having the arms of the various benefactors superbly emblazoned upon it. It has lately received an addition of three hundred and eighty sittings, of which two hundred and eighty are free, the Incorporated Society for the enlargement of churches and chapels having contributed £260 towards defraying the expense. There is a place of worship for Methodists. A Sunday school, in which about ninety children are instructed, and a school of industry, are supported by subscription.
Here was a hermitage, endowed by Edward the Confessor, which, after the Conquest, was converted into a Benedictine priory: an abbey and conventual buildings having been erected, in 1083, by Aldewine, the hermit, and endowed by Gislebert, abbot of Westminster, with ample possessions, it became, in consequence, subordinate to the abbey of Westminster, and subsisted till the dissolution, when the revenue was estimated at £375. 0. 6.: of this abbey, the parish church, already noticed; the ancient gateway, a beautiful specimen of the later English style; and the abbey barn, a building in the decorated style; are the remains. A celt, of a metal apparently between brass and copper, about five inches long, with a beautiful patina, and a small ring, was found here, at a considerable depth below the surface of the ground, about the middle of the last century. [Topographical Dictionary of England 1831 by Samuel Lewis]© Arthur Lewis and contributors 2008
Comments, additions, corrections etc to Arthur Lewis
Last updated on 4th December 2011