June 2009

Who are Friends? Friends promote research, conservation and celebration of the Springs, Spouts, Fountains and Holy Wells of the Malvern Hills and of Great Malvern as a Spa Town. If you would like any back numbers of our Newsletters send a large SAE to Bruce with details of which ones you require. There is no charge and they are now collector's items! 

ROYAL MALVERN WELL receives the St Werstan Award May 2009

In the past year the Royal Malvern Well has been transformed from a rather dull roadside spout with an intermittent flow of water that was temptingly inaccessible, to a charming and welcoming water feature. This has been done with the assistance of Heritage Lottery Funding and the enthusiasm of the owners. Most notably its Malvern stone walls have been repaired, a coat of arms mounted on the arch as formerly, and access to the water spout has been opened up. The owners, Carol, and Wayne Seaton, restored the water supply thereby making it once again one of Malvern's many springs and spouts now in water.  Residents and wayfarers can once more take advantage of the water that is much preferred to that from the kitchen tap!  

Following the ballot of Friends in the Friends of Malvern Springs and Wells Newsletter, it was apparent that The Royal Malvern Well should receive the St Werstan Award. The result was a 95% overall score which is well above the theoretical mean. Results by category were Preservation: 92%, Environment: 90%, Public Accessibility: 97%, Provenance: 100%, Maintenance: 97%, General WOW Factor: 90%. Carol and Wayne keep their water feature immaculately, and deservedly received the solid brass St Werstan plaque from Jim Fox, Senior Corporate Affairs Manager at Coca Cola Enterprises who operate the Malvern Water Bottling Works at Colwall and are the sponsors of the award.

Since its inception in 2005 The St Werstan Award for the preservation and conservation of our Springs and Wells has been presented to the following springs and spouts: Penny Cottage, Worcester Road (2006), Stone Bottle Fountain at Colwall (2006), and Court Road Fountain on the corner of Court Road and Woodshears Road (2007), Primeswell stewardship (2008), Royal Malvern Well (2009).

St Werstan's ratings climb with annual Deerhurst Lecture!

From near total obscurity, St Werstan has become the subject of much general awareness and scholarly work since we first published our paper 'The Illumination of St Werstan the Martyr' in 2006. In this we argued the case that the St Werstan legend is based on real events and not fictitious. Now Graham Jones the leading light on Holy Wells from Leicester University considers St Werstan's legend in the light of that of St Peter's Westminster in his book 'Saints in the Landscape' (2007). However the latest appraisal of Werstan's life was presented by Dr Heather Gilderdale Scott of the Courtald Institute of Art in April at Deerhurst, from where Werstan originated. She pointed out that the Founders Windows featuring St Werstan are in a bold and central position in Malvern Priory, signifying that his memory was particularly important. Heather also clarified a number of points that we had been unsure of, particularly the use of the key in the 15^th century Priory windows which had puzzled us. She linked it to Westminster, which makes sense in view of the historic links of that religious establishment in Malvern.

When we re-examined the evidence for Werstan as founding monk of Malvern in 2005/6, we were pleased that the evidence was persuasive and the story fitted well with contemporary events. Heather went further and hypothesised that, since the St Westan legend was so 'skilful and sophisticated', it had probably been embellished for political reasons some time in the later medieval period. This creates a dilemma. If his story had been less credible we would have viewed it with suspicion. But because the story stands up to scholarly scrutiny, Heather's suspicion is that it must have been elaborated. St Werstan cannot win!

Legends do get enhanced over time and this is all good academic debate. We hope to receive a full transcript of Heather's interesting paper shortly. In the meantime the resurrected St Werstan is doing an excellent job in his role of patron saint of our springs and wells by elevating awareness for all that he represents in Malvern. 

David's Bifurcating Spout Suffers Wobbliness again.

We learn that AONB Officer David Armitage's famous bifurcating spout installed at Hay Slad has come loose. The spout was part of the Heritage Lottery Fund restoration programme and greatly improved the water delivery and collection at the site. Fortunately the Malvern Hills Conservators are on to it and on the annual coach tour in May we noted that all was well again. In the picture: the spout being tested by Cora last year.

Holy Well Update

An improved visitor facility is being orchestrated at the Holy Well at Malvern Wells. In addition bottling is once again on the agenda with Rhys Humm planning on re-establishing the business that once thrived from this site.

Court Road Spout gets renewed attention

In 2007 the Court Road Spout received the St Werstan Award for the owners, Caroline and Merrick Feast, in recognition of their efforts to restore the water supply. The residents and local organisations have got together now and some further enhancements are hopefully in the 'pipeline'! Plans include a smart plaque to replace the laminated photocopies, a kerb to reduce water splashing and a steam clean of the bricks around the spout. We hope that this all goes well and we will keep Friends updated with progress.  And well done all those who are coming together to execute this initiative.

THE BIG OOOOOOOOooooopps! - WHERE WE SPOT THE BANANA SKIN SLIP-UPS

We often see misleading information, some is deliberate and some is unintentional. Even we drop the odd clanger. Whatever the reason, good or bad, there is no real alternative to the truth, properly presented. With this award we seek to set the record straight.

This time our Misleading Statements Award goes to the mountain folk of Tennessee USA. Up in the Smoky Mountains they bottle 'English Mountain Spring Water' as we found out in a Chicken Bonnet country diner. A little investigation revealed that this was not our genuine Malvern Water from our local mountain but instead came from a nearby source at Chestnut Hill near a town called Dandridge. The company has apparently been going since 1883. Investigating the name further, we soon located a likely mountain and after a laborious climb to the summit we were delighted to read on a sign that we were up English Mountain. As we swigged from our 20 oz. stylish plastic bottle while listening to country music, we could not help feeling that the description was rather misleading to us Malvern Hills hillbillies. The water did however go down well with our turnip greens and pinto beans and so we've kept the now empty bottle as a reminder!

NEW PROJECT - George Bernard Shaws Mulberry Tree to be Reinstated in Malvern!

'The mulberry tree that has gone round and round the world' was the title of an article in Melbourne's daily newspaper on 11th April 2009. Less than a week later our own Malvern Gazette (17th April) printed an Echo from the Past about a mulberry tree cutting that was shipped from Malvern, England, to Malvern, Victoria in April 1959.

The mulberry tree the newspapers are talking about was first planted in Priory Park in July 1936 by George Bernard Shaw to commemorate his 80th birthday. He hoped that it would last for ever - well, at least longer than he was destined to last. In the event that didn't happen, he died aged 94 and the tree died when only in its 60s - blown down by high winds in November 2000. Apart from a few artefacts made from its branches, and a slice of the trunk on display at Malvern Museum, Shaw's mulberry appeared to be no more.

 

Once here they will need to be nurtured for some time in a nursery in Malvern before being planted. The question is: where, eventually, is the most appropriate place to plant them? Let us have your ideas. After the disappointing outcome of the Labyrinth project last year we are reluctant to involve ourselves with the local Council who run Priory Park, the original location of the tree. We would like to see it planted adjacent to a spring or well thus providing a new memorial to Shaws association with Malvern.

Legendary Coach Tour and Well Decorating Weekend in Malvern in May 2009

As you will have gathered from elsewhere in this newsletter the well decorating has recently taken place for 2009. The theme this year was Darwin's Earth. Our favourite was the Barnards Green Fountain which was decorated like Darwin's ship The Beagle.  Well decorating was reintroduced by us in the 1990s and we are pleased that the tradition now continues in the capable hands of the managing committee.  We ran our Legendary Coach Tour once again on the Sunday of the May Day weekend and we were able to visit many of the sites that were decorated. It was also apparent how many springs and wells had benefited from the Heritage Lottery Fund assistance in recent years. This HLF project is now drawing to a close leaving us a vastly improved heritage of water features. We were pleased to learn that several of our passengers this year had been on our previous tours of the springs and wells. As usual the tour was well attended and fortunately the weather stayed dry. The bluebells on the Malvern Hills added to the scenic beauty of the springs and countryside that we passed through on our appropriately coloured coach.

Fountain car park drama

In Chattanooga, Tennessee, there is a memorial fountain - to the city's firemen who have perished in the course of duty. Some months previous the fountain, built in four parts, had been dismantled and taken to Alabama for restoration. 

In April it was brought back to Chattanooga for re-erection outside the city Court House and that is when the Super 8 motel where we were staying became the location for a fountain drama to unfold. That evening a heavy articulated low loader attempted to enter the car park, loaded with Chattanooga's prized and newly restored artifact. The entrance to the car park was difficult and on a slope and an unprecedented lurch of the vehicle caused one of the components of the dismantled fountain to shift, damaging other parts. This fountain was due for erection the following day so it was 'all hands on deck'. The car park was turned into an instant workshop as the magnificent structure was repaired by a team of engineers aided by various hotel guests including ourselves.  Inevitably the next day we went into the town centre and saw the prestigious fountain re-erected as planned in its prime location in Chattanooga's city centre.  This is a fountain that puts most others to shame and we felt honoured to have had the opportunity to give a bit of English support to the drama that could have ended in disaster. In the picture Bruce awaits the water to be turned on.

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