January 2012

Who are the 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.

STONE BOTTLE FOUNTAIN SAVED FOR POSTERITY

During October, a local treasure, the Stone Bottle Fountain, returned to Malvern. Schweppes began bottling Malvern spring water in 1850, and in 1892 built a water-bottling factory at Colwall. In 1987 the brand and the factory was taken over by Coca-Cola Enterprises. When the factory closed, in October 2010, many local people were concerned about the future of the factory site and its heritage artefacts.

Friends of Malvern Springs and Wells, in conjunction with Coca-Cola,  ensured that most of the historic artefacts were deposited at Malvern Museum, and the archive will eventually be deposited at Worcester's new library, archive and research centre, the Hive. The exceptional artefact was the Stone Bottle Fountain, which stood outside the factory's main entrance. It depicts a Malvern Water bottle, and was sculpted in York stone by local stonemason Darren Bennett.

Picture - the massive stone fountain is carefully positioned over the water cistern.

Friends of Malvern Springs and Wells had the two and a half ton fountain removed to a safe location outside Malvern, while a suitable alternative site was found for it. The Friends, working with Malvern's Three Counties Showground management and Alchemy Gardens, ensured a permanent site in a rustic garden designed by Paul Taylor of Alchemy Gardens. Paul's garden is just inside the main south gate at the showground. On Friday 4th November, the bubbling, floodlit fountain was again on display, just in time for the grand fireworks display that night. The fountain will be seen by hundreds of thousands of visitors, and is a fitting tribute to 160 years of Schweppes bottling Malvern Waters.

Colwall Factory Site Sold

After Coca-Cola closed the Colwall water bottling factory in November 2010, all interested parties and local stakeholders were invited to a meeting with Coca-Cola to explain and discuss what was intended to happen to the site. Local people hoped it would remain as a water bottling factory. For the past eight months, property agents Strutt & Parker have advertised the site and been in constant dialogue with interested parties. During that time, Coca-Cola received just one offer to purchase the site as a bottling plant, but this was substantially below independent market valuations of the site. As a result, an offer to purchase the site from Eagle One, a property company, has now been accepted.

On 1^st October the launch of the above book took place at Colwall. Cora and I fought over our jointly-owned copy of the book, because we both wanted to be the first to read it. The book looks at many historic aspects of the Malvern Hills, including the springs and wells. This well-researched publication is a mine of information for not only historians. It includes details of a walk that enables you to discover many of the treasures of the hills first hand. Amanda has lived in the area for decades and her love of the area is apparent from her work. There are many coloured and black and white illustrations as well as extensive text covering human habitation, wildlife, geology and topography. It was delightful to see how the author's interest in the springs and wells has been reflected in the contents and research. The author has definitely come up with a couple of pieces of information about the springs and wells that we did not know.

There is a bibliography and index to help find your way through the subject matter. It comprises 128 pages, soft backed and comes with a retail price of 12 pounds. Copies can be obtained in local bookshops in Malvern or order a copy direct by email from the author - amanda.simons@hotmail.co.uk

Misleading Slip-ups Awards - Saving the Colwall Tank House

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.

What do you do when someone else appears to claim credit for something that you did? First of all you contact the person to get their view on the situation and then you outline your role in the matter. In this case we have received no reply from attempted contact and so we outline our role in getting the historic Tank House at Colwall's former bottling plant listed as a grade two building. This became a joint project with Friends of Malvern Springs and Wells and Coca-Cola who supported our proposal.

We were privileged that Coca-Cola asked the Friends of Malvern Springs and Wells to liaise with English Heritage on the historical and architectural merits of the factory buildings. After a member of English Heritage visited Cora to discuss these things, she received their draft report, and was dismayed to find that the replica Holy Well building was not scheduled to be listed. So she collated and presented further information about its historical and architectural merits, prompting a revised decision. Well done! The building is now listed Grade II, which gives it lasting protection. 

See Newsletter 36 of March 2011 for details of when we first secured listing. In the event of us receiving a reply to our aforementioned enquiry, we will publish the outcome if appropriate.

Foley Fountain Damaged but not Forgotten

Friends of Malvern Springs and Wells were concerned recently to learn that the Foley Fountain, in the grounds of the Mount Pleasant Hotel, was damaged in an accident. Alarmed that this unique artefact of Malvern's famous spring and wells would be lost forever, the Friends liaised with the hotel management, and a local stonemason, to ensure a speedy restoration.

The Foley Fountain was installed at St Ann's Well in 1830 by Edward Foley, Lord of the Manor of Great Malvern. It commemorated the visit to the village that summer by HRH Princess Victoria and her mother the Duchess of Kent. In 1892, Lady Emily Foley replaced it with a new marble fountain, which remains at St Ann's Well to this day. The old, pink marble basin and stone fish head spout were removed to the Mount Pleasant, then her property, in Malvern town centre.

Over the years, weathering and accidental damage have resulted in the fountain's future being jeopardised. In 2004, the basin broke into several parts and the Friends of Malvern Springs and Wells, together with Malvern Civic Society, affected repairs. Just a few weeks ago, the fountain was again in pieces. Friends, in conjunction with Mount Pleasant's assistant manager Jason Evans, arranged for the restoration of this unique Malvern treasure. The fountain was repaired, in situ, on Wednesday 16th November 2011, by stonemason Tom Adams. It looks wonderful.

At nearly 200 years old, the Foley Fountain is probably the earliest known artefact connected  with Malvern's springs and wells. Now it can continue to provide an historical connection with the Malvern Hills for many years to come. 

Pictures: i) Cora gives the fountain a good tug - just to check that the repair is sound. ii) The broken pieces.

Subject: Retirement of Malvern Hills Director

We were very sorry to learn of the retirement next April of Ian Rowat, Director of the Malvern Hills Conservators. For many years he has supported springs and wells conservation as well as acting as a discerning public relations diplomat, balancing the voice of the Conservators with the perceived needs of the local communities. His attention will now turn to the National Trust where he has been asked to help shape their countryside agenda, which will enable him to impact at a national level. Ian is also a mountain leader for Ramblers Worldwide Holidays and instead of one tour per year he now plans two or three trips. 

Colwall Bottling Works Artefacts - the last stage

In December last year, we collected the artefacts from the Colwall bottling works and, with the approval of Coca-Cola Enterprises, handed them over to Malvern Museum. Throughout 2011, many items were exhibited at the museum, where they created a lot of interest. Now the exhibition has been dismantled, and the artefacts are being packed up carefully and put into the museum's store. That's not as quick and easy as it sounds. 

The artefacts are made of a variety of materials including glass, plastic, wood, Bakelite, paper and  stone, and before being packed for storage, each item must be given a unique museum accession number. Several members of the museum committee have been on training courses to learn just how to do that job, and how not to do it. Bulky items are easy: they usually have a bit sticking out that a small label can be securely tied to. Paper items have the number written on with a soft pencil, and plastic items with a semi-permanent marker pen. The number must be semi-permanent, but also reversible i.e removable. With more durable items, such as those made of glass, wood or Bakelite, a narrow strip of Paraloid 72 is painted on as a base, and the accession number carefully handwritten on the Paraloid strip with a black or white permanent pen. This becomes semi-permanent. It cannot be accidentally or deliberately scratched off, but the number can be completely removed with a solvent which, like the Paraloid 72, is recommended for museum use. Handling these precious objects is a pleasure and a privilege. It was particularly interesting to see just how many different shapes and sizes of bottles were produced over the years, and also how the design of the labels and caps changed.

When the numbering is finished, each item is photographed. Then an accession card is completed, which contains information including the donor's name, and a brief description of each object. Together with the photographic image, this information is then transferred to a computer database.   The project will take a long while to complete.

In the picture, Faith Renger (on the left) and Jo Rolfe make a start on this huge project.

Mystery of Fountain water supply

For several years, we have debated whether when the old Foley Fountain was moved from St Ann's Well in the 1890s, was it installed at Mount Pleasant purely as a dry garden ornament or was water was piped to its fish-head spout. To date, we have not found any physical, written or oral evidence to suggest that there ever was water at the spout. Cora's hypothesis was that since St Ann's Well and  Mount Pleasant were both owned by Lady Emily Foley, she would have laid on water to the spout. The tenant of Mount Pleasant would then have had a free water supply, instead of having to pay for metered water from the meagre supply in the public main.

At the beginning of November Cora accompanied geologist Margaret Rodway and her dowsing rods to Mount Pleasant, to search for evidence of underground water pipes. Margaret discovered that a pipe, now dry, runs uphill from the rear of the fountain, parallel with the south wall of Mount Pleasant, towards St Ann's Well. What is still uncertain, is whether the pipe runs directly to St Ann's Well or whether it is a spur from the pipe that carried water from St Ann's Well to Burrows' large water tanks at the back of Belle Vue Terrace.

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