Location: in College Road.
Description: a spring and well no longer accessible

Littlebury's Directory of Worcester and District of 1879 records that Turkish baths, Piers Well, and some other baths, were all part of Dr Walter Johnson's baths at the bottom of the garden of Malvernbury, his hydropathic establishment. The baths were used for hydrotherapy during the nineteenth century. Dr Johnson retired and left Malvern in December 1890, and there is no evidence that his baths were used after he left.

There were many uses for water in Victorian Malvern. As the town and the water supply grew so new uses for water became apparent. Street watering was a major use of water during hot dusty summers as was fire fighting. Stop cocks and hydrants were installed for such purposes. In West Malvern an early iron hydrant can be seen built into a wall on the eastern side of the West Malvern Road. Later such facilities were installed beneath the pavement with access from a manhole. The Malvern Advertiser of 18 March 1882 records that a hydrant was to be provided in College Road, just above the Nook.

Conduits uncovered during the construction of the college chaplain's house, and the fact that his lounge floor gets damp during the winter, suggests that his house was built over the spring or over a leaking conduit running from the spring. We are grateful to June Hebden and the college chaplain for this information.

 

Illustrations:
1. The Chaplains House, site of Piers Well from the back.
2. Piers Well water was utilised in Dr Walter Johnson's hydropathic baths. (Reproduced from the 1885/6 Ordnance Survey map ref.XXXIX.16.5)

3. Malvernbury and Dr Johnson's Baths 1862 from Norman May's Guide to Malvern.

The map alongside is a small section of our more comprehensive map of the area. For the complete map together with a description and history of this site see "Celebrated Springs of the Malvern Hills" (2012).

 

 

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