Location: Grange Road near Swan Pool Lane.
Description: an ugly dumpling of a fountain, now gone.

Malvern had often been described as dull, so it was decided that the town should have new Assembly Rooms to rival the Royal Malvern Spa Hall on the west side of the hills. With this in mind, in1885 the council purchased part of the Grange Estate and built the Assembly Rooms and a new road leading to it - Grange Road. Three years later the owners of the Assembly Rooms were discussing the future of the junction between Grange Road and Orchard Road, and it may have been as a result of these discussions that The Dumpling was built. It was a dome-topped, masonry tank where people could get a drink of spring water.

The earliest known mention of the Dumpling Tank was in April 1901 when a waste bin that had been erected at the Dumpling Tank was thrown into Priory Gardens, retrieved, and reinstated.[1] Two years later a broken down fence and shrubs around the fountain were removed.[2]

Local man Wilfred Mount, who was born in 1916, remembered the 'Dumpty Stone' at the Grange Road entrance to Swan Pool Lane. He said it looked like a stone tomb though he did not remember it as a functioning fountain. Perhaps by then the pipe from the tank had been silted up or broken.

In 1927, when Mr W. Evans was recollecting old Malvern he mentioned the Dumpling Fountain, which had been demolished that year. 'It was useless as a fountain and an obstruction to the footpath: but it had been known to generations of children as 'The Dumpling', it was a joke that caused many a smile, and its queer ugliness is missed now that it has been butchered to make a "Brighter Malvern"'.[3]

When the reservoir was removed the opportunity was taken to landscape the outfall in Priory Park, thus creating the water garden later known as the Spring by the Mulberry Tree.


Illustrations:
1.The Dumpling Fountain as it was in the 1920s showing the Dumpling. There appears to have been a water collection point here but this is not seen in the picture. (courtesy Malvern Museum)
2. The similar view today, the access through the wall to the left is now blocked and Cora is standing where it would have been. The Dumpling would have been where the green car is now.
3. The spring that once fed the Dumpling now feeds the water garden in Priory Park before running into the south end of Swan Pool.

Footnotes:
[1] Malvern Gazette 5 April 1901.
[2] Malvern Gazette 20 March 1903.
[3] Malvern Gazette 16 Dec 1927.,br>

 

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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A definitive work that is the culmination of 20 years researching the springs and wells of the Malvern Hills, published by Phillimore. This is the ideal explorers guide enabling the reader to discover the location and often the astounding and long forgotten history of over 130 celebrated springs and wells sites around the Malvern Hills. The book is hard back with dust cover, large quarto size with lavish illustrations and extended text. Celebrated Springs contains about 200 illustrations and well researched text over a similar number of pages, together with seven area maps to guide the explorer to the locations around the Malvern Hills. It also includes details on the long history of bottling water in the Malvern Hills.

Written by Bruce Osborne and Cora Weaver, this book is available on-line for £15.00 (delivered UK) - click Malvern Bookshop on the green panel top left. Alternatively send a cheque payable to Cora Weaver with your name and address to 4 Hall Green, Malvern, Worcs. WR14 3QX.