Location: the northern side of Priory Park
Description: a substantial outfall into the northern end of Swan Pool near the Grange.

Swan Pool was once the fish pond for the Benedictine monks of Great Malvern Priory, and the land surrounding it was known as Church Meadow. The monastic land eventually became part of the Grange Estate. In 1834 a strip of the land east of Swan Pool was sold to Robert Thompson. He built a house called The Priory on the north end and had the rest as his garden. In the nineteenth century, the park was the gardens of Dr Gully's Victorian house, The Priory. The house was rebuilt in 1874, two years after Dr Gully's departure from Malvern,

A guide book of 1848 describes how at one end of the pool was 'a picturesque bridge and waterfall in the grounds of the Grange, the residence of Oliver Mason Esq.' The old, ornamental Malvern stone bridge is still there and the waterfall provides a constant supply of spring water to Swan Pool.[1]

For many years from 1850 the area now called Priory Park was the venue for the local horticultural show. In 1867, nurseryman Richard Vertegans leased Swan Pool and the ground to the west of it and turned them into promenade gardens for the use of the paying public. In 1888 the Promenade Gardens closed when they were bought by Alfred Speer of The Priory. They sunsequently became known as Priory Gardens.

There is a substantial influx of water thought to be the result of several springs from the higher part of the town being piped into the Swan Pool.

The Priory is now the offices of Malvern Hills District Council and Priory Park is a landscaped public park.

Illustrations:
1. Swan Pool mid 19th century.

Footnotes:
[1] A Guide to Malvern, published by Henry Lamb (1848).

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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