LITTLE MALVERN
Malvern Minor, Parva Malvern, Lesser Malvern
(xvi cent.); Milberne Parva (xvii cent.).
Little Malvern is a small parish on the Herefordshire border of the county containing 721 acres.
The village lies under the Malvern Hills about
500 ft. above the ordance datum. It consists of
Little Malvern Court, the seat of Captain William
Berington, J.P., the Priory church of St. Giles, a farm
and one or two cottages.
Little Malvern Court, which was probably the
prior's house of the demolished priory, stands to
the south-west of the surviving fragment of the church,
on the west side of the former cloister-garth. The
plan has a small central court, somewhat in the nature
of a light-well, with a hall and undercroft on the
east, which would have adjoined the western range
of the cloister, having a four-storied building on the
south, with a spur projecting eastwards, which
probably marks the position of the southern range of
the cloister. The buildings on the north side of the
court are of two stories with an attic at the north-west. The ground story of all this portion is of stone,
the upper stories being of half-timber. The roof of
the hall, now concealed, is of the 14th century, to
which date the greater part of the original house
probably belongs. Adjoining the building at the
south of the hall and forming the centre of the south
front is a three-storied portion, now covered with
rough-cast, but apparently entirely of stone, with a
circular garderobe turret at the south-west. To the
west of this is a modern wing, which, with the one-storied entrance hall on the west side of the house, was
added about fifty years since. A staircase was formed
on the south side of the court in the 18th century,
and a second staircase contained in a brick addition
has, within comparatively recent years, been constructed on the east side. The interior of the house
has been much modernized, very little original detail
surviving.
The hall has been divided by modern partitions
into a chapel, in which mass is said weekly, and an
oratory, with an entrance passage on the north and a
corridor on the west side adjoining the court.
Plaster ceilings conceal the fine timber roof, which
has tie-beams and collars with foiled struts and wind
braces. Over the partition at the north end of the
chapel, which is lighted by modern sash windows, is
an exposed tie-beam with an embattled moulding.
The reredos of the altar is put together of fragments
of 15th and 16th-century woodwork. At the south-east of the hall, projecting into the court, is the
original central newel stair. The half-timber work
of the hall is not now exposed. The roof of the
four-storied building to the south of the hall is
terminated on the south by a gable hipped at the apex.
Adjoining the hall is a gabled spur, three stories in
height, projecting to the eastward, on the first floor of
which was probably a small private chapel. The half-timber work is exposed on the north side, the other
three sides, as well as the whole of the remaining part
of this block, being covered with rough-cast. The
upper story overhangs on the same side. In the
ground story of the south or garden front are original
stone-mullioned windows. The stone buildings to the
westward on the same front project slightly and there
is a circular garderobe turret at the western angle,
crowned by a modern pyramidal tiled roof. A modern
bay window has been added to the two lower floors
and the walls are of rough-cast. The chimney stack
at the south-east angle has built into it a piece of stone
canopy work, a head corbel and a lion, all probably
fragments of the former nave of the church. The
rooms at the north end of the hall are faced with
brick and have modern sash windows. Externally the
most imposing features of the house are the apartments
at the north-west angle, which are gabled on both faces
and have a massive chimney stack of brick and stone,
dating probably from the 16th century, on the north.
The barge-boards appear to be modern, but the wood-mullioned window in the gable lighting the second
or attic floor is of original date. Generally the
exterior of the house has been much restored and
many new windows inserted, while most of the original openings have been renewed at different periods.
The character of the west front has been almost
entirely destroyed by the modern entrance hall and
south-west wing, which are faced with rubble and
have quoins of wrought stone and large mullioned
windows. Many fragments of the destroyed portion
of the church are preserved in the house or worked
into the walls. In the entrance hall is a leather-covered trunk ornamented with brass-headed nails, on
the lid of which is the Tudor Crown and Rose with
the initials K.R. This is said to have belonged to
Katherine Parr.
The Roman Catholic Priory with St. Wulstan's
Church and the school are to the north of the village
on the road to Malvern Wells, and the Grange and
pound are to the east on the Upton-upon-Severn road.
The Shire Ditch, which passes along the top of
the Malvern Hills, forms the western boundary of
the parish. Broad Down and Hangman's Hill are
two pieces of common land on the Malvern Hills.
Behind the church the ground rises very steeply
through dense wood and the road leads upward with
a steep gradient and a very sharp bend to the south.
This road crosses the hills by a gap known as Wind's
Point. There is a large earthwork on the summit of
the ridge to the south, known as the British Camp.
In 1905 the proportion of arable, grass and woodland in the parish was returned as 94 acres of arable
land, 335 acres of permanent grass and 60 acres of
woodland and plantations. (fn. 1) The soil is loamy with
a subsoil of gravel, producing crops of wheat and
barley.
The Rev. Prior Williams, the last prior of the
English Carthusians of Nieuport, Flanders, died
2 January 1797 at Little Malvern. (fn. 2)
Place-names occurring in deeds relating to Little
Malvern are Colierfield, Oxmore, Cowmore, Fermery
Furlonge (fn. 3) (xvi cent.).
MANOR
The present manor of LITTLE MALVERN was included in Malvern Chase
until the time of its disafforestation in
1631–2. (fn. 4) It was given to the monks of Little Malvern
in 1171, on the foundation of their house, by the
Bishop of Worcester, being taken out from the bishop's
fee. (fn. 5) Mauger, Bishop of Worcester (1200–12),
granted to the monks of Little Malvern firewood and
an oak tree yearly from his wood of Malvern-super-Montem. (fn. 6) In 1291 the prior's estate at Little
Malvern included a carucate of land worth 6s. (fn. 7) The
manor remained in the hands of successive priors (fn. 8)
until the suppression of their house in 1537, (fn. 9) when
it was valued at £18 12s. 10d. (fn. 10)
Little Malvern Priory. Argent a fesse between three cocks' heads razed sable having their beaks and combs and wattles or with a mitre or upon the fesse.
Russell of Little Malvern. Argent a cheveron between three crosslets sable and a border gules engrailed and bezanty.
In September 1537 John Russell addressed a letter
to Cromwell asking for his assistance in obtaining the
priory and manor of Little Malvern. (fn. 11) The manor,
however, seems to have remained in the Crown until
1554, when it was granted to Henry Russell and
Charles Brockton or Broughton. (fn. 12) Henry Russell
died in 1558, (fn. 13) and Charles Broughton conveyed the
manor in 1566 to John Russell, son and heir of
Henry. (fn. 14) John died in 1588 holding the manor of
Little Malvern and his brother Henry succeeded. (fn. 15)
The manor passed to John son of Henry in 1608, (fn. 16)
and from him to his son Thomas in 1641. (fn. 17) John
Russell, son of this Thomas, (fn. 18) conveyed the manor in
1683 to Charles Trinder and others. (fn. 19) John Russell's
sons John and Thomas both died without issue, (fn. 20) and
the manor passed to his daughter Elizabeth, who
married Thomas Berington. (fn. 21) She was succeeded by
her daughter Elizabeth wife of Thomas Williams of
Trellynia, co. Flint, (fn. 22) who conveyed the manor of
Little Malvern in 1766–7 to Edmund Lechmere, (fn. 23)
evidently for the purposes of some settlement. She as
a widow held the manor with her daughter Mary in
1771. (fn. 24) Mary married Walter Wakeman, but died
without issue, leaving Little Malvern Court to her
kinsman William Berington of Hereford, son of
her second cousin
Charles. (fn. 25) William
died in 1847, when
the manor passed to
his son Charles
Michael, who enjoyed it until his
death in 1897, when
he was succeeded by
his son Captain
William Berington,
J.P., the present
owner. (fn. 26)
In 1537 John
Russell applied to
Cromwell for the
site of the PRIORY
of Little Malvern, (fn. 27)
and in 1538 a lease
of the house and site
of the priory for
twenty-one years was
granted to him. (fn. 28)
The site was granted
in 1543 to Richard
Andrews and
Nicholas Temple, (fn. 29)
who sold it before
1552 to Henry
Russell. (fn. 30) He settled it in that year upon himself
and his wife Milbore. (fn. 31) He died in 1558; and
Milbore held the site of the priory until her death
in 1575, (fn. 32) when it passed to her son John. From
that point it descended with the manor, with which
it finally became incorporated. (fn. 33)
There was a mill at Little Malvern annexed to the
site of the priory, with which it was granted in 1543
to Richard Andrews and Nicholas Temple. (fn. 34) It
afterwards passed with the site of the priory to the
Russells, (fn. 35) and a water-mill and a windmill are
mentioned in a deed of 1683. (fn. 36)
CHURCH
The priory church of ST. GILES,
when complete, had a quire with chapels
to the north and south and a presbytery
projecting one bay beyond them, nave with north
aisle only, north and south transepts and a central
tower. The eastern arm with the central tower is
the only part still in use, the quire aisles, transepts
and nave being in more or less complete ruin. The
quire measures internally about 40 ft. by 18 ft. 3 in.,
the north chapel 26 ft. 9 in. by 13 ft. 6 in., the south
chapel 28 ft. by 13 ft. 6 in., the tower 18 ft. by
18 ft. 6 in., and the north and south transepts each
24 ft. 6 in. by 19 ft.
The earliest portions of the building now standing
appear to be the two late 12th-century cloister doors,
one opening into the south transept and the other into
the nave, and the contemporary eastern respond of
the nave arcade on the north. The remaining portions of the structure appear to have been reconstructed on older lines by Bishop Alcock late in the
15th century.
Plan of Little Malvern Priory Church
The east window is of six transomed lights with a
traceried head; on either side of it are doorways once
opening into an eastern vestry, which is now destroyed.
The north-east and south-east windows are of three
lights with net-tracery heads (of c. 1330) re-used, the
rest of the windows, which are very high, being of
the same date as the east window. The sill of the
south window is cut down to form a seat, and to the
east of it is a small shallow recess, used as a credence.
From this point westwards the chancel is overlapped
by the side chapels and is lighted by two late 14th-century clearstory windows of three lights on each
side. Arches of the same date, now blocked,
opened from the west bay of the chancel into the
chapels. The capitals of these arches are carved with
scrolls, doubtless once bearing painted inscriptions.
In the blocking of the north arch is a three-light
window of Alcock's date, taken from the ruined
chapels. It contains a figure of God the Father in
contemporary stained glass, from a coronation of our
Lady, whose figure is lost; on the south side a single
lancet is set in the blocking. The tower is carried
on four arches of like detail, the east and west dying
into the side walls, while the north and south are
segmental and now blocked, a two-light window of
early 14th-century style being inserted in the
southern.
Little Malvern Priory Church: The Chancel
Immediately to the east of the chapel arches is a
15th-century screen, the head being richly carved
with fruit and foliage and each bay having a pierced
trefoiled head. On either side of the chancel are five
stalls with carved elbows, one of which represents two
pigs feeding from a bowl, but all the misericorde
bosses have been cut away. The west end of the
present church is occupied by an organ and vestry.
The roof is hidden by a flat plaster ceiling on which
are fastened some mediaeval carved bosses of wood
arranged in a cross, and at the east end is a cornice of
pierced quatrefoils. The floor is paved with mediaeval
tiles, now much worn, the best preserved being
within the altar rails. One is inscribed 'Spontaneam
honorem et mentem sanctam Deo et patriae liberacionem.' In the east window is some good ancient
stained glass. The arms are those of Arthur Prince
of Wales, Henry VII, and Bishop Alcock, and below
them is a figure of Prince Arthur, a part of one of
Margaret Tudor, and the whole of those representing
Katherine of Aragon and her ladies.
Externally the chancel buttresses display gaps as if
for the heads of flying buttresses over the chapel
roofs. The chancel windows all have plain labels.
The tower is in three stages with angle buttresses
and a pyramidal slated roof. The upper stage is divided
on each face into nine panels with trefoiled heads,
each angle having in addition a panelled continuation
of the buttress; the belfry lights occupy the middle
of the panelling on each face and are of two lights
with a quatrefoil above. On each side of the windows
and forming the external edge of the splay are small
square pilasters, terminating in crocketed gables a
short distance below the roof.
The two chapels flanking the chancel were each
two bays long and were apparently both rebuilt by
Bishop Alcock. They opened from the transept by
low-pitched half arches against the base of the central
tower, and in the eastern bay of each was a squint
opening into the chancel and now blocked. The
southern chapel is the best preserved and retains its
three-light traceried east window and the base of the
altar. The two windows in the south wall were of
two lights each.
The north transept is of the same date as the
chapels and retains an altar platform and part of the
altar block.
In the west wall of the south transept is a 12th-century doorway formerly opening into the cloister,
and in the south nave wall adjoining it is a second
archway of similar date.
Of the nave itself only this door and the respond
of the north arcade remain standing, but the blocking
of the western tower arch may cover the base of the
pulpitum.
There is one bell of pre-Reformation date inscribed
+ AVE : MARIA : GRACIA : PLENA : DOMINVS : TECVM,
cast at Gloucester about 1350 by Master John of
Gloucester. (fn. 37)
The plate consists of a cup and cover paten of
1571, a modern paten, two mounted glass flagons
and a spoon.
The only volume of registers before 1812 is very
imperfect, and contains entries from 1735 to 1811.
Some entries of the 17th century will be found
among the Bishops' Transcripts.
ADVOWSON
The parish of Little Malvern had
apparently no church apart from the
conventual church. After the Dissolution the parish was served by a curate, to whom a
payment of £5 per annum was due from the manor
of Little Malvern. (fn. 38)
Earl Somers was patron of Little Malvern from
1841 until about 1872. (fn. 39) The living became a
vicarage in 1868, (fn. 40) and the advowson passed into the
hands of Charles Michael Berington, the lord of the
manor, in whose son Captain William Berington, J.P.,
it is now vested. (fn. 41)
Though no appropriation of the church of Little
Malvern has been found, it was evidently appropriated to the priory, probably under the foundation
charter, (fn. 42) the tithes, as a late possession of the priory,
being leased for twenty-one years in 1550–1 to
William Doddington. (fn. 43) The reversion after the
expiration of the lease was granted with the manor in
1554 to Henry Russell and Charles Broughton, (fn. 44)
and the tithes have since followed the descent of
the manor, being now in the possession of Capt.
Berington.
The church of Little Malvern was apparently
rebuilt in the episcopacy of Bishop Giffard, for he
visited the priory and dedicated the church there in
1282. (fn. 45)
Mr. Fowke, vicar of Little Malvern, applied in
1911 for a faculty to enlarge and restore the church.
The scheme was resisted by Capt. Berington as lay
rector and owner of the ruins, on the site of which a
proposed vestry was to stand, and by the parishioners,
and the faculty was refused by the Chancellor of the
Consistory Court of Worcester on the ground that
there was no demand for any enlargement and no
need for any restoration.
After the suppression of Little Malvern Priory the
parishioners made suit to the king for the five bells
which had always served the parish as well as the
monastery, and were worth, after 20s. the hundred,
£45 0s. 6¾d. (fn. 46)
In 1274 John the prior and the convent of Little
Malvern granted that Henry Fitz Geoffrey Bernard
should present a suitable secular chaplain in the conventual church, who should celebrate divine service
at the altar of St. Cross for the souls of Henry,
Geoffrey, Maud and Nicholas de Mitton, Edith and
Robert de Clipston, Alice and Richard de Boudon
and Elena. After the death of Henry, Sir Nicholas
de Mitton and his heirs and assigns were to present
successive chaplains. The chaplain was to receive
20s. and to have a decent chamber within the close
of the court, and an assistant, either lay or clerical, to
serve him. (fn. 47) This charter was confirmed by the bishop. (fn. 48)
In 1791 Mary Williams of Little Malvern certified
that she had set apart rooms in her house for Roman
Catholic worship. (fn. 49)
The Roman Catholic Priory Church of St. Wulstan
at Little Malvern was built in 1862. (fn. 50)
CHARITIES
This parish is entitled to send
seven poor children to the Free school
at Colwall, co. Hereford, founded in
1612 by will of Humphrey Walwyn.