A strange alteration was to come. Malvern was destined in Victoria's reign, to change from a village into a town. from high-class seclusion into middle-class villadom, from country quiet into mob resort. Those who profited by the change, and they were not a few, were naturally, gratified. Those who arrived after the change, and their name was legion, thought that everything was as it always had been, and entirely in the course of nature. Only the quiet few lamented what once had been, and their lamentation did not count, for people were too busy gossiping to mind them.

 

The use of water before the Water Cure....

The operative causes of this great change were two. The first was the establishment in Malvern of the hydropathic treatment. In one point of view this was no new thing. It is probable enough that resort to the wells on the Hills for the cure of ailments had been known in the time of the monks, and had never died out altogether. We know that it was in full swing in the reign of the first Stuart, and that before the close of the next century it was revived by Dr. Wall. But the movement some seventy years later was of a different nature.

 

Hasting's thoughts on the work of the two Doctors, Wilson and Gully

The loudly advertised system of Presneitz assumed that there was a special revelation, that it superseded all ordinary medical treatment, and was applicable to all human ills. That sort of cry is the genuine voice of empiricism. The two individuals who, for purposes of personal profit, brought this beneficent system to the quiet shades of Malvern, erected an immense boarding-house for their patients, which was no doubt an advantage to many concerned, but was an eyesore to the village, and not the last which was brought about.

 

The effect of the 'craze' of The Cure

The system took, and became a craze with crowds of people. Among those crowds were not a few to whose appearance and manners the residents and ordinary visitors were not accustomed. The social pleasantness of the place, which had been famed for generations, soon vanished. Just in proportion as the 'water cure' flourished, the higher fashion fled. Nor was there, among the perceptive, a lack of ridicule at the pretensions of the hydropathic practitioners.

 

His opinion of why The Cure worked

It was observed that when a cit, it might be an alderman, it might be a legislator, who had been eating and drinking twice as much as can be good for mortal man, and leading therewith a sedentary life, came down from London to what was then termed in the language of an auctioneer's puff 'the capital of hydropathy ', ate boiled mutton and rice pudding, drank nothing but water, walked under orders up hill and down, was in bed betimes and rose early, lived in fact a sane and sanitary life, and thereupon found his liver once more active, he was proclaimed ‘one of the wonders of the water-cure `. Common-sense people summed up the wonder and laughed quietly. But there were other things behind.........

 

The coming of the Railway...
The other factor of the change in the condition of that ‘Queen of the Hills ' and one more operative still, was the construction of the railway. Long after the modern mode of locomotion had been established in most parts of the country, Malvern had been left dependent on the old coach traffic. There is no room for wonder that a desire for the rail arose, but it may be doubted whether the desire was met in the wisest way. It might have been possible to satisfy all reasonable requirements, and to save much outlay, while preserving some of the invaluable quietness of the older Malvern. But it is far too late to argue this point; we can only say Dis aliter risant est.

 

The deterioration this caused

The railway brought to Malvern a great crowd, and in some ways much prosperity, but in some others not a little deterioration. The secular solemnity of the Worcestershire Beacon has been changed by excursion trains into a bad imitation of Hampstead Heath on a Bank holiday. It is only the walks at the Wells that retain a memory of the seclusion which was once the charm and attraction of Malvern life......

 

Something good!

A new road, skilfully engineered , was constructed from the Wych to the Wind's Point , making a delightful drive on a high and level elevation, with a wide view over the county, of Hereford to the Black Mountains in Radnorshire. Here, beyond that range, can be seen, on the rare but recurring occasions when our moist climate permits the miracle, the veil mysteriously lift, and the giant forms of Cader Idris, Plinlimmon, and other Welsh peaks loom in purple tints before the astonished eye. Those who have seen the spectacle never forget it while life endures. This road, carried out by public subscription in the teeth of some adverse criticism, is worthy. of the Malvern Hills, great and lasting in its character a worthy tribute to Nature's beauties, seldom exhibited in a scene so wide in extent and with such diversity of charm.