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Malvern Water Cure

Malvern has many natural springs. The Malvern Hills are made up of very hard rock, called Pre- Cambrian granite and the rain water seeps through any cracks. When it meets a different type of rock it breaks through as a spring. Because the rock is so hard, the water does not take in minerals. It is therefore very pure. Other spas had springs which DID contain minerals which claimed to make them good for healing.
(You can find out more about this in the 'Find Out More' section )

The purity of Malvern water was first discovered in 1756, by Dr John Wall, a physician who founded the Worcester Royal Infirmary. He advised patients "to drink freely of the Waters for some Days or Weeks before they use them externally and to wash Sores, Tumours etc. under the Spout several Times in a Day".

Dr Wall also suggested that "covering the Parts afterwards with cloths dipt in the same water and moistened from time to time". This was just what 'The Water Cure' later involved.

Visitors who came to 'take the waters' at this time could stay in Great Malvern but had to walk to Malvern Wells to the Holy Well.

	*This is Holy Well now. It is the fourth building at the site and was built in 1843*

	*This is the actual well inside.*

The spring at Holy Well, Malvern Wells has been important for hundreds of years.
- In 1558 Elizabeth I granted the spring to John Horneyold.
- There are records of bottling in 1622

In 1805 the water at St. Anne's Well in Great Malvern was also analysed. It was a short but steep walk up from the village, as it was then, and so became very popular.

	*St Anne's Well today.*

	This is the actual well, or 'spout' inside. The water often flows over the edge of the bowl. It is meant to! There is a notice asking people NOT to replace the plug. The water is plentiful at times, dependent upon the rainfall.

In the early 1800s Great Malvern began to expand, with a new hotel, The Foley Arms Hotel in 1810, the Royal Library in 1819, and The Coburg Baths (1823) being built to attract visitors to Great Malvern rather than to Malvern Wells.

In 1842 Dr. James Wilson and Dr. James Gully found Malvern to be an ideal place to start hydropathy, or 'The Water Cure'. A local historian, James Nott,wrote about their arrival in Malvern in a book called 'The Water Cure'. He was a boy at the time. It makes very vivid reading. Look at it here.

They liked Malvern so much, they decided to take over The Crown Hotel where they first stayed and I have seen the legal papers they had to sign. They renamed it Graefenberg House. I know why this is. Can you work it out?

The Crown, or Graefenberg House, became too small to treat all the patients. Dr. Wilson built the very first purpose built hydropathic Establishment in Britain in 1845. Dr. Gully bought two houses soon after moving to Malvern. His family lived in one, whilst his patients occupied the other.

So many visitors came to Malvern to take the cure that it grew a great deal and several more Doctors arrived and started their own establishments. It meant many more houses had to be built and new roads too. Malvern soon changed from a village to a town. You can read about this in many books from Malvern Library.