The Malvern Hills: online guide

The Malvern Hills are an area of outstanding natural beauty, and one of the most distinctive landmarks in the country.

Their history takes in Iron Age hill forts, the roman conquest, the Spanish Armada and the railway boom.

They are famous for their water, and their survival was, at one time, threatened by quarrying.

They are now protected by an Act of Parliament, and enjoyed by thousands each weekend.

HISTORY

British Camp, the Iron Age hill fort on top of the Herefordshire Beacon, is one of the most recognised features on the Malvern Hills.

It has a fascinating 2000 year history, involving the Romans and a British chieftain:

The history of British Camp

Beacons have been lit on top of the Malverns since Norman times, and in the 19th century fires were regularly lit on the hills as the 'Beaconmania' took hold of the country:

More on the warning beacons

The great railway boom led to the construction of a tunnel under the Malvern Hills - dug by hand by Welsh miners.

Later a second tunnel was dug, when the original became too small:

More on the digging of the tunnels

Malvern may have a connection to the famous Narnia stories.

It involves CS Lewis, JRR Tolkien, and a lgas lamp in the snow:

WATER CURES AND WELLS

Malvern grew as a town on the back of its famous water cure.

Dickens and Darwin both came to the town to sample the famous water.

More on the water cure

You can enjoy some amazing 360 degree panoramic pictures of some of Malvern's wells and springs.

They were taken when the wells had been 'dressed' by local people.

Malvern's dressed wells

QUARRYING THE HILLS

Any proposal to quarry the Malvern Hills these days would be greeted with howls of protest.

But at the turn of the 20th century there were dozens of quarries on the hills, and the last one didn't close until the 1970s:

More on the quarries

Pictures of the quarries - then and now