West Malvern is a village and a civil parish on the west side of the north part of the Malvern Hills, on the western edge of Worcestershire, England. It has become effectively an outer suburb of Malvern and part of an urban area often called The Malverns, locally administered by Malvern Hills District Council and its own parish council. Its altitude up to 250 metres gives West Malvern panoramic views of the adjacent Herefordshire countryside to the west. The Church of St James, built in 1840, has an adjacent Church of England primary school. The churchyard includes the grave of Peter Mark Roget, author of Roget's Thesaurus, who died while on holiday in the village. The 2011 Census population of 1,385 was estimated at 1,263 in 2019.[1]
The name Malvern is first attested in a charter of around 1030, as Mælfern, and then in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Malferna. The name derives from the Common Brittonic words that survive in modern Welsh as moel ("bare") and bryn ("hill"); thus it once meant "bare hill". The name perhaps applied originally to the hill now called Worcester Beacon, after which Great Malvern and Little Malvern were then named. The West element of West Malvern was added in modern times to distinguish the settlement from these older centres.[2][3]:341
Culture
Since 2005 West Malvern has hosted an annual one-day music festival West Fest.[4] In years when West Fest makes a profit the committee distributes grants "to support community action, cultural development, training or to meet special needs."[5] From the profits of West Fest 2008 "a total of £7,150 was distributed" in the Malvern Hills area to 2nd Malvern Link Brownies, the Theatre of Small Convenience, West Malvern Sean Éireann McMahon Academy (Irish dancing), West Malvern Cricket Club, Malvern Mencap, St James Primary School, Leapfrogs Playgroup, and Malvern Access Group.[5] There has also been a regular weekly acoustic music session in the village each Sunday evening since 1996.
On 20–22 August 2010 a visual arts festival was held in the village, in support of the Malvern Hills Community Foundation, in a variety of venues including the Regents Theological College, St James's Church, St James Primary School, and the Brewers Arms pub. Local garages, gazebos, and even garden walls and railings were also used to display artworks. The event, which is intended to become annual, was modelled on a similar arts festival at Saint-Céneri-le-Gérei in Normandy, France.[6][7]
The West Malvern Ring
In 2025, the village of West Malvern hosted a local production of Richard Wagner's opera cycle, Der Ring des Nibelungen. The project, titled The West Malvern Ring, was the culmination of a long-held idea by the late resident Rob Rankin [8] . It was brought to fruition by musical director Judith Sanoon and creative director Tim White.[8][9]
The production, which will run from August 15th to August 17th, presents a two-and-a-half-hour musical play, condensing the sixteen-hour original work. The staging utilized live acting, a simplified score, and video sequences filmed in and around the Malvern Hills. The production featured over 40 local participants and was performed at the West Malvern Social Club. It offered an interpretation of the epic story of gods and mortals within a community-focused framework.[8][9]
Landmarks
The Malvern Hills area is well known for its Malvern water and there are several springs and wells in West Malvern including Westminster Bank Spout, St James Churchyard Basin, West Malvern Tap, Hayslad, Royal Well, and Ryland's Well and St Thomas' Well.[10]
There were quarries around West Malvern including Dingle[11] and several more.[12]
↑ Watts, Victor, ed. (2004). The Cambridge Dictionary of English Place-Names, Based on the Collections of the English Place-Name Society. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN9780521168557., s.vv. Great MALVERN, Little MALVERN, West MALVERN.
↑ Coates, Richard; Breeze, Andrew (2000). Celtic Voices, English Places: Studies of the Celtic Impact on Place-Names in Britain. Stamford: Tyas. ISBN1900289415..
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