Church Heritage Record 642032

Central tower. Nave with north and south aisles with north transept, chancel with internal apse and ambulatory, south chapel, north vestry.

The church is a cruciform building consisting of a quire and presbytery, central span 58 ft. 9 in. by 27 ft., with north aisle 17 ft. 9 in. wide, south aisle or St. Anne's chapel 55 ft. 9 in. by 18 ft. 3 in., central tower about 27 ft. square, north transept 39 ft. by 28 ft. 3 in., nave 82 ft. by 27 ft., with north aisle 19 ft. wide, south aisle 9 ft. 6 in. wide and north porch. The destroyed portions include the Lady chapel at the east end 46 ft. by 23 ft. with transeptal chapels and a crypt under 39 ft. 9 in. by 21 ft. and the south transept. The total length of the church before the destruction of the Lady chapel was about 219 ft. 6 in.

Prehistoric

The Malvern hills were settled in the Bronze and Iron Ages and the “British Camp” above Great Malvern dates to this period. There are a number of scattered findspots of flints and Bronze Age tools and pottery are known in the area, though none in the immediate vicinity of the site. Stray finds from all these periods are possible.

Roman

In the Roman period between the 1st and 5th centuries there is little evidence of settlement or activity in the Great Malvern area.

Anglo-Saxon

Again little is known of this period up until the eve of the Conquest, although legend tells of a hermitage here before the latter. Only archaeological investigation could provide more information here.

Norman

According to the 12th century chronicler William of Malmesbury the priory was founded by a monk from Worcester called Aldwin, at the behest of Bishop Wulstan, in the 1060s during the reign of Edward the Confessor.  The manor and priory is however not recorded in the Domesday Survey.

The earliest surviving parts of St Mary's are late 12th century, from which the aisle arcades and entrance to the south chapel survives. The remains of the crypt beneath the Lady chapel appear to also date from the close of the 12th century.

Medieval

Throughout the medieval period the church was altered and expanded. The aisles were widened in the 13th century, the north porch was added in the 14th century.   The Lady chapel was rebuilt and lengthened probably late in the 14th century.

The whole church underwent complete transformation in the 15th century, being begun by Prior John about 1440. The presbytery was first rebuilt and finished probably in 1460, when the Bishop of Worcester consecrated seven altars in the priory church.  It was followed by the transepts, central tower and nave, the latter being completed about 1480.  All the windows were ornamented with magnificent stained glass. This work finished in 1502.

Post-Reformation

After Henry VIII's dissolution of the monasteries in the 1530s the Protestant Bishop of Worcester, Hugh Latimer, did what he could to save the priory for the community as a parish church. The Priory buildings were however mostly demolished or stripped, including the cloisters, south transept, east Lady chapel and a chapel on the north side.

Only three of the domestic buildings used by the monks survived the dissolution.  The Prior’s Lodge became a private house before being replaced by other buildings.  The magnificent 14th-century timbered Guesten Hall existed until 1841 when a Victorian developer demolished it to make way for the Abbey Hotel. The Hall was said to be one of the finest examples of its period in the country.

Of these buildings only the Gatehouse still stands, which as noted above is now home to the Malvern Museum. A few of the carved timbers from the Hall can be seen in the Gatehouse.

Great Malvern priory church came under the patronage of the Crown, before being sold to the town for 20 pounds as its parish church. The church was far too large for the small parish, and large parts of it fell into disrepair.  This lack of maintenance, and the distance of Malvern from any large cities which meant it became something of a back-water until the 18th century, may have contributed to the survival of the stained glass and other features.

19th century

By 1788 the Priory had become so ruinous that it was not safe, and plans were suggested for its repair. In 1809 a brief was granted to collect money for this purpose, and work began in 1812. £1,700 was collected for repairs, but was not spent on the crumbling structure or roof. Instead, donors’ coats of arms were displayed in a new stained glass window, controversial gallery pews were installed in the transepts, and the misericords were painted a “clay-coloured tint.” There was more work  in 1816, 1834 and 1841, chiefly through the efforts of Dr. Card, the vicar, appointed in 1815. The tower was restored in 1852.

The influx of wealthy visitors to Malvern’s Water Cure brought money into the town and the population grew. As a consequence of this new foubd prosperity he church was heavily restored in 1860-1 by the leading and prolific Gothic Revival architect G G Scott, costing over £11,000.

20th century 

The church has been subject to a number of repair, minor re-ordering and refurbishment episodes, notably in the 1920s when the glass was moved around and partially repaired, and during World War II when the glass was taken out. A number of minor interventions in the Post-War period have left parts of the interior in an unsatisfactory state, hindering the use of the building for worship and community and cultural purposes.  

21st century

Major re-ordering and possibly new build in the churchyard to create standard facilities, better disabled access and flexible spaces for community use are being considered at the time of writing.

The church is dominant from some views of the town, but disappears in others, due to the hillside location. The tower can be seen from some distance and frames several key views. The masonry glows red in the sunshine, but now has a somewhat mottled appearance following stone replacement. Nevertheless it presents a remarkably consistent vista, a finely balanced modulated building which at first sight appears to bely its complex development. The church is, along with the Gateway, all that now remains of the priory. 

The main viewed elevation is the north side, which now appears wholly Perpendicular in date and style, the main tone given by the big 4-light windows with 4-centred heads to the aisles and chancel, and 3-lights to the clearstorey.  The walls have a pierced embattled parapet carried across the western gable with a niche in the centre containing a modern figure. The buttresses rise to crocketed pinnacles.

The great 9-light 15th-century west window is in three main divisions, each of three lights with a two-centred arch, tracery and transom. The side lights and all below the transom are blank panels and across the lower part of the window externally ran a gallery, now destroyed, with three diminutive openings to the nave, each of two trefoiled lights.

The buttresses of the aisles are two stages high and those to the nave roof are capped by crocketed pinnacles.

Over each clearstory window is a large gargoyle. The north aisle was formerly gabled, but has now a pent roof. The central tower of three stages was built in the 15th century and is of a piece with the north façade.

The bellchamber has a pair of two-light windows in each face with pointed heads and ogee crocketed labels terminating in carved finials. The tower is finished with a pierced embattled parapet with square pierced pinnacles at the angles surmounted by pierced spirelets and finials.

The North Transept

The north transept is much lower than either the chancel or nave and has a wide arch on the east of two chamfered orders, perhaps of late 14th-century date, but having moulded capitals and bases inserted when the north quire aisle was built.

Above it and the corresponding arch to the nave aisle are coupled clearstory windows, each of two lights with square traceried heads. In the north wall is a large six-light transomed window with a depressed four-centred head and below it are two recesses with similar heads inclosed in square-headed recesses.

In the west wall there is a three-light traceried and transomed window and to the south of it a blocked doorway with a fourcentred head and having a shield of the Beauchamp arms above it outside. The flat wooden roof of the north transept is Victorian; against the north wall of the tower are the marks of the original steep pitched roof. The exterior of the transept is finished with a panelled and embattled parapet continued across the gable and diagonal three-stage buttresses also panelled, gabled and capped with pinnacles. In the centre of the north wall the plinth is carried up over a square-headed blocked door three parts buried, and in the east wall are traces of a four-centred door head; it is probable that they led to a charnel beneath the transept.

The South Transept

The south transept has been destroyed except for the start of the side walls. Visible externally in the east wall is the jamb of a 15th-century window and further north the respond of a 12th-century arch opening into the former transeptal chapel.

The Chancel

Externally the eastern arms and aisles have plain embattled parapets, carried also across the base of the main east gable. The east window is pointed and traceried and has eight lights with a massive central mullion.

Below the east window and of the same width is a broad and low three-centred Victorian arch, with the remains of an arch below it formerly opening into the Lady chapel. There is a flight of steps to an ogeed doorway within the glazed Victorian arch, which is rarely used.

The south elevation is only visible from the Hotel gardens and is more complex, and is described in the Interior section below.

The walls are bare stone. There is a quarry tiled floor in the nave, with Geometric patterns picked out in black.  The nave has light coloured chairs. The chancel has a fine set of choir stalls with 24 15th-century misericords, described in detail under furnishings and fittings below.

The chancel of the church is three bays long with moulded piers and responds and pointed arches, all of the 15th century. The inner faces of the piers have each three attached shafts carried up to support the two-centred arches over the clearstory windows.

The space beneath these arches is panelled in six divisions, the two side ones blank and the four in the centre pierced to form clearstory windows with transoms and segmental pointed heads; below their sills the panels have traceried cinquefoiled heads.

The flat timber roof is panelled in six bays from east to west, and three across. The corbels which support the moulded wall-posts are formed by the springing stones of an intended vault.

Each panel is subdivided with Victorian carved bosses. The wall spaces over the clearstory arches are filled with blind tracery in wood in the form of three-light traceried windows and the spandrels above the east window are similarly treated.

Under it the mullions of the east window are carried down to form a stone screen, each division being subdivided and having trefoiled heads and a transom. The latter is broken in the centre on either side of an ogee-headed door, the moulded jambs of which unite at the head to support the central mullion of the window above. The screen is now glazed and the doorway is used as an entrance.

Just to the east of the easternmost pair of piers is the stone reredos pierced by two roundheaded doors, one on either side of the altar, leading to the sacristy. The latter is not roofed and is inclosed on the east by a plain wall segmental on plan and pierced by four trefoiled lights, skewed to view the lights of the various side altars. The wall is finished with a modern cornice and with the reredos is ornamented only with glazed wall tiles.

The north aisle is covered with a simple stone vault with plainly chamfered diagonal and transverse ribs and carved bosses at the intersections.

The east window of the aisle is of three lights with tracery and is set in an altar recess, forming a shallow three-sided apse internally roofed with a panelled arch three panels wide and cusped.

On the north of the altar is a moulded bracket and on the south a pillar piscina with a panelled stem and an ogee trefoiled head. In the north wall each of the three bays has a panelled surface of six panels, the four middle ones pierced to form windows with traceried heads.

Below the sills is a row of trefoilheaded panels. The vault springs from groups of five attached shafts with moulded capitals and a continuous base. The main arcade on this side is of two plain chamfered orders.

The south aisle or St. Anne's chapel is similar in general character to the north. The east window has modern tracery and is set in a rectangular altar recess covered by a panelled arch, the arch moulds being carried halfway down the jambs on to moulded capitals, and in the north jamb is a door with a four-centred head formerly leading by a stair to the Lady chapel crypt but now blocked and used as a seat.

Flanking the east window, which is not quite central, are carved grotesque corbels or image brackets. On the south respond is a pillar piscina with a panelled stem. The vault is similar to that in the north aisle and in the south wall are three windows similar to those on the north and having a row of quatrefoil-headed panels below the sills, twelve to each bay. In the west wall is a pointed arch opening into the former transept. It is of two chamfered orders and apparently of rather earlier date than the rest of the rebuilding.

The Tower

The 15th-century central tower was built on the 12th-century piers. The east and west arches of the crossing are similar, two-centred and moulded; the responds have each five small attached shafts, three in the centre and one at each edge, with small moulded capitals and springing from a moulded string at the level of the capitals of the nave arcade. Within the west arch is a deep panelled band making the arch on this side considerably wider. The north and south arches are lower and narrower, but the jambs and arch moulds are similar, all being of the 15th century.

The face of the wall on either side of them is the early 12th-century masonry. The walls above them within the crossing are elaborately panelled with blind tracery in the form of a window of four main and eight subsidiary lights. The crossing is covered with a rich lierne vault with numerous subsidiary ribs and a circular bell-way in the centre; at every intersection is a carved boss mostly of foliage, but four bearing repainted shields.

The Nave

The nave is of six bays, but possibly the original intention was to extend it further to the west. The arcades are uniform and of early 12th-century date with short cylindrical columns having moulded capitals and bases standing on square chamfered plinths except to the two eastern piers. The arches are of three plain square orders and the 12th-century masonry of small uncoursed rubble rises only some 3 ft. above the arch crowns; above the eastern pair it is destroyed to the arch.

Above the second pier on the south are two filled mortises, perhaps marking the position of the rood screen. The capital of the east respond on the north is partly scalloped, but the work was not completed. In the second and fifth piers on the same side are shallow trefoil-headed niches cut in the masonry.

Above the arcades the walls are blank to the base of the clearstory windows, which are of three transomed 15th-century lights with the mullions carried up and traceried two-centred heads. It was apparently intended to vault the nave, as the wall is set back to receive it above the window heads and also on the west face of the tower.

The Lady chapel was probably destroyed at the Dissolution, but the plan has been recovered by excavation. It was of the late 14th century with diagonal eastern buttresses and a pair of small transeptal chapels similar to those still standing in the Lady chapel at Gloucester.

The crypt under the chapel was of less length, four bays long and roofed with a stone vault in two spans. Two of the moulded corbels supporting it at the west end remain visible and have scalloped capitals and semi-octagonal abaci. The core of the vault remains for the first half bay and the ribs have a double chamfer.

The 15th-century nave roof is flat with moulded wall-posts and curved brackets resting on moulded stone corbels; the eastern spandrels are traceried, and at the intersections of the ribs are curved bosses like those in the eastern arm. In the nave clearstory are many coats of arms (of the early 19th century). 

The North Aisle

The north aisle has a moulded and pointed 15th-century arch opening into the transept and having moulded capitals to the inner member of the jambs. In the north wall are five uniform windows, all of the same date, with modern tracery of three lights. In the last bay is the north door with moulded jambs, side shafts and a four-centred head, opening into the porch.

The South Aisle

The south aisle preserves the original width of the Norman aisle and much of its masonry. In the east bay is the 12th-century processional door from the cloister with a moulded round arch and two engaged shafts to each jamb. The capitals and bases are of rough cushion form without abaci and appear to have been tampered with. Above the door is a blocked round-headed window of the same date. The arch opening into the south nave aisle is also of the same date and is semicircular with chevron ornament on the west face and springs from enriched abaci chamfered on the under side.

The Norman south wall remains standing for the first five bays and is pierced by three Victorian windows. In the last bay are two 15th-century doorways with four-centred heads, the westernmost being blocked. One of these was evidently the western processional door, and the second was possibly the night stair from the dorter. From the last pier on this side a 15th-century four-centred arch is sprung across the aisle.

The South Chapel

The 15th-century chantry chapel opens from the south aisle. It has two four-centred arches on this side with a band of traceried panelling above. Against the inner or north wall are two tomb recesses with elaborately cusped four-centred arches; the bases have pointed oval cusped panels with a blank shield in each. The chapel has a richly panelled fan-vaulted roof in two bays and contains a collection of architectural objects including a recut slab with inscription to Walcher Lotharingus, prior 1125, another to William de Wykewane, fragments of coupled columns and bases, bosses, &c.

The North Porch

The porch was reconstructed in 1894. It has a four-centred moulded outer arch with quatrefoil panels and shields in the spandrels. The room above the porch is lighted by two two-light windows with traceried square heads which form part of a line of similar panels carried across the front; the rest of the wall face is also panelled, but most of the facing is modern. Between the windows is an original niche with a head of rich tabernacle work with a cornice and cresting of Tudor flower.

The parapet is panelled and embattled with square crocketed pinnacles at the angles. The roof of the porch is stone vaulted and mostly modern, but most of the carved foliage and grotesque bosses are original. The room above is approached by a modern staircase in the thickness of the west aisle wall. It contains several interesting late mediaeval deeds connected with the church and some massive early 15th-century wood tracery from the old guest hall, retaining traces of gilding and colour.

The most noticeable feature of the church is the remarkable quantity of fine 15th-century stained glass. The stained glass and the important monuments are described under furnishings and fittings below.