Across the fields
A way to the south of Great Malvern – famous for its grand medieval church, its spa, and its clusters of Victorian villas – lies Little Malvern. This is the site of a Benedictine priory founded in the 12th century, and what remains of its church – tower, chancel, and ruined transept – catches the eye and the sun as one looks across the fields towards the wooded slopes beyond. It’s a mixture of Norman and late medieval architecture, having had a makeover in the 1480s when monasticism in England had little more than 50 years before succumbing to the ravages of Henry VIII’s opportunistic reformation.
Next to the church were the usual domestic buildings, and part of these form the heart of Little Malvern Court, the partly timber-framed house to the left of the church. This too is of a mixture of periods, with a monastic core of the 14th century that includes the magnificent prior’s hall, plus later additions and modifications. The building was restored and extended by Joseph Hansom in 1859–60. It’s no accident that the Catholic architect Hansom was chosen. Since the 16th century the Court has been home to the Beringtons, a Catholic family.
In the Middle Ages, the church tower must have been a welcome landmark to the monks returning from work in the fields or from journeys farther afield as they crossed the neighbouring plain. It’s wonderful that it remains a landmark today, with its neighbouring house testimony to more than 800 years of continuous use.
8 comments:
It looks terrific, almost italianate, reminds me of the churches in the Alto Adige
Worm: The hipped roof on the tower probably adds to the Italianate effect. It's a later addition to the tower, but I still like it.
Hello Philip. Just looking at that photograph makes me think that medieval archtects were no less telented (perhaps more so) than those of today. Perhaps they were inspired by having a higher status client!
Hansom certainly got about. He did the little town hall in Lutterworth and the New Walk Museum in Leicester; and in his leisure hours designed the eponymous cab I believe.
Peter: There were at least two Hansoms, Charles and Joseph Aloysius, brothers I think, hence the apparent ubiquity.
Remarkably, Joseph was my man for all three designs.
England is just so beautiful...sigh!
Peter: Yes, Joseph Aloysius did 'bags' of buildings, overseas as well as in Britain. Curious random fact: he was born in Micklegate, York, a street not unknown to you.
I read up on the family a bit and he had a son, Joseph Stanislaus, also an architect; then there was his brother, Charles Francis, and his son, Edward Joseph. Four architects in all.
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