Malvern Common (From Worcester News)

Malvern Common

11:15am Monday 25th July 2011 in Local walks By Julie Royle

WHEN William I conquered England, he designated huge swathes of land as royal forest, subject to draconian forest law, the purpose of which was to preserve the deer for hunting by the king and his favourites. The Malvern area once formed part of such a forest.

Throughout the Middle Ages, kings would sometimes grant hunting rights to favourite subjects and when this happened, a royal forest would be renamed a chase – hence Malvern Chase, the name which survives today.

More than 500 years after William’s death, another autocratic king, Charles I, found himself in need of cash and decided to raise some by selling off assets, including Malvern Chase.

In 1632, the entire Chase was ‘disafforested’ (meaning forest law no longer applied) but only one third of it was sold, while the rest was granted to the commoners who lived there.

Over the next few centuries, encroachment and enclosure by commoners and others nibbled away at the remaining commons until a stop was put to this process by the Malvern Hills Act, which created the Malvern Hills Conservators. It’s thanks to that – and the work of the Conservators – that unspoilt, wildlife-rich, publicly accessible places such as Castlemorton Common, Hollybed Common and Malvern Common survive today.

This walk only touches upon Malvern Common, using it as a starting point for exploring the area between Malvern Wells and Hanley Swan. It does, however, provide glimpses of what makes the surviving commons so special.

For instance, if you see any wild flowers or butterflies on this walk, they will almost all be on the common, where red clover, bird’sfoot trefoil and black knapweed produce an explosion of colour in July. Other wildlife-friendly places along the way are the dismantled Malvern-Upton railway and the green lane which runs along the top of Ox Hill. Both are well-wooded, but the former railway is particularly valuable in the range of habitats it comprises.

FACT FILE

Start: Peachfield Road, Malvern Common, at a junction with St Andrew’s Road, 100m east of where Peachfield Road crosses the Worcester-Hereford railway; grid ref SO781441.

Length: 6½ miles/10.5km.

Maps: OS Explorer 190, OS Landranger 150.

Terrain: Pasture, arable and woodland, mostly flat.

Footpaths: Mostly excellent, though one poor-quality stile on Ox Hill might prove difficult for less agile walkers, and there are gaps in the waymarking.

Stiles: 10.

Parking: There are parking areas on Malvern Common, including one just the other side of the railway.

Buses: Diamond’s Worcester-Malvern 362/363 serve both Hanley Swan and Peachfield Road, Mon-Sat; worcestershire.gov.uk/bustimetables or 01905 765765.

Refreshments: Pub and shop at Hanley Swan.

DIRECTIONS

1 Take a public footpath which leaves Peachfield Road next to a bus shelter, almost opposite a decorative Victorian post box on the corner of St Andrew’s Road.

There are some branching paths at first, as the public footpath crosses the common, so do take note of the direction indicated by the fingerpost. After a very short distance the public footpath becomes unmistakeable as it uses the course of a dismantled railway.

After 500m, descend steps to a junction with a bridleway and go straight on, still on the footpath, which now runs along a field edge, though there is also a wellestablished path (not a right of way) along the former railway. At the next junction, ignore a bridleway going to the left and shortly turn right to pass under the railway, then turn left. Keep straight on at the next two junctions to meet Hanley Road. Turn left.

2 After passing Trinity Cottage, cross the road to a footpath.

Follow powerlines across a meadow to a stile where you have a choice of three onward paths. Take the one which goes roughly straight on, skirting to the right of a collection of agricultural machinery to meet a farm track near a gate. Proceed to a stile where again there’s a choice of three onward paths. All of them go to the bridleway which is your next objective, but you’re more or less forced to take the middle one as the other two have been over-cropped.

3 Meeting the bridleway, turn left and follow it for two miles. After a short distance it changes to the other side of the field boundary but apart from that, it’s straightforward all the way to Welland Road, where you turn left into Hanley Swan. Walk past Swan Pool then take a footpath on the left, which is also a private road.

Follow the road to its end, by Stable Farm, then go straight on through fields to the top of a low ridge, Ox Hill. Turn left along a tree-lined green lane which runs along the top.

4 Ignore a crosspath and continue in the same direction, but now to the left of the trees, through fields and paddocks. Eventually you’ll change to the other side of a hedge but continue in the same direction until a waymark indicates that the path turns right to meet a track. Turn left and walk to Malvern Common. Go diagonally left on a well-trodden path to Poolbrook Road. Cross the road and continue across the common, parallel with Peachfield Road, to return to your starting point.