12:02pm Wednesday 16th December 2009
By Julie Royle
NEWLAND is one of those places people tend to pass through on the way to somewhere else, but no doubt plenty of us do at least wonder about the cluster of interesting-looking buildings surrounded by trees at the southern end of Newland Green.
As it happens, it’s a good place to stop, because the green is common land looked after by Malvern Hills Conservators. It can be enjoyed in its own right or used as a starting point for walks in the Madresfield and Old Hills area.
There was once a timber-framed church at Newland, a rare survivor even in 1863, when it was replaced in stone by the present St Leonard’s church, built at the same time as the adjoining Beauchamp Almshouses. Part of the old church was spared demolition and incorporated into the almshouse complex, while its 12th-century font (which had come originally from a church in Great Malvern) was placed in the new church, where it remains.
Inside St Leonard’s, the walls and ceiling are covered in frescos, by T Gambier-Perry. These are unusual for their period because the Victorians generally disapproved of such things and are notorious for their determined destruction of mediaeval church frescos.
Presumably, however, frescos were acceptable if their content was deemed suitable for delicate sensibilities, which wasn’t always the case with medieval ones. St Leonard’s also contains an unusual oriel window, close to the almshouse infirmary, so that residents who were unwell could still watch church services.
Both the church and almshouses were designed by the architect PC Hardwick and paid for by a £60,000 bequest made by the third Lord Beauchamp, of Madresfield Court, to provide accommodation for up to 24 retired estate workers.
FACT FILE
Start: Newland, on Worcester Road (A449) near Malvern Link, grid ref SO796486.
Length: Four-and-three-quarter miles/7.5km.
Maps: OS Explorer 190, OS Landranger 150.
Terrain: Arable and pastoral farmland, no hills.
Footpaths: Mostly excellent.
Stiles: Eight.
Parking: Newland Green.
Buses: 44 Worcester-Great Malvern via Newland, frequent daily service; worcestershire.gov.uk/bustimetables or 01905 765765.
Refreshments: Shops and cafés at Malvern retail park; the Swan Inn at Newland village is close by.
DIRECTIONS
1 Follow Worcester Road towards Malvern, then turn left on the wide grass verge beside Townsend Way (B4208), the road that serves Malvern retail park. Turn left on a footpath after 100 metres and keep straight on when the path forks, walking alongside a tree-lined brook to enter a field. Keep to the edge, then leave the field when you come to a footbridge. Go diagonally across the next field, heading for a point to the left of three willow trees, where you should be able to see a waymarked post. Cross a brook at a bridge and continue in the same direction across the next field, then turn left to a lane.
2 Turn right, then take a path on the left after 250 metres. Follow a tree-lined brook to a field then walk along the left-hand edge, past a pool. Proceed along a green lane then go diagonally left across a field, past a playground. Turn left by the road, then join the driveway to Madresfield Court just after a lodge. Keep straight on at a junction by a memorial bench, passing an orchard. Leave the driveway when it bends to the right, and go through a gate into a field.
3 Turn left along the edge and leave the field at a gate, joining another path. Cross Madresfield brook then go diagonally right across a large field. There is a line of poplars at the other side, interrupted by an area of much more dense vegetation (shrubs and trees) around a pool; head for the right-hand end of this more thickly vegetated patch. Cross a stile and go diagonally right across the next field. Leave it in the far corner, next to an oak tree, and cross another field, passing to the left of a pool surrounded by trees then going to the top corner, to the left of a house.
4 Turn right along a track, pass a saw-mill, then go through a gate to a path junction. Take the lefthand path, which goes diagonally across sheep pasture. It’s hard to see which way to go at first but if you head towards Worcester you’ll soon see a waymarked stile at the far side. Cross this and turn right across the next field to join a bridleway. Turn left, then turn right after about 175 metres on a path which leads to Deblin’s Green.
5 Turn left, cross a road and go straight on along a leafy path which leads to a pasture. Take the left-hand path along the edge, go through a gate in the top corner and walk along a track to eventually meet a lane. Turn left, walk to a road and turn right on a wide grass verge. Take a path on the right after 400 metres and cross a field as waymarked, passing just to the left of a pool at the far side to find an easily missed hedge gap.
Cross the next field to a footbridge and pass through trees to another field. Walk to a gate at the far side, cross a road and turn right to Newland.
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