Great Malvern Priory

Great Malvern Priory was a Benedictine monastery begun around 1075. The 11th century monastic church has survived as the parish church for the town of Great Malvern. The church is known for its exceptional display of 15th century stained glass, and holds the largest collection of medieval wall and floor tiles in England. Other highlights include a superb set of 15th and 16th century misericords.

 

 The find of an ancient carved head suggests that the site was used for worship long before the coming of the Normans. Edward the Confessor endowed a monastic settlement nestled against the eastern slope of the Malvern Hills, perhaps on the site of a hermitage founded by St Werstan, a monk from Deerhurst in Gloucestershire, who fled when Deerhurst was attacked by Norse raiders.

During Edward the Confessor's reign St Wulfstan, the Bishop of Worcester, made a hermit named Aldwyn the first abbot of a new monastic settlement at Malvern Chase, then a remote area. The monastery was a daughter house of Westminster Abbey, and housed 30 monks. Aldwyn was followed by Walcher, whose worn coffin lid can be seen in St Anne's Chapel.

The 11th century church was rebuilt several times during the medieval period, most notable during the 15th century, when the superb stained glass, misericords, and tiles were installed. The striking central tower was built in the late 15th century by the same team of masons responsible for Gloucester Cathedral.

When Henry VIII dissolved Malvern Priory the residents of the town purchased the priory church to replace their own parish church, then in a state of decay. The Priory itself needed major restoration work in 1812, 1816, 1834, and again in 1841. A final Victorian restoration took place in 1860 under the direction of Sir George Gilbert Scott, who rebuilt the nave roof in the style of its medieval predecessor.
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