The fight to stop quarrying went on, with no lesser person than George Bernard Shaw, a regular visitor to Malvern, raising the fate of the hills in the letters page of The Times. "As the primary object of the Bill was to stop quarrying, the absence of the clauses referring to quarrying renders it absolutely useless, for the Conservators will possess no more power in the future that they have under the present Act." Hills or jobs? The leading article in the Malvern Gazette in March 1909 was scathing about this compromise: The Bill was eventually passed, after much debate in the Lords passed, but with the quarry clauses struck out. Money lay at the heart of the controversy – particularly the question of whether the Conservators could afford to compensate landowners and the quarrying firms. The 1909 Bill was very controversial – at times it was opposed even by Malvern Urban Council, and its passage through Parliament was fought by the landowners who owned the quarrying rights, and the firms that extracted the stones. He was writing in the year the Conservators tried, unsuccessfully, to get Parliament to give them more powers to control quarrying on the hills. "One can only shudder as one gazes with prophetic vision at the appalling scene of desolation and ruin which the hills, or their remains, may present to the eyes of future generations." The correspondence section of the Malvern Gazette was filled with similar dire predictions about the survival of the hills – J.R Corder felt strongly enough about the subject to write from Torquay in February 1909: “Loud are the lamentations of visitors and persons generally at the changed scene – hills no longer in their pristine beauty, covered with grass and dotted over with fern and gorse – sights that used to gladden the eye – but now instead are unsightly buildings, mounds of refuse and stone, engines breaking stone, and motors and tractors laden with stone in constant movement to and from the railway station.” The 1909 Annual Report of the Malvern Hills Conservators, the group set up in 1884 to protect the hills, painted a grim picture: Quarrying on the Malvern Hills began small – with men working using picks and wheelbarrows – and gradually grew into a fully-fledged industry.Īs the quarrying became more systematic and mechanised, so the concerns grew for the future of the hills, and the town of Malvern as a destination for holidays, and rest and recuperation. It took a long and acrimonious campaign, inside and outside Parliament, to stop the quarrying, and it still wasn't until the mid 1970s that the final quarry closed. It was a very different story in the first half of the 20th century, when there were working quarries dotted all across the Malvern Hills – the biggest of which were taking huge bites out of North Hill, the Wyche Cutting, and the hills around West Malvern. These days the hills are designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and are protected by numerous Acts of Parliament, zealously policed by the Malvern Hills Conservators. There would be howls of protest from press and public, before the application was thrown out, in short order. Have you been affected by this? Do you have a similar story to tell? We'd like to hear from you.Imagine a planning application being submitted to open a quarry in the side of the Malvern Hills to extract 40,000 tons of stone a year, with blasting twice a day to break up the face of the hills, and a regular convoy of heavy lorries moving through the town to take the stone away. Malvern is famed for its beautiful hills which brings considerable trade to the area through holiday makers and tourists. Situated on Belle Vue Terrace, the area is a hive of activity with a number of shops, banks and restaurants. The annual rent guide is £25,000 which includes a well presented private home with kitchen, dining area, lounge, three bedrooms and modern bathroom. The Unicorn is available on the basis of a brand new tenancy agreement with the Stonegate Group who are looking for an experienced publican to take the helm at the historic pub. According to the Malvern Gazette, he returned to the town many times to walk on the hills with friends, including J R R Tolkien, and frequently ended his hikes with a pint at the Unicorn. Inside historic Malvern pub - once a regular haunt for one of UK's greatest writers View galleryĪ plaque on the front of the pub commemorates the writer C S Lewis - a former patron of the pub.
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