Quarrying
of the Malvern Hills was very controversial and the scars are
still visible today.
See
our picture gallery of the quarries
on the Malvern Hills.
It's hard to believe in these more environmentally aware times
that once there were more than a dozen quarries taking stone
out of the Malvern Hills.
Scars
of the quarrying still visible on the Hills today
Indeed
quarrying was still going on at Gullet Quarry near Castlemorton
Common 30 years ago.
The scars of the quarrying are still clearly visible today,
particularly on North Hill.
Malvern stone was much sought after at the turn of the 20th
Century, both for house building and for use in road building.
Even then the quarrying was controversial. The famous writer
George Bernard Shaw wrote to the Times complaining about the
effect the work was having on the Malvern skyline:
The approach to Malvern from the great plain of the Severn
with the hills displayed on the western horizon has always
had a peculiar charm. It now has a peculiar horror.
Visitors from Worcester used to see the unspoiled North
Hill with an indescribable pleasure. They now see it hideously
disfigured by three gigantic scoops reaching so nearly
to the top of the ridge that they bring home with a shock
the appalling conviction that before very long the scoop
will go right through leaving a couple of enormous jagged
teeth of hill, which will presently be blasted away in
their turn changing the Malvern Hills into the Malvern
Flats.
George
Bernard Shaw: Letter to the Times
Buying the rights
Ironically it was the setting up of the Malvern Conservators
in 1884 to protect the hills that contributed to the growth
in quarrying.
Local landowners were allowed to maintain their quarrying rights
in return for agreeing to the setting up of the Conservators.
They then leased these rights to private firms who began the
quarrying.
In the 1930's, at the height of the great depression, there
was a real split in the town between those who wished to stop
the quarrying to protect the hills and those who wanted to keep
the quarries open because they provided jobs for local people.
In the end the Conservators had to buy out the quarrying rights
in North Malvern and Little Malvern, taking out a loan to do
it.
After the second world war the Malverns were declared an Area
of Outstanding Natural Beauty by the Labour Government, and
the drilling and blasting all but stopped on the Malverns.
Quarrying at Gullet quarry though continued until 1977.
If
you have any memories of quarrying on the Malverns then
please e-mail us at: worcester@bbc.co.uk
The approach to Malvern from the great plain of the Severn
with the hills displayed on the western horizon has always
had a peculiar charm. It now has a peculiar horror.
