Article on pages 14 - 17 of Dickon Independent issue 112

AGM And Talk On Three Medieval Malvern Churches - April 13

There are links to all the illustrations on the contents page.

Ralph Richardson was much in our thoughts at the AGM as committee members paid tribute to his impact on the branch. The committee was re-elected and extra members were sought - Mickie O’Neill had volunteered. Membership stayed the same at £10 as finances are healthy. Admission to the AGM and Christmas Bring and Share is free for members because of this, and normal admission costs are £1. Several members complained about all the meetings so far this year being at Holy Innocents in Kidderminster and the Programme Planners took note, though it is a very good venue.

After the AGM we enjoyed tea and cake while members renewed, the raffle was drawn and people bought Ralph’s books.

Jane Tinklin then told us about the three medieval Malvern churches we are visiting on Saturday 8 June in a full day’s outing organised by her. In fact Great Malvern Priory, Hanley Castle Church and Little Malvern Priory are the only three medieval churches in Malvern!

Great Malvern Priory is where we start our visit. Founded in 1085, the east end of the church was rebuilt between 1440 and 1501 after the tower collapsed. The new tower looks just like the tower at Gloucester Cathedral and both are based on Worcester Cathedral’s tower.

In her 2005 report, Great Malvern Priory: Rebuilding of the Quire in the 15th Century, Ann Darracott suggests that the major donors who paid for the rebuilding of the quire are those lords represented by shields in the quire south clerestory: Henry VI, Richard, Duke of York (Isabel Despenser’s cousin), John Beauchamp, Lord of Powick, the Earl of Ulster, Sir Humphrey Stafford of Grafton and Sir Maurice Berkeley of Beverstone.

Also worth looking at are the remains of the 1453 Wall Tile Scheme on the apse wall. This includes coats of arms of donors to the priory.

Hanley Castle and Malvern Chase, the royal hunting forest which included Great Malvern Priory, were part of the inheritance of the Despenser family. Isabel Despenser, the daughter of Constance of York (Richard III’s great aunt), married her second husband, Worcestershire man Richard Beauchamp, at Hanley Castle. (He’s buried in the magnificent tomb in St Mary’s Church in Warwick.) Their children were minors when Richard died, and Richard Duke of York was one of a group of nobles tasked with managing the Warwick estates for Isabel. Eventually the inheritance passed to Isabel’s daughter Anne Beauchamp and guess whose wife she was? Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, the Kingmaker.

After his death at Barnet Anne Beauchamp was classed as legally dead by Edward IV so he could divide the Warwick inheritance between his two brothers, who were married to the Warwick heiresses. George and Isabel had control of Hanley Castle and Malvern Chase to start with, but after their deaths it all passed into the hands of Richard Duke of Gloucester and Anne Neville.

Richard and Anne donated the west window and their coats of arms were probably at the top of this window, but are now elsewhere in the priory. Richard’s arms with boar supporters are in the clerestory glass on the north side of the chancel, and Anne’s are in the window to the right of the Henry VII window, though the bear supporters are the only original bit.

Hanley Castle Church is unusual in having a brick tower. The original was damaged by Cromwell’s troops and in 1674 the local lord of the manor rebuilt the tower in brick. Hanley Castle (all that remains is a dry moat and a mound) was built as a royal hunting lodge by King John. The current owner Nicholas Lechmere lives nearby at Severn End. The Lechmere family acquired the lordship in 1626.

Little Malvern Priory was founded in 1171 for about 12 monks. There is no village next to it. Margaret of Anjou and Anne Neville were supposedly found at Little Malvern after the battle of Tewkesbury.

Bishop John Alcock, Bishop of Worcester, and tutor to Prince Edward, Edward IV’s son, visited the priory in 1480 and was appalled. He sent the monks to Gloucester for retraining and rebuilt the priory. He installed the window showing the royal family and himself but unfortunately some figures have been lost. It was on display in the V&A for the Gothic Art for England 1440-1547 Exhibition in 2003 / 2004. They paid to clean and restore it.

From left to right it should show Richard, Duke of York (missing), Edward, Prince of Wales (see below on left), Edward IV (missing), Queen Elizabeth (now headless), Princess Elizabeth and her sisters Cecily, Anne and Katherine (see below on right), then Bishop Alcock (missing). The bishop’s coat of arms of a mitre and cocks’ heads is in the tracery lights together with the arms of the King and the Prince of Wales.

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