Malvern springs and wells

24 springs, spouts and fountains you can find around the hills, listed north to south. Flow and water quality change. Descriptions give the date of the source where it matters.

1. Lord Sandys' Spout

   Not for drinking

   In Spring Lane, Malvern Link, about halfway down on the opposite side after turning off Worcester Road (A449), in a gap between houses at the back of a small grassy area. Brick pillars and a stone path mark the entrance.

   A bronze lion's-head spout in a white glazed-brick trough, named after Lord Sandys of Ombersley, who is said to have drunk here daily. The water was bottled commercially in the late 19th century, and a dispute over public access followed. The site belongs to the Madresfield Estate and was landscaped and restored in the 2000s.

   Flow: Uncertain. The MSA text (2007) says water still ran but was polluted. The Friends of Malvern Springs and Wells newsletter (May 2018) says the owners cut the spout off because the water quality was poor.

   Drinking: Do not drink. The MSA says it is too polluted to drink, and the Heritage Project report calls the water unusually polluted. A 2022 MSA article says it has among the highest dissolved-salt levels of the springs tested.

   OS grid SO78844771 Map of Lord Sandys' Spout (opens in a new tab) Source

2. Earl Beauchamp's Spout

   Not for drinking

   On the left of Cowleigh Road (B4219) leaving North Malvern towards Storridge, just past the crossroads with Lower Road and Cowleigh Bank. There is a car park behind it with Worcestershire Way information.

   A prolific roadside spout with a green glazed brick surround, which William, Earl Beauchamp gave to the people of Cowleigh in 1905. It is described as Royal Doulton brick, and the spout was originally a bronze lion's head. Tanks behind it still supply nearby properties, and the overflow is piped down to the moat at Madresfield Court.

   Flow: Flowing. The MSA describes a prolific source. Osborne & Weaver (2012) say it runs about 10,000 gallons a day.

   Drinking: Take care. The MSA says only about a quarter of tests in recent years (text dated 2007) showed the water to be really pure, so it must be boiled. The MSA collecting page (2014 text) lists it as a place NOT to collect because it is regularly polluted.

   OS grid SO76664750 Map of Earl Beauchamp's Spout (opens in a new tab) Source

3. Temperance Drinking Fountain

   Not for drinking

   On the edge of Malvern Link Common beside Worcester Road, just uphill (west) of the railway bridge.

   A handsome carved stone drinking fountain put up in 1900 by the Women's Temperance Association to offer water as an alternative to beer. It fell out of use in the 20th century and was repaired in 1999.

   Flow: Working. Osborne & Weaver (2012) say it now provides water, though it sometimes freezes in winter or is vandalised.

   Drinking: This is not spring water. Since the 1999 repair it has been connected to the treated public mains (MSA; Osborne & Weaver).

   OS grid SO78184738 Map of Temperance Drinking Fountain (opens in a new tab) Source

4. Clock Tower (The Tank) and North Valley Spout

   On North Malvern Road in North Malvern, below the old Tank Quarry. The spout is in the well room at the foot of the tower, behind decorative iron gates. Osborne & Weaver also describe a derelict smaller Morris spout just behind the tower.

   Water tanks built at Charles Morris's expense in 1835-36 for the poor of North Malvern. A clock storey was added in 1843 and the present taller clock tower in 1901. The listed tower was restored in the 2000s with new iron gates designed by Rose Garrard, reopening in May 2009, and the spout falls into a salvaged stone basin.

   Flow: Uncertain. The MSA restoration account says water flows 'capriciously' at the spout. The Friends of Malvern Springs and Wells newsletter (May 2018) says the Tank Quarry clock tower spout was cut off by its owners because of poor water quality.

   Drinking: The 2018 newsletter says the supply was cut off because of poor water quality. The Clock Tower is not in the WRS table of spouts tested on 27 Feb 2024.

   OS grid SO76954707 Map of Clock Tower (The Tank) and North Valley Spout (opens in a new tab) Source

5. Westminster Bank Spring

   Beside the hill track at the top of Westminster Bank, West Malvern. Walk up from the village crossroads off West Malvern Road (the MSA says opposite St James's School). The spout is on the bank in front of you where the lane meets the track.

   A picturesque spout that seems to emerge from the base of a tree trunk that has grown around it, running into an old stone trough. A fenced enclosure behind holds three springs whose Victorian tanks and pipes once supplied much of West Malvern, including the former St James' school.

   Flow: Steady trickle. The MSA (text dated 2007) says it has never been known to dry up.

   Drinking: Osborne & Weaver (2012) say local people collect water here daily, but a warning notice suggests boiling it first.

   OS grid SO76474616 Map of Westminster Bank Spring (opens in a new tab) Source

6. West Malvern Tap

   On West Malvern Road near the post office and post box. Osborne & Weaver place it next to 203 West Malvern Road. It is a large bronze tap in a brick arched recess in a curved retaining wall.

   The last of Charles Morris's three public water gifts, dated 1844 on its plaque, erected 'for the accommodation of the inhabitants of the neighbourhood'. It is fed by pipe from the springs at the top of Westminster Bank.

   Flow: Restored. The MSA Heritage Project report says water flowed again on 8 August 2008 after a new pipe was laid, and Osborne & Weaver (2012) agree water was reinstated in 2008. The MSA list text (2007) describes the tank above as dry.

   OS grid SO76404595 Map of West Malvern Tap (opens in a new tab) Source

7. Enigma Fountain

   At the northern end of Belle Vue Island, Great Malvern, at the top of the steps up from Church Street, next to the life-size bronze statue of Sir Edward Elgar.

   A millennium water feature by Rose Garrard celebrating Elgar, the Enigma Variations and Malvern water, unveiled by the Duke of York on 26 May 2000. Its 14 sides carry the initials of the friends portrayed in the Variations, and water falls from a Welsh slate arch between four tall York stone pillars.

   Flow: Intermittent. Osborne & Weaver (2012) say the fountain is often dry. The MSA says it runs on natural pressure from three springs high on the hills.

   OS grid SO77524594 Map of Enigma Fountain (opens in a new tab) Source

8. Lyttelton Well

   In the courtyard of the Lyttelton Well centre on Church Street, Great Malvern. The centre occupies the former Lyttelton school buildings by the Priory churchyard.

   An ornamental well head at the centre of a church-based community project (meeting place, coffee bar and bookshop) opened on 24 April 1993 in the old Lyttelton school. It stands for the well as a traditional meeting place rather than being a real water source.

   OS grid SO 77655 45936 Map of Lyttelton Well (opens in a new tab) Source

9. Malvhina

   On Belle Vue Island in the centre of Great Malvern, just below the top steps; the Enigma Fountain is at the northern end of the same island.

   A public drinking spout in the form of a female figure in stone and bronze by sculptor Rose Garrard, unveiled on 4 September 1998. It brought spring water back to the town centre, fed from three springs (Happy Valley, Rushey Valley and Ivy Scar Rock), and its design plays on threes: three springs, three roads meeting here and three eras of Malvern's history.

   Flow: Flowing. A visiting author writing on the Malvern Spa Association site in July 2026 describes water flowing constantly through the sculpture. Worcestershire Regulatory Services sampled it on 27 Feb 2024.

   Drinking: The MSA says the supply goes through UV and carbon filters to meet Environmental Health rules, and calls it probably the safest place to collect. Worcestershire Regulatory Services found 0 E. coli and 0 enterococci on 27 Feb 2024, but still tells people to boil water from all of the spouts, all the time. Parking nearby is difficult.

   OS grid SO77524591 Map of Malvhina (opens in a new tab) Source

10. Jacob's Fountain

    Not for drinking

    Indoors at Malvern Theatres (the former Winter Gardens), Grange Road, Great Malvern, in the restaurant area.

    A bronze group of four water babies by Richard Goulden on a marble basin, a memorial to Dr Henry Jacob, the GP and council chairman who secured the Winter Gardens and Priory Park for the town. It stood in the Pump Room serving spring water from the 1930s. It was rescued from a building site when the theatre was redeveloped in the late 1990s.

    Flow: The MSA (2009 text) says it is supplied with tap water that is rarely turned on. Osborne & Weaver say the natural supply was replaced by mains water in 1968.

    Drinking: The MSA says it now uses tap water, not spring water.

    OS grid SO77724582 Map of Jacob's Fountain (opens in a new tab) Source

11. Chalybeate Spring

    It surfaces in several places. The highest is in the southern end of Priory Park above Swan Pool, beside the lower end of the Hay Well stream. Another active outlet is at the rear of Spa Cottage, Priory Road, a private house by the alleyway below Swan Pool.

    Malvern's iron-bearing spring, marked as the 'Dog Well' on a 1744 map. It was once prized as a tonic, and in the water-cure era Drs Wilson and Gully competed for access. Unlike Malvern's usual very pure water, it leaves a rusty-coloured deposit.

    Flow: The MSA says it has recently re-emerged in Priory Park as a small rusty puddle trickling into the stream. Osborne & Weaver (2012) describe a running spout and pipework behind Spa Cottage.

    OS grid SO77724575 Map of Chalybeate Spring (opens in a new tab) Source

12. Hay Well

    At the bottom of the flight of steps behind Warwick House, on Haywell Walk at the southern A449 entrance to Great Malvern. The well itself lies under the driveway and car park of the Baptist Church (1894) on Abbey Road.

    An ancient and once very abundant well thought to have supplied the Benedictine Priory. Water-cure patients drank from it in the 1850s. It is now covered over, and its overflow resurfaces in Priory Park and feeds the ornamental stream and Swan Pool.

    Flow: The well is covered, but the MSA says water can still be heard and glimpsed flowing underground from a tank behind the church. Osborne & Weaver (2012) advise listening for running water to find it.

    OS grid SO77524570 Map of Hay Well (opens in a new tab) Source

13. Ellerslie Fountain

    Set into the roadside bank on the west side of Wells Road (A449), above or opposite the Abbey Road junction.

    A rocky Malvern stone grotto built in 1860 as a resting and drinking place for visitors. Two stone tablets carry texts inviting the weary to rest and quoting John 4. The site was cleared in 2007 and the tablets replaced with new ones; the originals went to Malvern Museum.

    Flow: Dry. The MSA says it will have to stay dry because there is no safe public access, and Osborne & Weaver (2012) describe it as dry.

    OS grid SO77454503 Map of Ellerslie Fountain (opens in a new tab) Source

14. Hayslad

    Not for drinking

    Beside West Malvern Road at the foot of the Worcestershire Beacon, on the left heading south. The MSA says there is parking on the other side of the road.

    Historically the most popular place to fill containers. The spout is fed by three springs on the hillside south of Hayslad Quarry. A stone trough was added in 1893 and a 100,000-gallon reservoir built behind in 1898. A copper two-way (bifurcating) spout was fitted in the 2000s restoration so two people can fill at once.

    Flow: Flowing. The MSA describes a good flow all year and icy-cold water. Osborne & Weaver (2012) say the spout gets at least 2 gallons a minute of compensation water under the Malvern Water Act 1905. The MSA reports a blessing held here in the 2026 festival.

    Drinking: Worcestershire Regulatory Services says Hayslad is no longer a public spout under the Private Water Supplies Regulations because Severn Trent owns the springs, and that Severn Trent has put up a permanent sign advising people not to drink the water. The 2018 Friends of Malvern Springs and Wells newsletter reported coliform contamination and occasional animal faecal material. The water is untreated.

    OS grid SO76654480 Map of Hayslad (opens in a new tab) Source

15. Earnslaw Spring

    On a raised terrace at the far (southern) end of the former Earnslaw Quarry, reached by the path round the water's edge from the Earnslaw car park.

    A spring that feeds the lake in the flooded Earnslaw Quarry, one of the last big quarries on the Hills, worked until 1969 and now a quiet wildlife haven and SSSI.

    Flow: Osborne & Weaver (2012) say it supplies Earnslaw Lake with water.

    OS grid SO 77080 44521 Map of Earnslaw Spring (opens in a new tab) Source

16. Lower Wyche Spout

    On Old Wyche Road at Lower Wyche, above Wells Common beside the cottages. A curved Malvern stone wall fronts an underground tank, and an animal trough sits by the road below.

    Given by Charles Morris in 1840 as one of his three public spouts for local people without their own well. The spout was set low so people couldn't fill large barrels, and the trough watered horse teams on the steep old road.

    Flow: Sources conflict over time. The MSA list (2007) says it was almost dry from about 2001. The MSA Heritage Project report (c.2009) says the sump was repaired and water now flows generously. Osborne & Weaver (2012) describe a running spout. The 2018 newsletter says it is tested 'when running'.

    Drinking: The 2018 newsletter lists it among the public-access spouts sampled quarterly by Worcestershire Regulatory Services when running. It is not in the WRS results table of 27 Feb 2024. WRS advises boiling water from all spouts.

    OS grid SO77254423 Map of Lower Wyche Spout (opens in a new tab) Source

17. Royal Well

    In an arched recess in the street wall along West Malvern Road, about 300 m north of the Wyche Cutting, with a Victorian wall letter box beside it. The spout is in the wall of a privately owned cottage.

    A public spout built in 1870 by William Hawkes Ryland, who believed the local water had cured his consumption. It took the name Royal Malvern Well after a visit linked to Queen Victoria's daughter Helena. Local people dressed it with flowers every year from 1870, one of the earliest recorded Malvern well dressings. Ryland went on to build the domed Royal Malvern Spa nearby, which failed.

    Flow: Flowing. The MSA list describes a working spout, and its Royal Malvern Spa page says it still has a good flow. Osborne & Weaver (2012) say the cottage owners got it running again, earning a St Werstan Award in 2009.

    Drinking: No current source gives test results or drinking advice for this spout. Osborne & Weaver report that a 1996 test met the drinking-water regulations of the time. The general WRS advice to boil spout water applies.

    OS grid SO76804417 Map of Royal Well (opens in a new tab) Source

18. Wyche Spout

    By the roadside at the junction near the Wyche Cutting, below 'the Tump' with its seat, just west of the cutting.

    A roadside spout on the spoil heap from the 19th-century widening of the Wyche Cutting. It mainly supplied quarrymen's households, and the water was described in 1930 as coming from a pure granite spring. It was cut off around 1990 as polluted. Residents still dress it every year and want the water back.

    Flow: Dry. Osborne & Weaver (2012) say it was dry by November 1992, and the MSA says the supply was cut off around 1990.

    Drinking: Osborne & Weaver say that between 1988 and 1992 it carried an Environmental Health notice declaring the water unfit to drink.

    OS grid SO76824370 Map of Wyche Spout (opens in a new tab) Source

19. Willow Spring

    On the B4218 Walwyn Road towards Colwall, about 300 m south of the Wyche Spout. It is on the uphill (left) side by a track, before the hairpin bend.

    An ancient fault spring that once came from rock beside a willow tree. A wartime bomb damaged it, and it was rebuilt afterwards with a Malvern stone surround, spout and small trough.

    Flow: Trickle. The MSA text (2007) says a tiny trickle, and the MSA Heritage Project report (c.2009) says no more than a basin and a dribble. Osborne & Weaver (2012) say water flows slowly into the basin.

    OS grid SO76754344 Map of Willow Spring (opens in a new tab) Source

20. Jubilee Fountain

    On Wells Road, Malvern Wells, at the corner of Grundy's Lane where Green Lane joins, below the Holy Well.

    An ornate Victorian stone drinking fountain with a dog trough, unveiled on 21 June 1887 for Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee. It was first supplied from the Holy Well, fell into neglect and was restored under the Heritage Lottery-funded springs project in the 2000s.

    Flow: Sources conflict. The MSA list (2007 text republished 2014) says it is dry. The MSA's 2004-2009 Heritage Project report says it now flows with spring water from the collector main and has a push percussion tap. Osborne & Weaver (2012) say it has water, but from the public main.

    OS grid SO77334233 Map of Jubilee Fountain (opens in a new tab) Source

21. Eye Well

    On the hillside about 100 m directly above the Holy Well in Malvern Wells. Osborne & Weaver's route: take the steps and path to the left of the Holy Well, turn left on the contour path, then take the first path sharp right; the well is on the left after about 100 m.

    A tiny spring-fed pool that was once famous for healing eyes and other ailments. Richard Banister's verse of 1622 mentions a new-found well for sore eyes. Accounts say most of the flow was lost in the 19th century when someone dug into the source trying to pipe it to a house.

    Flow: Small flow. The MSA describes a tiny bubbling pool. Osborne & Weaver (2012) describe a depression holding muddy water. The 1930s accounts they quote call it a morass.

    Drinking: No source gives drinking advice. An MSA article (2022) reports that its water has even fewer dissolved minerals than the Holy Well's.

    OS grid SO76884232 Map of Eye Well (opens in a new tab) Source

22. Evendine Spring

    At Brand Green, in the V where Evendine Lane leaves Jubilee Drive, just below the road on the left when travelling from British Camp towards the Wyche Cutting.

    A much-loved collection point whose water many say tastes the best in the Hills. The MSA calls it the 'Champagne of the Hills'. The water is piped under the road from a spring in a wooded dell to a spout in a curved Malvern stone wall, and runs into a trough and on downhill as a stream.

    Flow: Flowing. The MSA says the flow drops in long dry spells. Osborne & Weaver (2012) describe water flowing.

    Drinking: No source gives current test results for this spout, and Evendine is not in the WRS results table of 27 Feb 2024. In July 2026 the MSA said it is investigating the Victorian culverts and pipes under Jubilee Drive to find any problems affecting the spring's water quality.

    OS grid SO76644099 Map of Evendine Spring (opens in a new tab) Source

23. Primes Well (formerly Pewtriss Well)

    On the Ledbury Road (A449) west of the British Camp car park, at the foot of a steep bank on the right. The MSA says about 400 m from the car park; Osborne & Weaver say about 150 yards.

    The source of the famous bottled Malvern Water. Schweppes acquired it in 1927 and began bottling its water at Colwall in 1929, and Coca-Cola Enterprises made the last bottles in late 2010. Some claim it as the stream beside which Langland's Piers Plowman dreamed his vision.

    Flow: Osborne & Weaver (2012) say the spring became redundant when bottling stopped in October 2010. No current flow information.

    OS grid SO75984036 Map of Primes Well (formerly Pewtriss Well) (opens in a new tab) Source

24. Walm's Well

    At Tippin's Rough in News Wood, on the south-western slopes of the Hills below the Herefordshire Beacon (British Camp), on the edge of the Eastnor Estate woods.

    One of the oldest documented well sites in the Malverns, linked to the Iron Age hillfort on British Camp. It was used for centuries as a healing bath for skin complaints. The spring was contained in 1889 to supply Eastnor Castle and village, and in 2004-05 a Coca-Cola plan for a borehole beside it was withdrawn after objections.

    OS grid SO76063927 Map of Walm's Well (opens in a new tab) Source

Positions are converted from Ordnance Survey grid references published by the Malvern Spa Association, accurate to around 10 metres. Some spouts are on private land with no public access. The descriptions say where.