National Character Area 103 - Malvern Hills : Key Characteristics

A prominent, narrow north–south ridge of high, unenclosed, rounded hills of igneous and metamorphic rocks, which rise abruptly from the Severn Vale along a fault plane to form a highly visible dominant landmark, visible from a long distance. The ridge is offset by several faults, which have been eroded to form prominent passes through the hills.

A varied geology, which is reflected in the soils, which range from thin, acidic soils on the Malvern Hills, through deeper, neutral soils over the Old Red Sandstone to calcareous soils on Silurian shale and siltstone.

Along the Malvern Hills ridge there are a number of dramatic historic sites, including the bronze-age barrows, iron-age hill forts at British Camp and Midsummer Hill, and the Shire Ditch.

The high hills and the surrounding area are dominated by unimproved grassland, heathland and bracken, with encroaching scrub from the woodlands below.

There is a high density of public rights of way and an extensive area of open access land.

There are good rail and road links to urban populations.

To the north and west of the hills there are wooded limestone ridges, separated by vales of mixed shale. The lower slopes and ridges – particularly the steeper ones – are densely wooded, with blocks of ancient woodland and occasional plantations. Many field boundaries are species-rich and also of medieval origin.

The ridges and vales form a mixed pastoral landscape of small irregular fields, orchards, hop yards and many ancient, species-rich hedgerows and meadows. Interspersed throughout this landscape (particularly to the south, where larger farms and estates developed) are larger fields bounded by thorn hedges, resulting from 18th- and 19th-century reorganisation.

In the north of the area, the Leigh Brook flows west to east. Other small streams flow from the spring lines along the hills.

Redundant quarries and sandpits providing relatively rare standing water habitats.

A diversity of building materials influenced by the variations in geology, with Malvern stone houses and walls, limestone houses and walls and timber frame buildings.

Some large estates with designed landscapes – such as Eastnor Castle – lie in the foothills. Scattered farmsteads and cottages occur on lower ground beneath the main hill ridge and lower hills. This is an area of mixed dispersed, linear and loose courtyard farmsteads and smallholdings (in areas associated with unenclosed common or historic, subsequently enclosed common), juxtaposed with larger, loose and regular courtyard farmsteads in landscapes with a longer history of settlement.

On the steep sides of the Malvern Hills are distinctive Victorian and Edwardian buildings.