The Wyche consists of Upper Wyche (on the Wyche Road) and Lower Wyche (adjacent to the Wells Road) – a cutting was made through the hills here in 1836 and a number of small quarries provided work for a growing number of labourers; the construction of the railway tunnel through the Hills in the 1860s also provided extra work. Many labourers cottages sprang up on the steep hill slopes and inns also opened to meet the demand of the thirsty residents. The settlement on the Herefordshire side of the Wyche Cutting is also colloquially known as Upper Wyche, though it is in fact Upper Colwall – with many people moving from one county to another, a number of men feature on the Wyche and Colwall memorials. The Church of England was a late comer here, with the present church, All Saints, not replacing a Mission hut near the cutting until 1903. The area where the church was built was once known as the ‘Cinderella of the Malverns’ where many gypsies and squatters lived in the late 19th Century; it was the last gift of common land from Lady Foley, and was donated by Sir Henry Foley Grey in 1900. The church was designed in Malvern stone by Arthur Troyte Griffith (friend of Sir Edward Elgar to whom an Enigma Variation was dedicated) and has an apsidal chancel (see the picture above) and a small bell turret. This church now serves Malvern Wells parish as well since the closure of St Peter’s, Malvern Wells.

Location