Guarlford is a village and
civil parish in the
Malvern Hills district in the county of
Worcestershire, England.
It is situated between the settlements of
Barnards Green and Rhydd approximately three kilometres (two miles) east of
Great Malvern, the town centre of
Malvern. The village is compact, and has a
parish church, St Mary's; the Church of England parish includes
Madresfield village. Guarlford is in the administrative area of
Malvern Hills District Council and is part of the informal region known as ''The Malverns''.
History
Settlements in Guarlford have existed for around 4,000 years.
[Guarlford History Group (2005) ''The Guarlford Story'', p.2. Guarlford History Group ] and have been known as Garford (
Lay Subsidy Rolls 1275), Gerleford (Lay Subsidy Rolls 1333), Garleford (
Valor Ecclesiasticus 1535), Galvert (Map of Worcestershire 1820), and Galfords (Ordnance Survey 1830).
Guarlford is one of the earliest inhabited places in the Malvern area and shows evidence of
Neolithic activity with crop marks dating from a period that extends from 2350 BC to 409 AD.
The
Hwicce, an
Anglo-Saxon
The Anglo-Saxons were a Cultural identity, cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo- ...
tribe cleared land which may be the site of the existing Guarlford Court.
The first parish council was established in December 1894 according to a new Local Government act, and covered much of eastern Malvern including parts of
Great Malvern
Great Malvern is an area of the civil parish of Malvern, in the Malvern Hills district, in the county of Worcestershire, England. It lies at the foot of the Malvern Hills, a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, on the eastern fla ...
, Pickersleigh,
Poolbrook
Poolbrook is a village and a suburb of Malvern, Worcestershire, England, situated approximately 1.5 miles (2.4 km) southeast of Great Malvern, the town's centre, and about 0.5 miles (08 km) from the Malvern suburb of Barnards Green on ...
,
Barnards Green, Hall Green, and
Sherrards Green
Sherrard's Green is a village and a suburb of Malvern, Worcestershire, England, situated approximately 1.5 miles (2.4 km) southeast of Great Malvern, the town's centre, and about from the Malvern suburb of Barnards Green. The village compri ...
. In 1934 following a review, the boundaries were changed, and those areas came under the control of the Malvern council.
During
World War II a radio listening post was set up in Rectory Lane by the
Telecommunications Research Establishment (TRE) to monitor enemy communications, which was instrumental in locating the German
V-2 rocket base in
Peenemünde that was subsequently bombed by the RAF in
Operation Crossbow.
Guarlford Parish Walks
References
External links
Parish of Guarlford Home Page
{{authority control
Villages in Worcestershire
Civil parishes in Worcestershire
Malvern, Worcestershire