St Wulstan's Roman Catholic Church,

Little Malvern Little Malvern is a small village and civil parish in Worcestershire, England. It is situated on the lower slopes of the Malvern Hills, south of Malvern Wells, near Great Malvern, the major centre of the area often referred to as ''The Malverns' ...

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county (see His ...

, England is a

Benedictine , image = Medalla San Benito.PNG , caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal , abbreviation = OSB , formation = , motto = (English: 'Pray and Work') , foun ...

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, ...

administered by the monks of

Downside Abbey Downside Abbey is a Benedictine monastery in England and the senior community of the English Benedictine Congregation. Until 2019, the community had close links with Downside School, for the education of children aged eleven to eighteen. Both t ...

. The attached churchyard contains the grave of the composer

Edward Elgar Sir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet, (; 2 June 1857 – 23 February 1934) was an English composer, many of whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire. Among his best-known compositions are orchestr ...

and of his wife, Alice. The church was designed in 1862 in a

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

style by

Benjamin Bucknall Benjamin Bucknall (1833 – 16 November 1895) was an English architect of the Gothic Revival in South West England and South Wales, and then of neo-Moorish architecture in Algeria. His most noted works include the uncompleted Woodchester Mans ...

. It is a

Grade II listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

. The Elgars' grave has a separate Grade II listing.

History

The

Benedictines , image = Medalla San Benito.PNG , caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal , abbreviation = OSB , formation = , motto = (English: 'Pray and Work') , foun ...

established a monastery at what is now

Little Malvern Priory Little Malvern Priory, in the village of Little Malvern near Malvern, Worcestershire, was a Benedictine monastery c. 1171–1537. It was founded from Worcester Cathedral. Little remains of the 12th-century church, which was rebuilt in 1480–1 ...

in around 1171. After the Dissolution of the Monasteries, the priory was reduced to the

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may terminate in an apse. Ove ...

and tower, and other elements were converted and reused in the construction of Little Malvern Court. The court came into the possession of the Berington family in the 18th century, who remain its owners. Staunchly

recusant Recusancy (from la, recusare, translation=to refuse) was the state of those who remained loyal to the Catholic Church and refused to attend Church of England services after the English Reformation. The 1558 Recusancy Acts passed in the reign ...

, the Beringtons supported a Catholic congregation at Little Malvern and in 1860 engaged the architect

to construct a new church. The church, completed in 1862, was dedicated to St Wulstan. In 1920

Alice Elgar Caroline Alice, Lady Elgar (9 October 18487 April 1920) was an English author of verse and prose fiction, who married the composer Edward Elgar. Family Caroline Alice Roberts, known as Alice, was born in Bhuj, Gujarat, India, in 1848. She was ...

, wife of the composer

, was buried in the churchyard at St Wulstan's. The church had been the Elgars regular place of worship during their time at Craeg Lea, their home at

Malvern Wells Malvern Wells is a village and civil parish south of Great Malvern in the Malvern Hills district of Worcestershire, England. The parish, once known as South Malvern, was formed in 1894 from parts of the civil parishes of Hanley Castle, Welland, ...

. Following his own death in 1932, Elgar himself was interred in the same grave. Their memorial was designed by Arthur Troyte Griffith, a Malvern-based architect and close friend of Elgar, whom Elgar celebrated in Variation VII, “Troyte”, of his ''Enigma Variations''. The composer Dorothy Howell, who for many years tended the Elgar grave on behalf of the

Elgar Society The Elgar Society was founded in 1951 to promote performance of the music of British composer Edward Elgar, especially the more rarely performed items. Registered as a charity on 22 January 1988, It is particularly concerned with introducing the c ...

, is buried nearby. The church is now owned and administered by the Benedictine community at

Architecture and description

The church is constructed of local Malvern

rubble Rubble is broken stone, of irregular size, shape and texture; undressed especially as a filling-in. Rubble naturally found in the soil is known also as 'brash' (compare cornbrash)."Rubble" def. 2., "Brash n. 2. def. 1. ''Oxford English Dictionary ...

with

ashlar Ashlar () is finely dressed (cut, worked) stone, either an individual stone that has been worked until squared, or a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, generally rectangular cuboid, mentioned by Vitruv ...

stone dressings. It comprises a

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

and a chancel. An undercroft designed by Bucknall was never built. The church contains

stained glass Stained glass is coloured glass as a material or works created from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant religious buildings. Although tradition ...

by Hardman & Co., which, as at 2022, is undergoing a major restoration. St Wulstan's is a

. The Elgars' grave has a separate Grade II listing.

Gallery

Elgar's grave, Little Malvern.jpg, Grave of

and his wife Alice Stained Glass, Lady chapel, St. Wulstan's Church - geograph.org.uk - 453196.jpg, Stained glass window Stained Glass, Lady chapel, St. Wulstan's Church - geograph.org.uk - 453207.jpg, Stained glass window Baptistry, St. Wulstan's Church - geograph.org.uk - 453219.jpg, Baptistry

Notes

References

Sources

External links

St Wulstan's Roman Catholic Church website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Wulstan's Roman Catholic Church Roman Catholic churches in Worcestershire Grade II listed churches in Worcestershire Grade II listed Roman Catholic churches in England Gothic Revival church buildings in England Gothic Revival architecture in Worcestershire 19th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the United Kingdom Roman Catholic churches completed in 1862 Edward Elgar