inscribed as title and dated "Sept 21 1881"
Wyche, often referred to locally as The Wyche, is a village and a suburb of the town of Malvern, Worcestershire, England, and part of the civil parish of Malvern Wells. It is situated approximately 1 mile (1.6 km) south of Great Malvern, the town's centre, on the B4218 road that runs from Malvern to Colwall.
The western boundary of the village is marked by The Wyche Cutting, a pass through the Malvern Hills that was once part of an Iron Age salt route, hence the name "Wyche" — several places in England associated with salt have this (or similar) in their name.
As the crest of the Malvern Hills (running north to south) defines this part of the border between the two counties of Herefordshire and Worcestershire, The Wyche Cutting itself forms a narrow pass through the hills between the counties. From the 1920s until the 1960s, this road (passing through The Wyche Cutting and Colwall) was the A4105, before being re-classified as the B4218.
The Wyche village comprises the two informal areas of Upper Wyche and Lower Wyche, mainly comprising residential properties. The Wyche Inn is a public house situated in Upper Wyche and is the county's highest pub, with views to the east overlooking the Severn valley. Old Wyche Road is one of the country's steepest streets, with an incline as great as 17.54° at Upper Wyche.
Just on the Herefordshire side of the Cutting (in Upper Colwall) is the location of the Wyche Innovation Centre, which was the former Skot Transformers building. This is also the home of the Malvern Hills Geocentre, a visitor centre based entirely on iPads with an attached cafe. Also in Upper Colwall is the Wyche Free Church.
The nearest railway stations are Great Malvern (for the lower end) and Colwall (for the upper end); both are on the same line.
The Wyche is a notch or cleft on the crown of the Malvern Hills, straddling the border between Worcestershire and Herefordshire. It can be seen from miles away as a cleft in the long line of undulations and it marks an important crossing point. It's one of only two places where you can drive over the top of the Malverns rather than having to go all the way round the perimeter, although it is steep and bendy and something of a white knuckle ride in an ancient 1.0 litre VW Polo.
The pass over the hills as it appears today owes a fair bit to the Victorian road-improvers, and some of the tumps and bumps are the remains of spoil heaps from their digging endeavours. But the Wyche pass is ancient – known to have been in use in prehistoric times and to have formed part of a neolithic trade route, used amongst other things for the transportation of salt from Droitwich to South Wales. A small village occupies the high ground on either side of the hill, and a village green bounded by the intriguingly named Fossil Bank.
A special feature of the Malvern hills is the proliferation of roadside springs, spouts and wells – some drinkable, some dry – some sacred, some rancid. The Wyche Cutting has several, bringing together the symbolism of a cleft in the hills with a water-bearing cleft in the earth. They come in a variety of forms but are often at their most interesting on 1st May, when they are "dressed" with flowers and flags as part of a revival tradition.
The Wyche Spring (below) bears the distinction, apparently, of being the highest well on the Malvern ridge – a moot point really, as the flow has been shut off for some twenty years, possibly amid concerns of pollution. The spout is totally dry and in this Beltane well-dressing a twist of blue cellophane has been used to recreate the tumbling waters. The spring that feeds (or used to feed) this roadside water spout rises beside a cottage at the edge of the Wyche Cutting and reaches it through a pipe under the road. Unlike most of the springs and wells on the Malverns, which consist of rainwater squeezed through geological faults, the Wyche Spring is from a true underground watercourse, an Archaean spring.
Around the Malverns stories of herbal healers or witches abound, ranging from the play the “White Witch of Welland” to the factual accounts of 17th century witch trials recorded in the Worcestershire Sessions Rolls. Some people assume that the area known as the Wyche Cutting, where the road cuts through the Malvern ridge, has a connection with witches and the existence of a “Pixie Path” nearby may strengthen this idea. Controversially, a wind-vane in the form of a witch on a broomstick has recently been fixed on top of the local bus shelter. Perhaps this association with witches and the supernatural that still persists today at Wyche Cutting was also reinforced by stories of hangings here. After they had been beheaded at “Sewet Oaks”, felons were hung on the “forest gallows” at the Wyche in the 13th century and the dead bodies are said to have been carried up here along the Pixie Path.
The word wyche may derive from the Saxon words ‘wic’ meaning village, or ‘wich’ for a street or track often associated with salt. The Wyche Cutting is one of three passes through the hills and was probably an ancient trade route for pack animals carrying salt. Later the cutting was on one of the Roman salt trade routes from the Droit-‘wich’ brine springs to South Wales.
A map of 1633 shows a spring near Wyche Cutting named as Primes Spring and earlier in about 1400 it was referred to as Primes Well, but the actual site of this well is still debated but is thought to now be under the grassy bank below High Land Cottage. After the construction of the new tarmac roadway in 1836, a public spout was installed on “the Tump” on the opposite western side of the road. In 1930 this water was described as a coming from a pure Archaean granite spring. Now named Wyche Spout, it was primarily for the use of quarrymen working for the Pix Granite Company, who lived in the houses built here from about 1848.
This spout was much valued and used by local householders until about 1990 when it was cut off as being polluted. As the water never seemed to cause them any illness, some villagers say it was cut off to deter sheep crossing the busy road from Grundy`s Meadow to have a drink, but even without the water the sheep are still a familiar sight here. The spout was Well Dressed occasionally until the 1970`s and is now annually Well Dressed by residents who would like to see the water supply restored, which the Malvern Spa Association is working to achieve.
Mary Keightley (1854-1946) was the youngest daughter of Archibald Keightley (1795-1877), executor of Sir Thomas Lawrence’s estate. She was a good amateur artist. Archibald Keightley (1795-1877), who was a solicitor who was the executor for Sir Thomas Lawrence, who had died earlier in 1830. Mr Keightley was responsible for the sale of Sir Thomas's collections, some of which were not paid for! There is a very interesting story about Sir Thomas's collection of old master drawings which were part of the assets Mr Keightley had to dispose of. Following his work as a solicitor, Mr Keightley a few years later became the Registrar for the Charterhouse School, where he remained for 39 years.
Mary Keightley was born in 1854, in Charterhouse, Middlesex, England, United Kingdom, her father, Archibald Keightley, was 58 and her mother, Sarah Elizabeth Yates, was 41. She lived in London, England for about 20 years and Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, England, United Kingdom in 1891. She died on 20 April 1946, in Camberley, Surrey, England, United Kingdom, at the age of 93.