A PROJECT has been launched to resurrect a monument to one of Malvern’s pioneering doctors of the water cure for which the town is historically recognised.
The Malvern Civic Society which is leading the move has entered a planning application to build the memorial of Dr James Wilson outside of Croftdown Court.
The site on the junction between Abbey Road and Priory Road, was previously home to a monument of the town’s famous hydrotherapist before it was demolished in 1948.
But funding has been set aside for a new statue after being secured in a legal agreement when the district council approved the Crofton Court housing development.
The formal application proposes the monument is made out of a slab from the Forest of Dean with two plaques, one with a picture of the former memorial and the other with a copy of the original text.
The project will also involve the tidying up of the surrounding area with planting and seating as well as the preservation of the existing chestnut tree at the spot. Although the civic society is leading the project and will oversee construction, Malvern Town Council will maintain the site once it is finished.
Clive Hooper, chairman of the civic society, said: “We look forward to the reappearance of a fitting memorial to one of our Victorian figures who helped establish the town.”
Dr James Wilson alongside Dr James Gully opened Malvern’s first hydrotherapy establishment at the Crown Hotel on Belle Vue Terrace (now Lloyds Bank) in 1942.
It followed the general scientific acceptance that pure water was beneficial to people’s health.
Malvern is distinct from spa towns as the water which comes from the area’s natural springs does not actually contain sodium, potassium or ammonium which give such towns their name.
Consequently Malvern’s water is actually considered purer than most places due to having nothing in it.
