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, and the former parish of Great Malvern, and owes its development to the 19th-century boom years of Malvern as a spa town. Malvern Wells is a centre of commercial bottling of Malvern water. The population of the parishes of Malvern Wells and Little Malvern was recorded in 2011 as 3,196. Location Malvern Wells lies on the eastern slopes of the Malvern Hills south of Great Malvern (the town centre of Malvern) and north of Little Malvern. It takes its name from the Malvern water issuing from springs on the hills, principally from the Holy Well and the Eye Well. The northern end of the parish includes the Wyche Cutting, the historic salt route pass through the hills, which form the border between the counties of Herefordshire (on the western side) and Worcestershire. The actual cutting through the granite hill face is at a height of 856 feet above sea level. The northern part of the parish includes the "Fruitlands" housing estate. In the southern part of the parish is the settlement of Upper Welland and in the western part the settlements of Upper Wyche and Lower Wyche. To the east of the village of Malvern Wells and also in the parish is the Three Counties Showground. History Wells In 1558 Queen Elizabeth I granted the land to John Hornyold, lord of the manor, under the premise that any pilgrim or traveller should be able to draw rest and refreshment from the Holy Well, a covenant which still stands today. The first record of spring water being bottled in the UK is from 1622, at Holy Well. Holy Well was later used by the Schweppes Company as the source for bottled Malvern Water sold at the Great Exhibition of 1851. Railway history Malvern Wells railway station, as part of the Worcester and Hereford Railway (which became part of the West Midland Railway then the Great Western Railway), opened on 25 May 1860, then closed again on 19 January 1861 before reopening 1 February 1864. It was closed finally on 5 April 1965. Previously served by Malvern Hanley Road railway station on the Tewkesbury and Malvern Railway was a branch of