IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Upper Welland Road, MALVERN, WR14 4HN

Looking up the road as it starts to steepen before reaching the Wells Road turning parallel to the hills. The junction is very difficult to turn right and nearly impossible to turn left. Travellers heading in the Ledbury direction are recommended to take the Kins Road to the left which climbs diagonally up the steep slope of the Malvern Hills. These days we use this easier and safer route when travelling in either direction.

At the junction with the very steep Assarts Road.

A very steep road equipped with a yellow grit box for those daring to venture.

The area gets its name, Assarts, from the medieval clearance of a section of the Chase (hunting ground) under licence. On the 1841 Welland Tithe Map it is marked as Upper Assart Common. A decade later the Welland Inclosure Act allowed the common land to be exploited and it has slowly been consumed by housing developments. The Assarts playing field (top right) remains open for recreational use, though a corner has been fenced off for the Scout hut. Above that (towards the camera) there are three post war developments:- Heathlands Close, council houses, Wells Close, built by the Co-op I'm told, Woodlands Close, private detached built in the late 1970s. On the left of the photo the recent Homestead Close has been built in what was the garden of the large house "Heathlands". At the very bottom of the photo is the rather ornate Malvern Wells C of E primary school on the main A449 Wells Road.

The road is too steep for the current bus service. I used to cycle up here a quarter of a century ago - now I need medication just to walk up it!

Looking up the steep Assarts Road from just below Woodlands Close. A communal effort to clear the snow and grit the roads is underway.

An old building dating back to early Victorian or even pre - victorian days. There is a lovely early watercolour painting stored in Malvern Public Library of this building on the Upper Welland Road / Kings Road junction.

Still on the lower slopes of the Malvern Hills, but already there is a wide view over the Severn Valley.

On the A449 Malvern to Ledbury road. Years ago the Midland Red 144 double decker bus service from Birmingham use to terminate here and turn round on the concrete space below.