AT THE end of Platform 2 at Great Malvern Railway Station is the entrance to a fascinating chapter in Malvern’s rich history.
Behind a stone arch and some padlocked doors lies The Worm, a covered walkway connected the station to what is now Malvern St James school.
The passageway was built in 1860 when the school was the Imperial Hotel and “only had one purpose, getting hotel guests to the station without getting wet,” said Malvern Civic Society’s Michael Pritchard.
COVERED: The Worm as seen from Malvern St James school (Image: Phil Wilkinson-Jones/LDRS)
The hotel was built by the Great Malvern Hotel Company, which Dr Pritchard says had “lots of money and was full of railwaymen”.
“They built this gigantic hotel, which was gas lit and had every modern convenience,” he said.
WALKWAY: The Worm took hotel guests straight to the station without them having to get wet (Image: Phil Wilkinson-Jones/LDRS)
“They wanted to attract the great and the good of London, who came to Malvern for the water cure.”
London’s upper classes were able to get off the train immediately outside the hotel but had to make their way to the platform when it was time to head back to the capital.
But the Imperial Hotel did not want its wealthy guests to suffer the indignity of getting wet so built an enclosed passageway connecting the hotel to the platform.
TRACKSIDE: The Worm as seen from Avenue Road in Malvern (Image: Phil Wilkinson-Jones/LDRS)
“It wasn’t meant to be there,” said Dr Pritchard. “The hotel wanted to build a station right next to the hotel but it wasn’t practical – the bridge got in the way.”
Protecting hotel guests from the rain is also the reason the station, built in conjunction with the hotel, has a subway rather than a railway bridge.
“The hotel company was behind everything,” said Dr Pritchard. “It’s amazing what you can do with money and influence.”
FORMER HOTEL: The entrance to Malvern St James school, which features matching stone heads to the entrance to The Worm (Image: Phil Wilkinson-Jones/LDRS)
The Worm is thought to have last been in use during the First World War, as the hotel building became a school in 1919.
The structure, with its corrugated iron roof – a new material in 1860 – is still standing but has long been closed to the public for safety reasons.
It is unique in the UK, according to Dr Pritchard, who is writing a book about the history of Great Malvern Station.
Plans are underway to replace a stone carving of a king’s head on one side of the platform entrance to The Worm.
HISTORY: A plaque at Great Malvern Station telling the story of The Worm (Image: Phil Wilkinson-Jones/LDRS)
The idea is to cast a replica using a mould made from a matching stone head on the front of the school.
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Dr Pritchard said the king’s head, which would match a queen’s head still in situ on the other side of the archway, was still in place in 1953 but “after that, nobody knows”.
He added: “I would like to see a huge photo of the inside of The Worm on the doors – maybe that can be our next project.”