Exploring in a new way

I went back for a second look at this bench in Malvern because I was curious about the rather large plaque on it. It informed me that CS Lewis had gone to Malvern College. Quite Interesting I thought and walked on by....

 

It really was quite a surprise when I got to the far end of it and saw this on one end of it! Malvern has many of its old gas lamps still remaining and there's a school of thought that Lewis might have been inspired by them when he wrote about the first meeting between Lucy and Mr Tumnus beneath the lamppost in "The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe."

I stumbled across this one shortly afterwards which is marking the establishment of the Morris company. H F S Morgan set up his first garage in Worcester Road in 1905 and by 1910 he had gone into production of the three wheeled 'runabout'. They are still making cars to this day....1300 handbuilt classic motors per year with a waiting list to fulfill.

This one shows the shield and axe of the legendary British King Caractactus who was supposedly defeated at British Camp and taken to Rome as a prisoner. His impassioned speech is said to have impressed Emperor Claudius to such an extent that he granted him his freedom. Local boy Edward Elgar wrote his Caractacus Cantana in celebration of the story and it was premiered in 1897.

One thing I did find out about Malvern is that you have to be reasonably fit as there are a lot of steep slopes to walk up round the town. In the 19th century the donkey women saw a chance to turn the inability or reluctance of some visitors to undertake the more challenging conditions into a money making venture. Small boys walked a team of donkeys up and down the hills up to ten times a day carrying passengers on their backs. There's a reason why donkeys are known as beasts of burden. 

The benches were installed in 2017 as an innovative way to introduce people to aspects of Malvern's heritage. They are very visually appealing. There are five in total and I only missed seeing the one with Florence Nightingale and her pet cat. However, it was fortuitous to have come across the others during our amblings as we hadn't set out to look for them. Keep your eyes peeled if you do ever go that way!

Arilx