Malvern Chase

Malvern Chase was a Royal chase that occupied the land between the Malvern Hills and the River Severn in Worcestershire and extended to Herefordshire from the River Teme to Cors Forest.

The following parishes and hamlets were within the Chase: Hanley Castle, Upton-upon-Severn, Welland, Longdon, Birtsmorton, Castlemorton, Bromsberrow, Berrow, Malvern, Colwall and Mathon.

In his book "The Forest and Chase of Malvern",Edwin Lees describes the origins of the chase. "Nothing is stated with certainty as to the ownership of the Forest or Wilderness of Malvern before the reign of Edward I, who granted it as Royal property to Gilbert de Clare, Earl of Gloucester, and it was henceforth called a Chace. The second Gilbert de Clare married Maude, daughter of John de Burgh, when the Chaces of Malvern and Cors, with the Castle and Manor of Hanley, were assigned her as a dower; but the Earl being killed in the Scottish war, and having no children by Maude, these possessions went after his death to his sisters, as his heirs, and the eldest, who married Hugh le Despencer the younger, brought them with other possessions into the Despencer family, where they remained till in the third generation, then passing by marriage to Richard Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, a renowned general in the reign of Henry V who was killed in the French wars.

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