MALVERN HILLS

district, administrative county of Worcestershire, western England. The district lies almost entirely within the historic county of Worcestershire, except for a small area between Leigh Sinton and Acton Green that belongs to the historic county of Herefordshire. Its dominant physical feature is the heath-covered Malvern Hills, trending north-south along its western border. The name derives from moel bryn (Celtic: bare hill). The hills include a narrow ridge 9 miles (14 km) long that attains an elevation of 1,395 feet (425 metres) and comprises granite and gneiss. Parts of the district are underlain by hard bands of old red sandstone (a geologic formation of the Devonian Period), but in the east a more fertile lowland is drained by the River Severn. Glaciers of the Pleistocene Epoch moving from the west deposited extensive amounts of unstratified drift (including sands, clays, and gravels) throughout the area. The district is largely agricultural. Great Malvern, the chief town and administrative centre, is a market and resort town and a local cultural centre with some light industry. The annual Malvern Festival (in Great Malvern) commemorates the composer Sir Edward Elgar and the playwright George Bernard Shaw. Area 223 square miles (577 square km). Pop. (1998 est.) 74,100.