29 BERROW AND BIRTSMORTON.

Berrow and Birtsmorton.

AT the south-east extremity of the Malvern chain lie the two interesting parishes above-named. They were formerly in the ancient forest, which extended many miles round and up to the hills, and were among the earliest clearances or disafforestings. The beautiful seclusion of the district has at length been broken into by the spade of the "navvy," as the railway projected from Monmouth through the Forest of Dean to Worcester will pass through Berrow, and a station is to be erected near the Rye Cross, on the borders of the two parishes. The line will be of great advantage to the neighbourhood, it being supposed, from the position of this part of the Malvern range lying open to the south and south-east, and so affording a warm aspect and mild air, together with the scenery being the most beautiful and romantic in all the range of the hills, that a Malvern colony will by-and-by plant itself here. The plateau of the "Palatine Plains," or breast of "The Hollybush," is formed by nature for terraces of houses, and some already see in imagination the winding glens of the Ragged Stone dotted with villas. There is some talk of erecting a new church near the Hollybush turnpike, and I believe a site has been granted by the Dean and Chapter of Westminster. A church, a station, a hydropathic establishment, and some villas, would form the nucleus of what might be called "South Malvern." The physical features of the district include ravines and terraces, fruit and forest trees, with a rich and varied landscape, extending from the summit of Ragged Stone Hill, or the Gloucestershire Beacon, and from the Keysend (corruption of " Chase End ") Hill, whjch latter forms the southern limit of the Malverns. The Berrow Hill - a celebrated hunting