Malvern Hills

Industrial innovation happens where resources align, but resources aren't necessarily immediately at hand. Coal, iron ore, limestone came together at Ironbridge through transportation and concentration. In Malvern, the critical resource was technical expertise—brain power concentrated in one location during WWII when radar facilities relocated from vulnerable coastal areas. Physical resources could be transported, but specialized knowledge had to be assembled. The right combination of available resources, strategic location, infrastructure, and human expertise creates centers of innovation that persist because knowledge concentration becomes self-reinforcing.

Concentrating Resources

September 13, 2025

Got up and drove to the Malvern area.

During WWII, radar and other high-tech military activities were transferred away from the south coast to this area to make them less accessible to the Germans. As a result, this area has been a center of security-oriented technology since. We visited a small exhibit in the Greater Malvern train station that described this.

After morning coffee in a shop in lower Greater Malvern, we drove over the Malvern Hills, stopping here and there for pictures of the scenery.

Ledbury

On the other side we visited Ledbury, a very old market town with lots of old buildings. We ate at the Prince of Wales pub, which was fun, then wandered around the church and churchyard a bit.

Next we drove to Goodrich Castle. It was a big place that sounds like it was very pleasant before Cromwell destroyed it. Beautiful scenery around the Wye from there.

We ate dinner at the Woolaston Inn, an excellent Gurkha restaurant—think Indian with spicier seasoning.

After some photo processing, we watched The Goes Wrong Show. Hilarious. I recommend it.

The Malvern area represents a different kind of industrial story—technology driven by military necessity rather than commercial opportunity. During WWII, Britain had to quickly relocate critical radar and communications facilities away from vulnerable coastal areas. Malvern's location, far from German bombers but still accessible to London, made it ideal.

What's interesting is how this wartime relocation created a lasting technology cluster. Once the expertise and infrastructure were established, they stayed. The area continued developing security and defense technologies long after the war ended.

It's a pattern you see throughout this trip—industrial innovation happens where various resources align, but those resources aren't necessarily immediately at hand. Coal, iron ore, and limestone came together at Ironbridge, but they had to be transported and concentrated. In Malvern, the critical resource was technical expertise—the brain power that needed to be concentrated in one location. Physical resources could be transported there, but the specialized knowledge had to be assembled and maintained.

This creates centers of innovation through a kind of balance. The right combination of available resources, strategic location, existing infrastructure, and human expertise. Once established, these centers tend to persist because the concentration of knowledge and capability becomes self-reinforcing.

Goodrich Castle provided a different perspective on how strategic locations change over time. Military technology advances, defensive positions become obsolete, but the landscape keeps the evidence of what once mattered.

Pictures can be found here: https://beloretrato0.picflow.com/d43bka91mw/rwk8r7i1p8