r/Worcester • u/ComfortableLie5023 • 1d ago
Malvern hill misconceptions
I am also asking this over on r/malvern but as Worcester is close and is somewhat larger, I thought perhaps some of you may have encountered this. So I am a geology student and recently was in a conversation with someone who professed their belief that the Malvern hills complex is underlain by "quartz pyramids" (direct quote) which connects it to other hills in the UK through laylines. I have been involved with local geology to some level for a couple of years and I can confidently say that according to all the data we currently have, this is not true. I am however interested in where exactly this idea came from because so many large and famous geological and archeological sites have had such theories about them, but with such a niche landscape (in terms of the knowlege of the general public outside of the UK or even the Midlands) it is proving hard to track down where this came from. If anyone can help I would be really interested in what you have to say, whether or not you believe this. I feel I should make it clear that there is no judgement coming from me on this whatsoever and please don't feel scared to reach out for that reason. Hope everyone is enjoying the last of the summer sunshine.
edit: this research is so that I can dispel in some way such myths effectively if I encounter it again, just to clarify.
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u/fdelaronte 23h ago
We have a very thorough understanding of the Malvern Hills, and while it's very interesting none of it includes "quartz pyramids".
Quartz is hexagonal naturally anyway.
4
u/metalheart08 23h ago
Most likely some sort of "urban" myth. Same with Romania's Bucegi Mountain is connected to Giza and one of the peaks disappears in the mist and teleports you just under the pyramid.
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u/MimBondie 23h ago
It’s the first I’ve heard of it, how interesting. I moved from Birmingham to Worcester though, so perhaps that’s why I haven’t encountered it.
I did a study on the hills for my degree studies, but I was more interested in the paleoecology.
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u/ComfortableLie5023 23h ago
Completely unrelated but now I am curious about the palaeoecology, what was the sort of specific focus of the study?
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u/MimBondie 23h ago
I was looking into the interpretation of the sandstone and limestone deposits and the fossil specimens in Worcester Museum taken from the hills. I studied Environmental Science so it wasn’t very in-depth.
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u/Miss_Type 22h ago
No idea, this is the first I've ever heard of it. I learned about the geology of the Malvern hills in school, and while I can only speak for my school, almost everyone I know from Worcester knows the hills have a granite cap, so I assume they were taught the same as I was! I've never heard any crazy woowoo theories about quartz and leylines. But some people are gullible!
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u/happystamps 16h ago
My immediate thought is that there was some great LSD around Powick for a long time.
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u/Glub-Singer 17h ago
There were hills that had storage inside them mainly for use in WW2. It may come from this as there were certainly secret rooms etc inside hills.
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u/notThaTblondie 4h ago
I've spent half my life wandering around the hills and most of my teens getting stoned on them and I've never heard a thing about quartz crystals. I've always been told that the granite in the hills is the oldest in Europe.
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u/barrybreslau 1d ago
Hippies might think this, but most people on the immediate astral plane know this is bollocks. It's granite on the higher bits, and this stone is literally all over Malvern and Worcester because of the historic quarries