COLWALL, a parish in the hundred of RADLOW,
county of HEREFORD, 3 miles (N. E. by N.) from
Ledbury, containing 782 inhabitants. The living is a
rectory, in the archdeaconry and diocese of Hereford;
rated in the king's books at £20. 6. 8., and in the
patronage of the Bishop of Hereford. The church,
dedicated to St. James, is an ancient structure with a
square tower. Colwall is thought to have derived its
name from a corruption of Collis Vallum, a fortified
hill, which is descriptive of the situation of the
place. The Herefordshire Beacon, an ancient encampment
on. one of the highest of the Malvern hills, is
supposed to have been formed by the Britons to repel
the Romans; near it a coronet of gold, set with
diamonds, was discovered by a cottager in 1650, who,
ignorant of its value, sold it for £31, though it afterwards
fetched £1500. Here is a free grammar school,
founded in 1612, by Humphrey Walwine, Esq., and
under the patronage of the Grocers' Company: there
are two schoolrooms, one for the free boys, the other
for private pupils. The water of Colwall is equal in
purity to the most celebrated of the Malvern springs.