The Elgar Birthplace Museum and Visitor Centre

Elgar's Houses

Elgar lived in over twenty-four different houses throughout his life from the humble 19th century cottage at Lower Broadheath where he was born (now the Elgar Birthplace Museum) to the grand residence 'Severn House' in London and the more comfortable 'Marl Bank', his last home on Rainbow Hill in Worcester.

 

The majority of Elgar's homes were rented and the list below gives the dates and locations of just some of these.  The list shows the frequency with which Elgar moved and you can almost trace his rise to fame through these changes of address. marlbank

 

    1857 – 1859   

    		 The Birthplace Cottage, Lower Broadheath, Worcester
    1859 - 1861

    1 Edgar Street, Worcester (Demolished)
    1861 - 1863

    2 College Precincts, Worcester

    1863 – 1879

    First floor above the family music shop at 10 High Street, Worcester (Demolished)

    1879 – 1883

    Loretto Villa, Chestnut Walk (now No.12) Worcester

    1883 – 1889

    4 Field Terrace, Bath Road, Worcester

    1889

    Briefly at 7 The Lees, Great Malvern and 4 The Lees

    1889 – 1891

    Houses in Kensington and Upper Norwood, London

    1891 – 1899

    'Forli', Alexandra Road, Malvern

    1899 – 1904

    'Craeg Lea', 86 Wells Road, Malvern Wells (also 1898 -1903:Summer cottage at 'Birchwood Lodge' at Storridge)

    1904 – 1911

    'Plas Gwyn', Hampton Park Road, Hereford

    1912 – 1921

    'Severn House', Hampstead, London (also 1917 -1921: Summer cottage at 'Brinkwells', Fittleworth, West Sussex)

    1921 – 1923

    1 St. James's Place, London

    1923 – 1927

    Napleton Grange, Kempsey, near Worcester

    1927 – 1928

    Battenhall Manor, Worcester (Demolished)

    1928 – 1929

    Tiddington House, Stratford-on-Avon (Demolished)

    1929 – 1934

    'Marl Bank', Rainbow Hill, Worcester (Demolished: now the site of blocks of flats, 'Elgar Court')

 

It is significant that following the death of his wife Alice, Elgar returned to the county of his birth and to the countryside that he loved so dearly.  As his daughter Carice said:

"Whether the countryside makes the genius or however that may be, it is certain that no one was ever more imbued with the very spirit and essence of his own country than Elgar, it was in his very bones. Worcestershire was everything to him....From walking, driving and bicycling there was very little of the county he did not know, and his memory for every village however remote and every lane however twisty and bewildering was extraordinary."

(Carice Elgar Blake)

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