About the Elgar Graves

A Place Chosen Long Ago

On the lower slopes of the Malvern Hills, just beneath the Worcester–Ledbury Road, stands St Wulstan’s Roman Catholic Church, built in 1862. It is here that Sir Edward Elgar, his wife Lady Caroline Alice Elgar, and their daughter Carice Elgar Blake are buried. The churchyard, overlooking the Severn Vale with Bredon Hill on the horizon, was not chosen by chance.

Alice Elgar selected the grave site herself, familiar with the place from childhood and deeply attached to its view and tranquillity. When she died in April 1920, her wish was fulfilled. Edward later wrote of the spot:

“The place she chose long years ago is too sweet – the blossoms are white all around it and the illimitable plain… looks just the same – inscrutable and unchanging.”

Why Elgar Is Buried at St Wulstan’s

Elgar’s burial here reflects both faith and place.

He was born into a Catholic family in Worcester in 1857. His father, William Henry Elgar, worked as organist at St George’s Catholic Church, and Edward and his siblings were baptised and raised Catholic. Though Elgar’s religious practice fluctuated—particularly after the troubled premiere of The Dream of Gerontius—his Catholic identity remained central to his inner life.

When Edward married Caroline Alice Roberts in 1889, she converted from Anglicanism to Catholicism, becoming deeply committed to the faith. Their shared religious life was closely tied to St Wulstan’s parish, especially during their years living nearby.

Elgar and the Malverns

Edward Elgar first moved to Malvern in 1891, living at 37 Alexandra Road. At this time he was still establishing himself, teaching violin and piano locally. He later rented Birchwood Lodge (1898–1903), a quiet retreat where he learned to ride a bicycle and explored the surrounding countryside—landscapes that would shape his musical imagination. From here he wrote:

“The trees are singing my music, or have I sung theirs.”

In 1899, at the height of his growing fame, the Elgars moved to Craeg Lea, Malvern Wells, a house named from an anagram of family initials. From its windows Elgar particularly loved the sweeping view across the Severn Valley to Bredon Hill. The family walked the mile to St Wulstan’s on Sundays—Alice and Carice on foot, Edward often arriving by bicycle.

It was during these years that Elgar composed some of his greatest works, including The Dream of Gerontius, Sea Pictures, and Caractacus.

The family left Malvern in 1904, but the place never left Elgar.

Alice Elgar’s Funeral, 1920

Alice died of lung cancer on 7 April 1920, at their Hampstead home. Only three days later she was buried at St Wulstan’s, confirming that arrangements had been made long beforehand.

Her funeral contrasted sharply with Edward’s own fourteen years later. During the service, the slow movement of Elgar’s String Quartet was played from the gallery by close musical friends—music full of intimacy and grief.

Edward placed his ceremonial sword and medals inside Alice’s coffin, feeling she deserved them as much as he did. From this moment, the churchyard at Little Malvern became a place of pilgrimage for him.

Elgar’s Final Rest, 1934

After returning to live in Worcestershire in 1923, Elgar frequently visited Alice’s grave. When he died on 23 February 1934, his wishes were explicit: no publicity, no mourning dress, no flowers, and no music.

On 26 February 1934, fewer than twenty family members and close friends gathered at 10 a.m. for a secret, private funeral at St Wulstan’s. A Press Association reporter later described the scene:

“Almost before the morning mists had cleared away over the Malvern Hills which he loved so well, Sir Edward Elgar was laid to rest… The great musician went to his rest without a note of music being played.”

Incense drifted into the cold air. As the mourners left, snowflakes began to fall gently on the plain oak coffin. Elgar was buried beside Alice, exactly as he wished.

Carice Elgar Blake

Their daughter Carice, devoted to preserving her father’s legacy, arranged his burial and later chose to be buried nearby. She died in 1970, completing the quiet family circle in the churchyard.

The Elgar Graves today

The shared gravestone, designed by Arthur Troyte Griffiths—Elgar’s close friend and the inspiration for Enigma Variation No. 7—marks not only the renowned composer, but also a deeply private man shaped by love, loss, faith, and landscape.

At St Wulstan’s, amid hills, trees, and wide skies, Elgar rests among friends, in the place that meant the most to him and to Alice—a final cadence in harmony with the Malvern Hills that inspired his life’s work.

The Elgar Route

The graves form part of the Elgar Route, a 37-mile circular signposted route through the Malvern Hills countryside and Worcester, taking in the surroundings that inspired Elgar:
https://www.visitthemalverns.org/things-to-do/leisure-drives/elgar-route/








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