A NEW guide has been produced to Malvern's geological landmarks.

Herefordshire and Worcestershire Earth Heritage Trust has published the leaflet to accompany an hour-long walk through the town.

Trust director Dr Peter Oliver said: "Malvern has some very interesting geology. Within a fairly small area you've got pre-Cambrian rocks 600 to 700 million years old, Silurian rocks dating from around 445 million years ago and Triassic rocks about 230 million years old.

"In the leaflet we explain that we think one of the reasons Belle Vue Terrace is where it is, is because the people originally building the town would have found it easier to level off the sandstone there.

"The rock beneath it is pre-Cambrian, the granite and diorite which makes up the Malvern Hills, and is very much harder than the sandstone. It could have been a factor that where the sandstone changes to the Malvern rock the town expands no further."

The walk winds its way through the town from the Enigma Fountain, in Belle Vue Terrace, to Malvern Priory. It takes in important points of geological interest including Lloyds Bank, featuring stone from the Cotswolds, and the Shaw Trust building, which uses rock from Norway. The accompanying leaflet also includes a geological summary of Worcestershire.

The trust has produced six guides covering Herefordshire and Worcestershire and is planning to publish more than 20. Due to be completed in the next few months is a guide to the Wyche Cutting down as far as Mathon Road and a cycling and driving trail around the northern part of the Malvern Hills.

Great Malvern Building Stones Trail leaflet is £1.95, available at Malvern Tourist Information Centre and Beacon Books in Worcester Road.