BELIEF in the healing powers of water was one of the things that brought Malvern to prominence in the Victorian era, when the rich and famous flocked to the town to take the water cure.

And the fascinating story of this historical episode is told in lively style by Dr John Harcup in his new book The Malvern Water Cure.

Well, not quite new, perhaps; the book is a second edition of a tome first published in 1992, but rewritten and revised substantially enough that it almost qualifies as a fresh publication.

Dr Harcup has been fascinated by the water-cure for decades, as he explains in the book's introduction, where he recounts coming to Malvern as a young GP and within weeks meeting an elderly bedridden patient whose daughter brought him water from the Holy Well with the cry: "This will make you better".

"To a doctor trained for 10 years in sophisticated 20th century hospital medicine this came as a great surprise and I began to think I was back in the Middle Ages," he writes.

But the encounter sparked his curiosity, and as a result Dr Harcup has spent years researching the history of Malvern water and its medicinal properties.

And the results of his investigations from the core of The Malvern Water Cure, telling the story of Malvern as a spa town from the days of Dr John Wall, one of the founders of the Royal Worcester Infirmary and the man who first discovered the unusual purity of the water that bubbles out of the hills' pre-Cambrian granite.

He describes how Drs Wilson and Gully, inspired by Vincent Priessnitz of Silesia who created a new 'hydropathy' health regime, brought it to Malvern, opening establishments at Tudor House and Holyrood House on Wells Road, and what is now Park View on Abbey Road, the latter the first purpose-built water cure establishment in the country.

Dr Harcup goes on to relate the details of Wilson and Gully's hydropathy, the cold baths, the douches and the diets, and how the two doctors fell out, and how Dr Gully became involved in the Charles Bravo case, a fascinating unsolved murder.

The great and the good who came to Malvern to immerse themselves in freezing water are all mentioned, from Dickens to Darwin and Tennyson to Thomas Carlyle, and of course Florence Nightingale, whose centenary Dr Harcup has been involved in celebrating this year.

But don't run away with the idea that the water cure should be regarded as a lost Victorian fad, something to be relegated to the memory hole along with phrenology and mesmerism.

Dr Harcup is just as interested in present science as past history, and he has been working with Professor Vijay Kakkar of London on research that shows water immersion has a measurable effect on human physiology.

"The American space agency NASA wanted a way to mimic the weightlessness of space and found that immersion in water was the best method, and they found it improved kidney function.

"In my own work with Professor Kakkar, we found that if I was immesred in cold water for just five minutes, the white cell count in my blood went up by ten per cent.

"I've noticed that I can lessen the severity of colds and sore throats by bathing in cold water," he said. "It brings your temperature down and helps in cases of inflammation of joints."

Water therapy has also been useful in post-operative rehabilitation as well as therapy for people who are recovering from strokes. It is also used in specialist physiotherapies, such as those practiced at Osborne Court in Malvern.

Dr Harcup is delighted with the book, which has been published by Capella Archives and printed by Aspect Design, both Malvern businesses.

"They've done a grand job, and it's a lot better than the first edition," he said. The book is lavishly illustrated with engravings, pictures and photographs from Dr Harcup's own collection and other archives.

The Malvern Water Cure is available in both hard and soft covers and can be bought at Malvern Museum and Beacon Books.

Copies have already made their way around the world, as they were given to all the speakers at a medical conference recenlty held at Malvern Theatres, where Dr Harcup delivered a lecture on Malvern's place in medical history.