Stourport, Worcestershire

Historical Description

Stourport, a small town in Lower Mitton ecclesiastical and Kidderminster civil parish, Worcestershire, at the confluence of the rivers Stour and Severn, at the terminus of the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal, 4 miles SSW of Kidderminster, 12 N of Worcester, and 134 by railway from London. It has a head post office, and a station on the Severn Valley section of the G.W.R. Stourport was a mere hamlet consisting of a few cottages before the opening of the canal in 1768, but grew then rapidly to an important town with quays, warehouses, and manufactories. There is a handsome iron bridge over the Severn, with an arch 150 feet in span. Stourport has a town-hall, a court-house for petty sessions, a police station, a bank, and a literary institute. The Church of St Michael, Lower Mitton, is situated on a steep ascent near the entrance to the town from the railway station, and is a large plain brick edifice, restored in 1883. A magnificent church, in the Decorated style, was erected in 1895. There are Baptist, Congregational, Primitive Methodist, and Wesleyan chapels. Markets (now nearly obsolete) are held on Wednesdays and Saturdays; fairs are held on the first Tuesday of April, July, and Oct. A considerable transit traffic is carried on, and there are a very large tannery, an iron foundry, establishments for carpet-weaving, vinegar-making, and mailing, a tin stamping and enamel work, and textile works. See MITTON, LOWER.

Administration

The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.

Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.

Directories & Gazetteers

We have transcribed the entry for Stourport from the following:

• Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Stourport)

Land and Property

The full transcript of the Worcestershire section of the Return of Owners of Land, 1873.

Newspapers and Periodicals

The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following Worcestershire papers online:

• Worcester Journal
• Worcestershire Chronicle
• Worcester Herald

Visitations Heraldic

The Visitation of Worcestershire 1569 is available on the Heraldry page.