Stourport-on-Severn, often shortened to Stourport, is a
town
A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world.
Origin and use
The word "town" shares an o ...
and
civil parish
In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...
in the
Wyre Forest District
Wyre Forest is a local government district in Worcestershire, England, covering the towns of Kidderminster, Stourport-on-Severn and Bewdley, and several civil parishes and their villages. Its council was previously based in Stourport-on-Seve ...
of North
Worcestershire
Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county (see H ...
,
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...
, a few miles to the south of
Kidderminster
Kidderminster is a large market and historic minster town and civil parish in Worcestershire, England, south-west of Birmingham and north of Worcester. Located north of the River Stour and east of the River Severn, in the 2011 census, it ha ...
and downstream on the
River Severn
, name_etymology =
, image = SevernFromCastleCB.JPG
, image_size = 288
, image_caption = The river seen from Shrewsbury Castle
, map = RiverSevernMap.jpg
, map_size = 288
, map_c ...
from
Bewdley
Bewdley ( pronunciation) is a town and civil parish in the Wyre Forest District in Worcestershire, England on the banks of the River Severn. It is in the Severn Valley west of Kidderminster and southwest of Birmingham. It lies on the Riv ...
. At the 2011
census
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses inc ...
, it had a population of 20,292.
[ ]
History and early growth
![Astley, Worcs, Astley Hall 2 back](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b8/Astley%2C_Worcs%2C_Astley_Hall_2_back.jpg)
Stourport came into being around the canal basins at the Severn terminus of the
Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal
The Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal is a navigable narrow canal in Staffordshire and Worcestershire in the English Midlands. It is long, linking the River Severn at Stourport in Worcestershire with the Trent and Mersey Canal at Haywood ...
, which was completed in 1768. In 1772 the junction between the Staffordshire and Worcestershire and the
Birmingham Canal was completed and Stourport became one of the principal distributing centres for goods to and from the rest of the West Midlands. The canal terminus was built on meadowland to the south west of the hamlet of Lower Mitton. The terminus was first called Stourmouth and then Newport, with the final name of Stourport settled on by 1771.
The population of Stourport rose from about 12 in the 1760s to 1300 in 1795. In 1771
John Wesley
John Wesley (; 2 March 1791) was an English cleric, theologian, and evangelist who was a leader of a revival movement within the Church of England known as Methodism. The societies he founded became the dominant form of the independent Meth ...
had called Stourport a "well built village" but by 1788 he noted that "where twenty years ago there was but one house; now there are two or three streets, and as trade increases it will probably grow into a considerable town". In 1790 he found the town "twice as large as two years ago".
With the completion of the
Worcester and Birmingham Canal
The Worcester and Birmingham Canal is a canal linking Birmingham and Worcester in England. It starts in Worcester, as an 'offshoot' of the River Severn (just after the river lock) and ends in Gas Street Basin in Birmingham. It is long.
There a ...
in 1816, the revenue of the
Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal
The Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal is a navigable narrow canal in Staffordshire and Worcestershire in the English Midlands. It is long, linking the River Severn at Stourport in Worcestershire with the Trent and Mersey Canal at Haywood ...
plunged sharply and from 1812 the population of Stourport scarcely rose, with many male workers leaving the town.
![Severn_River,_Stourport_Road_Bridge_(82)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ad/Severn_River%2C_Stourport_Road_Bridge_%2882%29.jpg)
In the area close to Stourport there are several large
manor and
country houses, among which
Witley Court
Witley Court, Great Witley, Worcestershire, England is a ruined Italianate mansion. Built for the Foleys in the seventeenth century on the site of a former manor house, it was enormously expanded in the early nineteenth century by the archit ...
,
Astley Hall Astley Hall may refer to
* Astley Hall (Chorley), country house in Lancashire, England
* Astley Hall (Stourport-on-Severn)
Astley Hall is a country house in Astley near Stourport-on-Severn, Worcestershire, England. The hall was the home of P ...
,
Pool House,
Areley Hall,
Hartlebury and
Abberley Hall (with its
clock tower
Clock towers are a specific type of structure which house a turret clock and have one or more clock faces on the upper exterior walls. Many clock towers are freestanding structures but they can also adjoin or be located on top of another buildi ...
) are particularly significant. Hartlebury was the residence of the
Bishops of Worcester
A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution.
In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ...
from the early 13th century until 2007, and Astley Hall was the home of
Prime Minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...
Stanley Baldwin, who died here in 1947.
The
George Gilbert Scott church replaced an earlier brick church of 1782 by James Rose. This building was never finished, and after suffering storm damage, had to be partly demolished. The current St. Michael's church sits partially within its ruins. The Font was salvaged from the ruins of the old church, and is still used in the current building.
In 1944, this was the location of a famous address to the troops, by USA General
George S. Patton
George Smith Patton Jr. (November 11, 1885 – December 21, 1945) was a general in the United States Army who commanded the Seventh United States Army in the Mediterranean Theater of World War II, and the Third United States Army in France ...
.
In 1968 the Transport Act designated the canal a "Cruise way" for pleasure purposes.
The town is the birth place of singer-songwriter
Clifford T. Ward.
See also
*
Stourport Ring
*
Stourport-on-Severn railway station
*
Kidderminster and Stourport Electric Tramway Company
The Kidderminster and Stourport Electric Tramway Company operated an electric tramway service between Kidderminster and Stourport-on-Severn between 1898 and 1929.
History
The tramway was authorised by the Kidderminster & Stourport Electric Tr ...
*
Stourport power stations
*
Tontine Buildings, Stourport
References
External links
The official Stourport-on-Severn website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stourport-On-Severn
Populated places on the River Severn
Towns in Worcestershire
Market towns in Worcestershire
Civil parishes in Worcestershire
Wyre Forest District