River Stour, Worcestershire
The river-name Stour, common in England, does not occur at all in Wales;[1] Crawford noted two tributaries of the Po River near Turin, spelled Sture.Undoubtedly it has a history of flooding and can rise quickly after rain, but it is unlikely that anyone familiar with the Severn, into which it flows, could see the Stour as embodying raw power or turbulence.The Victorian etymologist Isaac Taylor, now long discredited on many counts, proposed a very simple solution: that Stour derives from dŵr, the Welsh word for water.It collects water from many small tributary streams from the Clent Hills as it descends, following a generally north-easterly course, before veering north into the West Midlands at Halesowen.The river continues to gather strength from Clent streams as it flows through Halesowen, before turning westwards through the southern part of the Black Country, staying within the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley.Passing through the formerly navigable section around Wilden, it joins the River Severn at Stourport, in a small, old industrial area to the east of the canal port.Nowadays, wildlife is making a comeback in the Stour with kingfishers and grey heron present, as well as recent reports of salmon and trout beginning to recolonise as far as Stourbridge.It also historically formed part of the boundary of an exclave of Shropshire, which contained Halesowen, until the town was transferred to Worcestershire in the 19th century, along with nearby Oldbury.At Cradley, at the confluence of the upper Stour and the Lutley Gutter (also known as the Pudding Brook), in what was to become the Black Country, the earliest mentions of mills date back to the 12th century.[7] From the Middle Ages, the lower Stour was important in this early industrial development, as its fulling mills thickened cloth made in Worcester, Kidderminster, and Kinver.The Stour took on a fresh importance as this industry grew, driving the fulling and weaving processes, as well as carrying away the effluent - particularly when dyed cloth was washed in the river.The flow of the Stour became so crucial to the manufacturers of the town that they persistently fought attempts to extract water for industrial and domestic use from the Smestow - potentially of great value to Wolverhampton and the Black Country.
CaunsallEnglandWest MidlandsWorcestershireStaffordshireHalesowenStourbridgeKinverCookleyWolverleyKidderminsterStourport-on-SevernClent HillsRiver SevernWest Midlands regionriver-namePo RiverMiddle EnglishConcise Oxford DictionaryRichard CoatesOld EuropeanOld EnglishMargaret GellingIsaac TaylorSt Kenelm'sRomsleyBlack CountryMetropolitan Borough of DudleyCradleyAmblecoteheavy industryStourbridge CanalWollastonPrestwoodStaffordshire and Worcestershire CanalSmestow BrookWolverhamptonStourtonShropshireWildenStourportan outcropNew red sandstoneplateauSevernSmestowtablelandkingfishersgrey heronsalmonhistoric countiesOldburyDomesday BookWorcesterforgespig ironslitting millsBlade millsscythesRichard FoleyDud DudleyEdward Sutton, 5th Baron Dudleycoke-basedParliament of EnglandLong titleCitation14 Cha. 2Royal assentAndrew YarrantonOrdnance SurveyWilden WorksJames BrindleycollieriesBrierley HillDudley CanalStambermill ViaductOxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton RailwaywatershedBelbroughtonDraytonHarvington HallBlakedownHoly CrossKingsfordSouth StaffordshireDunsleyRiver SmestowWombournebalti mealsexclaveHereford and WorcesterRomsley, WorcestershireSandstoneaqueducttributaryRivers of the United KingdomGloucestershireMonmouthshireSouth GloucestershireBristolNorth SomersetSomersetNewportCardiffVale of GlamorganLlanidloesNewtownWelshpoolShrewsburyIronbridgeBridgnorthBewdleyTewkesburyGloucesterBerkeleyChepstowAvonmouthRiver VyrnwyRiver TernCound BrookRiver TemeWarwickshire AvonRiver WyeBristol AvonRiver UskSevern Estuary