The Society works to protect and improve Stourport and to promote interest in its history as a Georgian New Town and Canal Port, industrial centre and inland resort. The society is concerned to safeguard the greenbelt and landscape of the Severn Valley. The society is non political and a member of West Midlands Amenity Societies Association (MASA).
Meetings
All events usually start at 7:30pm at the Elizabeth Mills Centre in New Street, Stourport.
Everybody is welcome – Admission £4.00. Members £2.50. Light refreshments included.
My Encounters with Lucy Baldwin
An intriguing tale of her history and my tenuous connections with her…
Carol Clements | 12th September 2024
Saving Worcestershire’s Heathlands
Beccy Sommers | 10th October 2024
The Secret Lives of Stourport’s Garden Birds
Richard Cory | 14th November 2024
On the Weaving—Life in the Kidderminster Carpet Factories
Dave Laverty | 12th December 2024
Midlands Mystery Tour
Buildings and sites in Worcestershire and the West Midlands.
Ian Bott | 13th February 2025
Pirates: Fact and Fiction
Max Keen | 13th March 2025
A Monk’s Life – The Benedictines at Worcester Cathedral
Howard Robinson | 10th April 2025
Social Event
9th January 2025
Useful information
The Society works to protect and improve Stourport and to promote interest in its history as a Georgian New Town and Canal Port, industrial centre and inland resort. The society is concerned to safeguard the greenbelt and landscape of the Severn Valley.
Membership subscription Rates:(UK only, enquire for overseas rates).
- Full Membership £12.00
- Joint Membership £20.00
- Corporate membership £50.00
Membership this year will be valid until August 2024
The Stourport Civic Award was set up in 1995 with the aim to identify and recognise those projects which have made a contribution to the environmental quality of Stourport. The first winner was for the rebuilding of Engine Lane bridge by British Waterways.Publications
There are a number of fascinating publications about the unique history of Stourport-on-Severn.
Stourport’s Pubs
A search for their history by John C Cook, Stourport Civic Society.
Stourport grew from the small hamlet of Lower Mitton. The catalyst for this growth was the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal. Completed in 1771, this canal, with its basins and wharves provided many job opportunities. Those who filled these jobs were well catered for as regards drinking establishments. Some of these places are still in business today. Many more have vanished, but not necessarily without trace. This book sets out to discover where and when these “Pubs” existed, and who was responsible for their being. This is an attempt at naming every Pub, Tavern, Inn, Ale House, and Beer House, that ever served a pint within the boundaries of the town. During that period of more than two and a half centuries, over nine hundred men and women have held licences for those places.
£7.50 per copy available from Stourport Civic Society – Order
Searching for Monica Baldwin
by Pauline Annis
Born in Stourport, debutante, nun for 28 years, best-selling author, died in obscurity in 1975.
£5 per copy, available from: Bentley’s, High Street and online
Images of England… Stourport-on-Severn
This local history book contains a hitherto unpublished collection of old photographs of the town and was published in Summer 2001. Collection of the photos and all the detailed research was done by our late President, Anna Carter.
It contains a fascinating collection of over 200 old photographs (many not published before) portraying Stourport-on-Severn, ‘the canal town par excellence.’ The collection records the basins and river and includes scenes dating well back into the nineteenth century, illustrating Stourport’s maritime history as an inland port.
Modestly priced at £2.00 the booklet is available from Stourport Library, Oxfam, High Street, the Lock Shop and other outlets and by post in the UK (price £2.37, includes P&P) as well as online.
Videos
The Tontine Building in Stourport
Stourport Town Clock & floods (with commentary by Pauline Annis and Councillor David Little)
Stourport Wesley Church before and after renovation
Stourport on Cine in the 1970’s
Stourport Basins restoration 2005 – 2008
Stourport a Georgian canal town (with commentary by Dr Richard Taylor)
Stourport on Cine in the 60’s (A wonderful selection of 8mm. Cine film. Includes Street and river carnivals with the old gas works etc. in the background. Noel Gordon’s visit to Stourport with her programme ‘Lunch Box’ on the side of the river. Old shops and buildings. Floods, Ice and snow. (Original material by Tom Head, Bob Hughes and Joe Barnes – 27 mins)
Stourport Drill Hall (9 mins)
Stanley Baldwin MP and his Stourport Ancestors (with commentary by Pauline Annis)
