View source for River Stour, Worcestershire

{{Short description|River in the West Midlands, England}}{{Lead too short|date=October 2021}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2018}}
{{Use British English|date=January 2018}}
{{Infobox river
| name               = River Stour
| name_native        = 
| name_native_lang   = 
| name_other         = 
| name_etymology     = 
<!---------------------- IMAGE & MAP -->
| image              = River Stour upstream of Caunsall Bridge - geograph.org.uk - 806177.jpg
| image_size         = 
| image_caption      = River Stour near [[Caunsall]]
| map                = 
| map_size           = 
| map_caption        = 
| pushpin_map        = 
| pushpin_map_size   = 
| pushpin_map_caption= 
<!---------------------- LOCATION -->
| subdivision_type1  = Country
| subdivision_name1  = [[England]]
| subdivision_type2  = 
| subdivision_name2  = 
| subdivision_type3  = Counties
| subdivision_name3  = [[West Midlands (county)|West Midlands]], [[Worcestershire]], [[Staffordshire]]
| subdivision_type4  = Settlements
| subdivision_name4  = [[Halesowen]], [[Stourbridge]], [[Kinver]], [[Caunsall]], [[Cookley]], [[Wolverley]], [[Kidderminster]], [[Stourport-on-Severn]]
| subdivision_type5  = 
| subdivision_name5  = 
<!---------------------- PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS -->
| length             = {{convert|40|km|mi|abbr=on}} 
| width_min          = 
| width_avg          = 
| width_max          = 
| depth_min          = 
| depth_avg          = 
| depth_max          = 
| discharge1_location= 
| discharge1_min     = 
| discharge1_avg     = 
| discharge1_max     = 
<!---------------------- BASIN FEATURES -->
| source1            = 
| source1_location   = [[Clent Hills]], [[Worcestershire]]
| source1_coordinates= 
| source1_elevation  = 
| mouth              = [[River Severn]]
| mouth_location     = [[Stourport-on-Severn]]
| mouth_coordinates  = 
| mouth_elevation    = 
| progression        = 
| river_system       = 
| basin_size         = 
| tributaries_left   = 
| tributaries_right  = 
| custom_label       = 
| custom_data        = 
| extra              = 
}}

The '''Stour''' {{cnspan|({{IPAc-en|ˈ|s|t|aʊər}}, rhymes with "flour")|date=January 2023}} is a river flowing through the counties of [[Worcestershire]], the [[West Midlands (county)|West Midlands]] and [[Staffordshire]] in the [[West Midlands region]] of England. The Stour is a major tributary of the [[River Severn]], and is about {{convert|25|mi|km}} in length. It has played a considerable part in the economic history of the region.

==Etymology and usage==
The [[hydronym|river-name]] ''Stour'', common in England, does not occur at all in Wales;<ref>O.G.S. Crawford, "Celtic place-names in England", ''The Archaeological Journal'' (British Archaeological Association) 2nd ser. '''27''' 1920: p. 144</ref> Crawford noted two tributaries of the [[Po River]] near Turin, spelled ''Sture''. In Germany the ''Stoer'' ([[Stör]]) flows into the River [[Elbe]]. The name ''Stour'' is pronounced differently in different cases. The Kentish Stour rhymes with ''tour''; the Oxfordshire Stour is sometimes rhymes with the ''mower'', sometimes with ''hour''. The Worcestershire and Suffolk  Stour always rhyme with ''hour''.<ref>Ayto, John and Crofton, Ian: ''Brewer's Britain and Ireland'', London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 2005, {{ISBN|0-304-35385-X}}, p.1059.</ref>

The origin of the name(s) remains in dispute. The [[Middle English]] word ''[[wikt:stour|stour]]'' has two distinct meanings and derivations, still current enough to appear in most substantial dictionaries. As an adjective, with Germanic roots, it signifies "large, powerful". As a noun, from medieval French roots, it signifies "tumult, commotion; confusion" or an "armed battle or conflict". The primary definition in the ''[[Concise Oxford Dictionary]]'' is "blowing or deposit of dust", a northern English and Scottish usage of uncertain derivation.<ref>''Concise Oxford Dictionary'', 10th edition, Oxford, 2001, {{ISBN|0-19-860438-6}}, p.1415</ref> Recently it has been suggested by [[Richard Coates]] that an [[Old European hydronymy|Old European]] river-name was taken for an [[Old English]] adjective and that ''stour'' came to represent one pole of a structural opposition, with ''blyth'' at the opposite pole, allowing Anglo-Saxons to classify rivers on a continuum of fierceness.<ref>Richard Coates, "Stour and Blyth as English river-names" ''English Language and Linguistics'' '''10''' Cambridge University Press  (2006:23-29).</ref>

However, [[Margaret Gelling]], a specialist in Midland toponyms, emphasises the importance of situating place-names in the landscape. It is hard to see the river in dramatic terms. 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 (canon)|Isaac Taylor]], now long discredited on many counts, proposed a very simple solution: that ''Stour'' derives from ''dŵr'', the Welsh word for water.<ref>
[https://books.google.com/books?id=x-4rutCY2csC&dq=Stour+worcestershire+welsh+etymology&pg=PA134 Taylor, Isaac: Words and Places, London, 2nd edition, 1921, p.143, accessed July 2009]
</ref>
(Celtic origins are quite likely in the West Midlands and Worcestershire.) It is possible that the various Stours do not share a common origin or significant characteristics, requiring each to be considered on their terms. Certainly there is currently no universally-accepted explanation.

==Course==
[[File:Stour Worcestershire.png|right|thumb|480px|Sketch map of the course of the River Stour through Worcestershire, the West Midlands and Staffordshire]]
The river rises in the north of Worcestershire in the [[Clent Hills]], near [[Kenelm|St Kenelm's]] Church in [[Romsley, Worcestershire|Romsley]]. 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 (county)|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]]. It flows through [[Cradley, West Midlands|Cradley]] and [[Lye, West Midlands|Lye]] and then between [[Stourbridge]], to which it gives its name, and [[Amblecote]], historically an important centre of the glass industry. Here it passes half-concealed through industrial estates that have replaced traditional [[heavy industry]], shadowed for a few kilometres by the [[Stourbridge Canal]]. It leaves the conurbation via the suburb of [[Wollaston, West Midlands|Wollaston]], descending fairly rapidly from the West Midlands plateau to [[Prestwood (Kinver)|Prestwood]].

The Stour enters Staffordshire at Prestwood and veers southwards, henceforward shadowed by the [[Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal]], which crosses over it on a sandstone aqueduct just before its confluence with the [[Smestow Brook]], an important tributary that drains the area north to [[Wolverhampton]]. The Stour flows south to [[Stourton, Staffordshire|Stourton]] and then loops along the eastern edge of the large village of [[Kinver]], whence it flows back into Worcestershire.

Passing through the villages of [[Caunsall]], [[Cookley]] and [[Wolverley]], it is joined by the Horse Brook, which drains an area extending northward into [[Shropshire]], and the Honey Brook. Further south, the Wannerton Brook brings in water from the Blakedown area, on the western fringe of the Clent Hills. The Stour then bisects [[Kidderminster]] from north to south. Here it is hidden from sight for a short distance as it passes beneath the canal, to emerge on its eastern side. At the southern edge of Kidderminster the Stour is joined by the Barnett Brook, a major tributary which begins in the Clent Hills, and which, together with the Hoo Brook, creates a large complex of pools to the east. Passing through the formerly navigable section around [[Wilden, Worcestershire|Wilden]], it joins the [[River Severn]] at [[Stourport-on-Severn|Stourport]], in a small, old industrial area to the east of the canal port.

==Geology==
The Stour rises on the north-eastern edge of the [[Clent Hills]], [[Clent Formation|an outcrop]]  of [[New red sandstone]] that traps it on the West Midland [[plateau]]. Its course is mainly over similar sandstone, together with some gravels, as it finds its way off the plateau by a fairly circuitous route, to the [[Severn]] valley. In this it is similar to the [[River Tame, West Midlands|Tame]] and its own tributary, the [[Smestow Brook|Smestow]]: all are forced to wander far along generally shallow gradients as they find their way from the plateau, which is essentially a shallow dish in shape -  a low [[Table (landform)|tableland]] with raised edges. It carries mainly sandy sediments, as can be seen after rainfall.

==Wildlife==
The Stour was once a [[trout]] stream, but became severely polluted with chemicals that were released into it by industries along its banks, particularly acid from the holloware industry of Lye.  In the final decades of the 20th century, this pollution ceased, and the river was cleaned up. Nowadays, wildlife is making a comeback in the Stour with [[common kingfisher|kingfishers]] and [[grey heron]] present, as well as recent reports of [[Atlantic salmon|salmon]] and [[brown trout|trout]] beginning to recolonise as far as [[Stourbridge]].

==History==
For a short section west of Stourbridge, the Stour marks the boundary, between the [[Historic counties of England|historic counties]] of Staffordshire and Worcestershire. 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, West Midlands|Oldbury]].

===Industry===
Mills were a crucial part of the medieval economy and the Stour was well able to power them. 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.<ref>http://www.cradleylinks.com/bird_mills_on_the_stour.html Norman Bird: More about the Mills on the Stour, at Cradley Links, accessed July 2009.</ref> Two corn mills are mentioned in Kinver in the [[Domesday Book]].<ref>''Victoria County History, Staffordshire'', XX, 144.</ref>

From the Middle Ages, the lower Stour was important in this early industrial development, as its fulling mills thickened cloth made in [[Worcester, England|Worcester]], Kidderminster, and Kinver.  From the 17th century there was a proliferation of iron [[finery forge|forge]]s fined [[pig iron]] and [[slitting mill]]s, which cut bars of iron into rods for the production of nails in the [[Black Country]].  [[Blade mill]]s (on tributaries), sharpened the blades of [[scythe]]s and other tools from the 15th century.<ref>P.W. King, 'The north Worcestershire scythe industry' ''Historical Metallurgy'' 41(2) (2007), 124-47.</ref> [[Richard Foley (ironmaster)|Richard Foley]] established one of the earliest slitting mills at the Hyde, Kinver in 1627.<ref>''Victoria County History, Staffordshire'', XX, 146.</ref>

Many of the mills on the Stour were formerly concerned with the iron industry. Whittington, near Kinver, had a forge and then a slitting mill, and finally a nail mill.<ref>''Victoria County History, Staffordshire'', XX, 145.</ref> Mills were converted from one use to another, as demand fluctuated: [[fulling mills]] of the 16th century, often became forges or slitting mills in the 17th. The 17th century iron industry along the Stour and its tributaries is connected with the name of [[Dud Dudley]] (an illegitimate son of [[Edward Sutton, 5th Baron Dudley]]) who carried out early experiments, using coal products to substitute for charcoal in iron production and wrote a book, ''Metallum Martis''. The Dudley family had works at Cradley. The Foley family were much more important in the later 17th century and the Knight family in the 18th. Iron production continued well into the 19th century (occasionally, even later), but the valley was overshadowed by the [[coke (fuel)|coke-based]] industry on the Black Country plateau.

===Navigation{{anchor|Rivers Stour and Salwarpe Navigation Act 1662}}===
{{Infobox UK legislation
| short_title           = Rivers Stour and Salwarpe Navigation Act 1662
| type                  = Act
| parliament            = Parliament of England
| long_title            = An Act for making navigable the Rivers of Stower and Salwerp, and the Rivulets and Brooks running into the same, in the Counties of Worcester and Stafford.
| year                  = 1662
| citation              = [[14 Cha. 2]]. c. ''14''
| introduced_commons    = 
| introduced_lords      = 
| territorial_extent    = 
| royal_assent          = 19 May 1662
| commencement          = 
| expiry_date           = 
| repeal_date           = 
| amends                = 
| replaces              = 
| amendments            = 
| repealing_legislation = 
| related_legislation   = 
| status                = 
| legislation_history   = 
| theyworkforyou        = 
| millbankhansard       = 
| original_text         = 
| revised_text          = 
| use_new_UK-LEG        = 
| UK-LEG_title          = 
| collapsed             = yes
}}
In the 1660s and 1670s, [[Andrew Yarranton]] attempted to make the river Stour itself navigable along much of its course. But these efforts were finally abandoned around 1680, when funds were exhausted. It is doubtful whether it would have been a profitable enterprise, had it succeeded. At Wilden a short section of the Stour, of about a mile, was successfully made navigable but because of all the bends it is recorded that it was not easy to navigate. There was a lock at Pratt's Wharf (misnamed Platt's Wharf by the [[Ordnance Survey]]) connecting the [[Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal]] with the river. This enabled canal barges to use the River Stour to deliver timber to a steam saw-mill in Wilden. Later it was used to transport coal and iron to the [[Wilden Ironworks|Wilden Works]]. The wharf was built by Isaac Pratt from Henwick, [[Worcester, England|Worcester]] in 1835. He is described as a businessman and a merchant. There were two houses at Pratt's Wharf, one occupied by a lock keeper and the other by a clerk. The link was closed {{circa}} 1950.<ref>Stourport-on-Severn Civic Society. Newsletter No 41. June 2005.</ref>

The Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal, planned by [[James Brindley]], was built between 1770 and 1772. It shadows the Smestow, and then the Stour from Prestwood southward, cutting across its many bends and meanders. From [[Stourton, Staffordshire|Stourton]] Junction (near Prestwood), the [[Stourbridge Canal]] led to Stourbridge, thus shadowing the upper Stour, while branches led towards [[coal mine|collieries]] near [[Brierley Hill]] and linked to the [[Dudley Canal Line No 1|Dudley Canal]]. These were all built in the late 18th century, effectively creating a canal network parallel to the river network.

===Later industry===
Kidderminster, long a centre of cloth manufacture, increasingly specialised in carpet-making from about 1785. 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.<ref>[http://southstaffswaterarchives.org.uk/Smestow_Supplies.pdf Williams, B. J. and J. Van Leerzem, J.: Water supplies of the Black Country "Smestow Valley", South Staffs. Water Company, undated, accessed July 2009.]</ref>

The magnificent [[Stambermill Viaduct]] carries what was the former [[Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway]] line over the Stour between Stourbridge and Lye. It now is only used by goods trains.

==Tributaries==
The main tributaries of the Stour are, travelling upstream from its confluence with the [[River Severn]]:
{{anchor|Barnett Brook|Belne Brook|Fenn Brook|Hoo Brook}}
* The '''Barnett Brook''' or '''Belne Brook''', which enters from the left, bringing water from a number of tributary streams. The Barnett Brook originates on the [[Clent Hills]] (on the opposite side of the [[Drainage divide|watershed]] to the Stour's own feeder streams). To the north-west of [[Belbroughton]], two major feeder streams converge at Bell End (one of which is known as Fenn Brook). The stream known locally as Belne Brook then flow into [[Belbroughton]] where another feeder stream from the foot of the Clent Hills joins it.<ref name=WMRStour>{{cite web|url=http://www.blackcountrysociety.co.uk/articles/stour.htm|title=The West Midlands River Stour|editor=Mick Pearson|publisher=Black Country Society}}</ref> It leaves Belbroughton and flows through [[Drayton, Worcestershire|Drayton]], and then to Stone where a tributary from [[Harvington Hall]] joins it. From there it flows into Kidderminster where at the Spennels Valley Nature Reserve it is joined by the Hoo Brook, (a stream that supply a complex of lakes and pools towards [[Stone, Worcestershire|Stone]], to the south-east of Kidderminster).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?X=384405&Y=275495&A=Y&Z=120&ax=384380&ay=275025 |title=Map of the confluence of the Barnett Brook and the Hoo Brook|publisher=All Technology Copyright Streetmap EU Ltd}}</ref>
*Known as '''Wannerton Brook''', at its confluence with the Stour one mile below Wolverley, at Broadwaters to the north of Kidderminster. Its three largest feeder streams converge and feed a series of pools in [[Blakedown]] where the stream is known as the Blakedown Brook. Two of the three feeder streams start on the Clent Hills (on the opposite side of the watershed to the Stour's own feeder streams) the first originates in St Kenelm's Pass above High Clent and passes down through West Hagley on to Stakenbridge and Churchill. The second originates above another hamlet in Clent called Walton Pool and flows down to [[Holy Cross, Worcestershire|Holy Cross]] and then on to [[Broom, Worcestershire|Broom]] where it is known as Gallows Brook. The third, and the shortest rises in Yieldingtree, but it supplies several old mill ponds before converging with the main stream just south of Blakedown.<ref name=WMRStour/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?X=387555&Y=278325&A=Y&Z=120|title=Map of the Blakedown Brook|publisher=All Technology Copyright Streetmap EU Ltd}}</ref>
* '''The Honey Brook''', which enters from the right, opposite Wolverley Court, close to the Kidderminster suburb of Franche.
* The '''Horse Brook''' or '''Horsebrook''', which also joins from the right, bringing water from the Shatterford and [[Kingsford, Worcestershire|Kingsford]] areas, and from parts of [[South Staffordshire]] and [[Shropshire]].
* The '''Mill Brook''', which enters from the right at the Hyde, opposite [[Dunsley, Staffordshire|Dunsley]] near [[Kinver]], and drains an area within South Staffordshire to the north of Kinver.
* The '''[[River Smestow]]''', also known as the [[Smestow Brook]], the Stour's largest tributary, which enters from the right. The Smestow drains an area well to the north, originating in the northern suburbs of [[Wolverhampton]], and looping around the city to flow past [[Wombourne]] and join the Stour at [[Prestwood (Kinver)|Prestwood]].
* The '''Lutley Gutter''', also known locally as the Pudding Brook, which enters from the left at Cradley and, together with the Stour itself, has played a major role in the industrial history of the town.

==Settlements==
The main settlement on the Stour are, travelling upstream from its confluence with the [[River Severn]]:

===In Worcestershire===
* [[Stourport-on-Severn]], traditionally a canal port and resort town, where the Stour joins the Severn.
* [[Kidderminster]], an industrial and commercial centre.
* [[Wolverley]], which is in the same parish as the neighbouring villages of [[Cookley]] and [[Caunsall]].

===In Staffordshire===
* [[Kinver]], once an important industrial village, but now mainly a residential and tourist centre.
* [[Stourton, Staffordshire|Stourton]] and [[Prestwood]]

===In Dudley Metropolitan Borough in the West Midlands===
* [[Stourbridge]], with its suburbs of [[Wollaston, West Midlands|Wollaston]] (before 1974, part of [[Worcestershire]]) and [[Amblecote]] (historically part of Staffordshire), traditionally a centre of the glass industry.
* [[Lye, West Midlands|Lye]], formerly a centre of heavy industry, now best known for its strip of Indian restaurants specialising in [[balti (food)|balti meals]]. Before 1974, part of Worcestershire.
* [[Cradley, West Midlands|Cradley]], once famous for its forges specialising in [[chain]] making. Before 1974, part of Worcestershire.
* [[Halesowen]], also once a centre for forges, specialising in [[Nail (fastener)|nail]] making, but now largely a residential and commercial area. Traditionally an [[exclave]] of [[Shropshire]], from 1844 until 1974 it was part of Worcestershire.

===In Worcestershire===
* [[Romsley, Worcestershire|Romsley]], where the Stour originates in a spring outside the main village but within the parish. Before 1844, part of Shropshire, together with Halesowen. 1974–1998: part of the County of [[Hereford and Worcester]]

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:St Kenelm's Spring (Source of the River Stour) - geograph.org.uk - 806501.jpg |St Kenelm's Spring in [[Romsley, Worcestershire]] on the [[Clent Hills]]
Image:StaffsWorcs Stour Aqueduct.jpg|[[Sandstone]] [[Navigable aqueduct|aqueduct]], carrying the [[Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal]] over the Stour, a few metres before the river is joined by the [[Smestow Brook|River Smestow]].
Image:Smestow Brook 18 Stour confluence.JPG|Confluence with the Smestow. After rain, the darker material from the [[tributary]] shows up very clearly as it flows into the sandy Stour.
Image:StaffsWorcs Sandstone banks.jpg|Steep cuttings in sandstone, north of Stourton, which make room for the canal alongside the river, illustrate the underlying geology of much of the river's course.
Image:Stour Severn Confluence.jpg|Confluence of River Stour with [[River Severn]] in old industrial area of [[Stourport-on-Severn]], Worcestershire. The Stour flows from beneath a bridge, to the right.
</gallery>

==See also==
*[[Rivers of the United Kingdom]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|River Stour, Worcestershire}}
*[http://www.stourbridge.com/riverstour.htm "In Search of the Stour"]
*http://www.geograph.org.uk/gallery/tributaries_of_the_river_severn_7213/1

{{River Severn}}
{{West Midlands County}}
{{Authority control}}

{{Coord|52.335169|-2.27608|display=title}}

[[Category:Tributaries of the River Severn|Stour, River]]
[[Category:Rivers of Worcestershire|Stour, River]]
[[Category:Rivers of the West Midlands (county)|Stour, River]]
[[Category:Rivers of Staffordshire|Stour, River]]
[[Category:River navigations in the United Kingdom|Stour]]
[[Category:Stour (Worcestershire) catchment| ]]