I
I used to think that a “port” was a harbour by the sea. But I was wrong. It can just as well be a harbour on a river. So, for example, you have the port of Gloucester on the River Severn, quite a long way from the sea.
Stourport is also on the Severn but that is not why it became a port. In fact, the town didn’t even exist until a couple of hundred years ago. And when it was started, it was quite specifically built as a port. We have to go back into history to understand why.
England was the birthplace of the industrial revolution. Huge factories grew up to process cotton and other materials. But there was a major problem – transportation. The road system was poor and horse and carts couldn’t carry very much. The only solution was to transport goods by water. However the river system by itself was not enough. A way needed to be found to join the rivers together. And so the canal system was introduced.
Until the invention of the railways, canals became the major way to move goods around the country. Rich people rushed to invest in what was a very profitable system and many canals were built around England.
One of the first planned was to connect the rivers Severn, Trent and Mersey. It was decided to start the canal at the point where the Severn and the river Stour met. A new port was built there, Stourport. For thirty years or so, Stourport was a boom town.
Once the railway system was developed, the canal system quickly fell into disuse. Stourport no longer seemed to have any function whatsoever. However, the increased industrial activity in Birmingham and the Black Country provided a new role for Stourport. The factory workers needed recreation facilities for their days off and their holidays. Stourport, with all its attractive water locations, was a convenient and inexpensive place to visit.
Today Stourport continues to be a nice place to visit. The river there is very beautiful and the canal has been restored and made very attractive. But it retains the air of a holiday resort, a bit like an old-fashioned English seaside resort but a long way from the sea. There are a large funfair and many tourist shops.
I dont know of any other place quite like it.