Town in Worcestershire, England
Kidderminster
A hospital doctor ousted a government minister here in 2001, in a town that once carpeted much of the world and gave Britain the penny post.
Key information
- County
- Worcestershire
- Nation
- England
- Known for
- Carpet weaving, the Penny Post inventor and the Severn Valley Railway
- Famous people
- Rowland Hill, Richard Baxter
About Kidderminster
The doctor who beat a minister
In the 2001 general election, Kidderminster did something no one expected. It sent a retired hospital consultant, Dr Richard Taylor, to Parliament as an independent, and he unseated a Labour government minister. His campaign was about the town's hospital and the future of its accident and emergency services. Taylor ran under the banner of Health Concern and held the seat until 2010. It remains one of the best-known examples of a single local issue overturning a national party machine.
A town built on the loom
Kidderminster's fortune was woven. Carpet making took hold in the 1730s, and the town became so closely linked with the trade that one type of flat-woven, reversible carpet still carries its name. The River Stour supplied the water for dyeing and the mills lined its banks. Brintons, founded in 1783, grew into one of the great names of the business, and chimneys, dye houses and weaving sheds shaped the town for generations. The story is told at the Museum of Carpet, which is based in a former mill beside the Stour.
The preacher and the penny stamp
Two of Kidderminster's biggest names did their work in very different ways. Richard Baxter was the Puritan minister at St Mary and All Saints church from 1641 and became famous across England for his writing and for the way he reshaped parish life. His statue stands outside the church. Rowland Hill was born here on 3 December 1795. He became the reformer behind the Penny Post, and the Penny Black stamp appeared in 1840. Sending a letter was no longer a luxury for the rich, and the idea of paying by prepaid stamp spread around the world. Kidderminster has not forgotten him: a statue of Hill stands in the town centre.
Steam at the station, football by the track
Kidderminster Town station is the southern end of the Severn Valley Railway, a heritage steam line that runs 16 miles north to Bridgnorth. Its brick-built station was designed to look like a classic Great Western Railway terminus, and it is a favourite of railway fans. Just beside it is Aggborough, home of Kidderminster Harriers. The club was founded in 1886 and played in the Football League from 2000 to 2005. Steam trains puff past within sight of the pitch, which makes it one of the more atmospheric grounds in the lower leagues. The Harriers name goes back to the club's roots as a running and athletics club.
Canal, river and medieval stone
The Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal threads through Kidderminster alongside the Stour, a reminder that the town's carpets and raw materials once moved by water. Beside the river stands Caldwall Tower, a medieval survivor in a town that is mostly Victorian brick. The contrast says a lot about Kidderminster: an old market town that was reshaped by industry, but never entirely lost its older layers.