24/10/2026
WHEN THE STOUR CARRIED IRON
WILDEN MARSH DIARY: 852 – 24th October 2026
When I walk along the River Stour at Wilden Marsh, I generally have wildlife in mind. Roe deer, otters, kingfishers and whatever else happens to be going about its business. But I imagine the times when this stretch of river was a working industrial waterway, with boats carrying iron, steel and coal to Wilden Iron Works. It is not nearly as long ago as you might expect. According to waterways historian Tom Foxon, commercial boat traffic on the Stour continued until 1949, just 79 years ago. I find that remarkable, particularly when I look for evidence along the river today.
The historical photograph of Stourport’s canal basin provides a fascinating glimpse of the transport network that once served the local iron industry. Today, we tend to think of Stourport as a pleasant riverside town, with its canals, locks and colourful narrowboats attracting visitors throughout the year. But in its industrial heyday, it was an important transport centre where railway wagons, canal boats and river craft worked together to move substantial quantities of raw materials. Iron and steel arrived from South Wales, while coal came from Highley, before continuing by water towards Wilden Iron Works.
One particularly interesting eyewitness account comes from Stan James, who later became mayor of Stourport. As a boy in the 1930s, he lived beside the Great Western Railway’s interchange basin. He remembered loaded railway wagons descending from the station under gravity, controlled by a man operating the brake. At the basin, iron and steel bars were thrown into waiting boats, making a tremendous noise. It must have been quite a spectacle, with railway wagons arriving, men unloading heavy cargoes and boats waiting to carry the materials on the next stage of their journey. It is the sort of detail that brings local industrial history to life, particularly when you consider that some of the people who witnessed these activities were still alive within relatively recent years.
Once loaded, the boats travelled north along the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal to Pratt’s Wharf, where a lock connected the canal to the River Stour. From there, the cargo continued downstream towards Wilden Iron Works, sometimes after being transferred into smaller boats more suited to navigating the river.
Pratt’s Wharf dates to 1835. The river level was artificially raised in times of drought with water stored in Wilden Pool. Wilden Works also had its own canal and towpath, with horses used to haul boats along parts of the waterway. It was a surprisingly elaborate transport arrangement, developed to keep the ironworks supplied with the raw materials needed for its operations.
Anyone familiar with the River Stour will appreciate that moving a heavily laden boat along it could hardly have been straightforward. The river twists and turns, its width varies considerably, and there are places where the banks rise steeply from the water. Even allowing for changes in the river over the years, it is difficult to imagine boats carrying several tons of iron negotiating some of these stretches without considerable skill and effort. I am particularly interested in where the horses walked, and what arrangements were made to negotiate the tighter bends. There must also have been considerable maintenance required to keep the navigation open, particularly after periods of flooding or low water.
What interests me most is the possibility that evidence of this industrial activity might still survive along the riverbanks. I have spent many years exploring Wilden Marsh, photographing its wildlife, maintaining its habitats and becoming familiar with just about every bend in the river. Yet I have rarely considered the river from the perspective of the men who once worked these boats. A level section of bank, an unusual change in the ground, or the remains of an old structure might have an explanation connected to navigation. Equally, such features might have nothing to do with it. Establishing the difference would require historical maps, documentary evidence and a careful examination of the landscape. I suspect much of the evidence was lost during canalisation of the river in recent times in an attempt to prevent land either side of the river from flooding.
There is also an interesting connection between Wilden Iron Works and British political history. The works belonged to the Baldwin family, and Stanley Baldwin, who subsequently served three terms as Prime Minister, worked in the family business. Wilden was therefore much more than a small rural industrial site. It formed part of an important manufacturing enterprise, supported by a transport network that connected the works to the coalfields, iron-producing districts and wider industrial economy. The River Stour, which we now associate primarily with wildlife and the surrounding countryside, played a practical part in keeping that enterprise operating.
I find the final years of navigation particularly interesting. If commercial traffic continued until 1949, there must have been people living in Stourport and Kidderminster who remembered watching the boats pass, or perhaps worked on them. Their children and grandchildren may still have photographs, documents or stories passed down through the family. I would love to discover what the last working boats looked like, who operated them, how frequently they travelled to Wilden and what eventually brought the traffic to an end.
It is easy to look at the River Stour today and see only a natural watercourse winding through the countryside. But its history is considerably more complicated, and the landscape we enjoy at Wilden Marsh has been shaped by centuries of human activity. The ironworks, canals, railway connections and river navigation were all part of that history, and understanding how they operated adds another dimension to a place I thought I knew exceptionally well.
If anyone has old photographs, family recollections, maps or information about the boats that once travelled between Pratt’s Wharf and Wilden Iron Works, I would be delighted to hear from them. Even a small detail could help us piece together another part of the Marsh’s history.
After all, the River Stour has carried rather more than water through Wilden Marsh over the centuries.
Photograph 1: Historic view of Stourport canal basin, part of the waterway network that once supplied Wilden Iron Works.
Photograph 2: A colourised version of a steel cargo being unloaded from narrow boats at Tyseley quay, Grand Union Canal, Birmingham, 1944—photograph: Ministry of Information, Imperial War Museums, D 21770.
Photograph 3: The photograph is of the first railcar at Stourport GWR station.
