In 1887, John Bartholomew's Gazetteer of the British Isles described Kidderminster like this:
Kidderminster, parl. and mun. bor., market town, and par., Worcestershire, on river Stour, 15 miles N. of Worcester, 18 miles SW. of Birmingham, and 125 miles SW. of London - par., 10,685 ac., pop. 31,033; parl. bor., 2414 ac., pop. 25,633; mun. bor., 1247 ac., pop. 24,270; 4 Banks, 3 newspapers. Market-day, Thursday. Chiderminster was the ancient name of the town. It was incorporated in the reign of Charles I. The great industry in carpet mfr., which is so familiarly associated with Kidderminster, originat...
ed in 1735 - flat carpets being first made, and afterwards, in 1749, the cut carpets. At the present time it is principally Brussels and what are known as tapestry carpets which form the greater part of the mfr. There are also in the town worsted spinning mills, silk damask works, dye-works, lead works, &c. The Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal passes the town. The borough returns 1 member to Parliament.
Kidderminster through time
For the best overall sense of how the area containing Kidderminster has changed, please see our redistricted information for the modern district of Wyre Forest. More detailed statistical data are available under Historical units & statistics for administrative units named after or covering Kidderminster.
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