Kidderminster

The land around Kidderminster may have been first populated by the Husmerae, an Anglo-Saxon tribe first mentioned in the Ismere Diploma, a document in which Ethelbald of Mercia granted a "parcel of land of ten hides" to Cyneberht. This developed as the settlement of Stour-in-Usmere, which was later the subject of a territorial dispute settled by Offa of Mercia in 781, when he restored certain rights to Bishop Heathored. This allowed for the founding of a monastery or in the area. The earliest written form of the name Kidderminster was first documented in the Domesday Book of 1086, where it appears as Chideminstre, meaning 'Cydda or Cydela's minster or monastery'. It was a large manor held…

]] Kidderminster's parish church of St Mary and All Saints' is a grade I listed building dating mostly from the 15th and 16th centuries. Another notable church is St John's, which is grade II listed, and dates from 1843. Other listed buildings of note in the town include the Town Hall of 1877; The Shrubbery, a 19th-century mansion; and the Kidderminster Register Office. Many of Kidderminster's historic buildings were lost from the 1960s; this led to the creation of the Kidderminster Civic Society in 1993 to promote preservation of the town's heritage. There are some former factory buildings of note in Kidderminster, which have mostly been converted to other uses. A notable one is the former…