Kidderminster

 town, borough

Kidderminster is a town in and administrative seat of the Wyre Forest district of Worcestershire, England. It is located approximately seventeen miles south-west of Birmingham city centre and approximately fifteen miles north of Worcester city centre. The 2001 census recorded a population of 55,182 in the town. There is no longer any borough council, but Charter Trustees maintain the traditions of the town and elect a Mayor. Map above illustrates the Borough of Kidderminster in relation to the rest of the Wyre Forest district, of which eight electoral wards are located within the town. The town is twinned with the town of Husum, Germany.

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 Cynebehrt. This became the settlement of Stour-in-Usmere, which was later the subject of a territorial dispute settled by Offa of Mercia in 781, where he restored certain rights to Bishop Heathored. This allowed for the creation of a monastery or minstre in the area, and the earliest written form of the name Kidderminster (Chedeminstre) was not seen until it appeared in the Domesday Book of 1086.

The modern carpet industry was founded in the area in 1785 by Brintons, and the carpet industry became extremely important to the local economy, so much so that the local newspaper is still named The Shuttle after the shuttles used on the carpet looms. Although much declined in recent years, the industry is still a significant employer in the area, with Brintons Carpets still employing several hundred people and is one of the biggest employers in the town.

Solid-fuel rocket motors are manufactured in Summerfield on the outskirts of Kidderminster on the ROXEL site where the motors for the Rapier missile, Seawolf missile, Starstreak and ASRAAM missile systems were manufactured. The site has had several owners including IMI, Royal Ordnance and British Aerospace, and is now part of the Roxel Group, headquartered in Paris and with a sister site outside Bordeaux.

www.kidderminster.co.uk/

for history of Kidderminster see @:
www.communigate.co.uk/worcs/kidderminsterhistorysoc/

for large-scale detailed on-line map at Worcestershire C.C. website (used in drawing attached polygon) see @:
gis.worcestershire.gov.uk/wccgisonline/maps.aspx?mlapc=...