To help you enjoy your visit, this small trail will give you a brief insight into the town's past and present. The walk starts from the Riverside Car Park and takes approximately an hour.

1. Leave the car park and turn left up Martins Way, keeping the Civic Centre on your left, until you reach New Street with its row of fine Listed Georgian houses which once had a view down to the shipping on the river.

2. Turn right and continue to the junction of High Street. Opposite, York Street is on a "terrace" overlooking the canal basins. The curved corner building is typical of Stourport's architecture.

3. Turn left and walk up High Street - look across at a fine row of buildings with some original shops and upper storey dwellings dating from c. 1800 (shop fronts are of a later date). Cross at the pedestrian crossing and walk back to the gate entrance of the Methodist Church, tucked away off the main street. The Wesleyan Methodist Church was built in 1788 and extended in 1812. John Wesley preached in Stourport in 1787, 1788 and 1790.

4. Turning left, walk in front of the Church towards Parkes Passage. Turn right towards the junction of York Street and Lion Hill, passing the Wesleyan School rooms on the left, erected by T. J. Baldwin for the Methodist Church in 1875.

5. York Street was named after Aaron York, boat builder, wharfinger and friend of John Wesley. In 1776 he was given permission to wheel bricks for housebuilding over the Company's wharf on payment of 6d for the privilege.

6. The little Canal Office by the lock dates from 1853, and the cottage, now Lock Shop, the following year.

7. Lion Hill opposite - note the attractive Georgian terrace Numbers 10-14, the widow heads are cast-iron instead of the more usual stone. The White Lion is named on a map of 1802. Turn left and follow the towpath alongside the canal.

8. The Star also appears on the 1802 map. The oldest part pre-dated Stourport and stood beside the old road. The central part was a chapel for the watermen. The Volunteers Band practiced here, before the formation of the celebrated Stourport Town Band. Looking right to the top of High Street, The Swan Hotel was originally a coaching Inn and is named on a map of 1802 as the Swan Inn.

9. Cross the main road junction to Mitton Street and Gilgal to the hamlet of Lower Mitton skirted by the canal. One timber-framed house remains, and other old buildings of the hamlet had 'new' Georgian facades. Continue along Severn Road, once Severn Lane, a pre-Stourport route leading then to the Old Ferry House.

10. The Bond Worth Carpet Factory on the left is a good example of twenties and thirties industrial architecture. On the right, note the Georgian terraced cottages, now much altered.

11. Turn right into Lichfield Street with its Listed Georgian houses which originally looked out over a large basin constructed c. 1806-1810. The level of Lichfield Street was raised when Wallfield Bridge was rebuilt; the houses once had steps up to their front doors. Notice the iron balconies and 'blind' windows, which are part of the original design. Facing up Lichfield Street is the house of the Worth family who founded the Carpet Works.

12. Turn left into Mart Lane, which takes its name from the markets which were held here before 1833, when a market hall was built on Bridge Street. The cottages on the left were built by the Canal Company. On the right, the warehouse (now a chandlery) of the Shropshire Union Railway and Canal Company. Note the Victorian letterbox. Vinegar was loaded here from the Brewery in Cheapside.

13. The Clock Warehouse. The famous clock was provided by Public subscription, the Canal Company donating £25 and the position on its warehouse. The headquarters of Stourport Yacht Club since 1961. Continue downward towards the river keeping the Tontine on your right.

14. The Tontine (a tontine was a sharehold system, an early form of life insurance devised by an Italian, Lorenzo Tonti, in the mid 17th century). A prestigious commercial hotel built by the Canal Company for merchants, higher grades of employee and passengers, occupied by 1773 soon after the port opened. It had separate lodgings for merchants and a fine ballroom. The porth is a Victorian addition. At this point you can take the option of turning left along Severnside to

15. The Angel, probably mid 18th century or earlier, an Inn serving the river traffic. It appears to have been enlarged later in the century as the new town of Stourport developed - see added upper storey also the Vinegar Brewery.

16. Vinegar Brewery (founded in 1798) the oldest in the county and the only business in operation since the early days of Stourport. The Brewery was originally connected with the families of Hicken Bold and James Swann. The Company became Holbrooks Ltd. In 1900, and later Sarson's as it is still known, becoming more recently part of British Vinegar and Nestles or turn right and walk in front of The Tontine.

17. The Tontine following the paths laid out across the grass, over the lock gate towards the large signpost indicating Wolverhampton / Worcester. Continue on along the path beside the amusement park.

18. River Basin was used for safe mooring off the river; also, the level could be raised to float trows onto the land at the side (now car park) for repair; and water was pumped from the basin to replenish the top basins.

19. Bridge over the River Severn. The Third Bridge on this site, opened in 1870. The last toll was collected in 1893. This path brings you out on the riverside meadows and you will see the Civic Centre and the riverside car park up to your right. The riverside meadows offers an excellent spot to enjoy a picnic or continue your stroll along the river bank.