THE town of Stourport grew up around its canal, which was created to provide a better passage for heavy goods between the rivers Severn and Trent.

The canal and main basin were among the first built at the dawn of the canals era, back in 1771. Today it is described as "one of the best examples of the work of the great canal pioneer James Brindley and his assistants".

In May 1772 the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal and its terminus at Stourport was opened.

Over the following 40 years another five basins were added to the first as Stourport increased its trade.

By 1795 the town had grown from humble beginnings as the small hamlet of Lower Mitton to a bustling centre of commerce.

The canal and its basins prospered until the 1860s, aided by heavy traffic from the Birmingham Canal Navigation and the Cannock coalfields.

However, as competition became fierce from neighbouring canal networks and with the rise of railways, the canal fell into a spiral of decline.

Today many of the historic features from more than two centuries ago remain intact, and the character of the main basin is largely unchanged from its heyday.