Wilden history
The village is 25 miles from Birmingham and 2 miles east of Stourport. The church was built in 1879, with the foundation stone being laid by Alfred Baldwin, local benefactor, owner of the ironworks and, later, Member of Parliament for Bewdley from 1892 until his death in 1908.
In the same way as Swindon in Staffordshire, the hamlet of Wilden was dominated by its ironworks, which had been on the site since the 17th century and on the site of a 16th century fulling mill. In 1840, the works (the 'Wilden Iron and Tin Plate Company') was taken over by Enoch Baldwin, who ran it with his nephews Pearce and William, trading as E P & W Baldwin. In the 1870s, the partnership was dissolved and the works was taken over by another of Enoch's nephews, Alfred Baldwin, half-brother of Pearce and William. In 1888, Alfred's 21 year-old son, Stanley, joined the business and worked there for 20 years before succeding his father as MP for Bewdley in 1908.
The works expanded and, in 1948, it amalgamated with Richard Thomas & Co to form Richard Thomas & Baldwins Ltd. In 1958, the closure of the works was announced, with the loss of 200 jobs, devastating the closely-knit community of Wilden. The Wilden Industrial Estate was established on the site in 1964-
