In 1086 Stoke Prior was listed in the Domesday Book as Stoche, in the ancient hundred of Came in Worcestershire.

[3] In the 19th century, Stoke Prior was closely associated with the industrialist John Corbett (mentioned below, by Elliot Collins).

In 1853, after he had sold his share of the family canal business, he purchased disused salt works in Stoke Prior from the British Alkali Company.

Corbett brought all the innovations of the Industrial Revolution to mechanise and commercialise the business, soon making his salt workings the largest in Europe and built a great fortune.

In the 19th century, John Corbett turned the salt works in Stoke Prior into one of the largest in Europe.