Stockport is a town and

borough A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History In the Middle A ...

Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county and combined authority area in North West England, with a population of 2.8 million; comprising ten metropolitan boroughs: Manchester, Salford, Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tam ...

, England, south-east of

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

, south-west of

Ashton-under-Lyne Ashton-under-Lyne is a market town in Tameside, Greater Manchester, England. The population was 45,198 at the 2011 census. Historically in Lancashire, it is on the north bank of the River Tame, in the foothills of the Pennines, east of Manche ...

and north of Macclesfield. The

River Goyt The River Goyt is a tributary of the River Mersey in North West England. Etymology The name ''Goyt'' may be derived from the Middle English ''gote'', meaning "a watercourse, a stream". Derivation from the Welsh ''gwyth'' meaning "vein" has bee ...

and

Tame Tame may refer to: *Taming, the act of training wild animals *River Tame, Greater Manchester *River Tame, West Midlands and the Tame Valley * Tame, Arauca, a Colombian town and municipality * "Tame" (song), a song by the Pixies from their 1989 al ...

merge to create the

River Mersey The River Mersey () is in North West England. Its name derives from Old English and means "boundary river", possibly referring to its having been a border between the ancient kingdoms of Mercia and Northumbria. For centuries it has formed par ...

here. Most of the town is within the boundaries of the historic county of Cheshire, with the area north of the Mersey in the historic county of

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancash ...

. Stockport in the 16th century was a small town entirely on the south bank of the Mersey, known for the cultivation of hemp and manufacture of

rope A rope is a group of yarns, plies, fibres, or strands that are twisted or braided together into a larger and stronger form. Ropes have tensile strength and so can be used for dragging and lifting. Rope is thicker and stronger than similar ...

. In the 18th century, it had one of the first mechanised silk factories in the

British Isles The British Isles are a group of islands in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner and Outer Hebrides, the Northern Isles, ...

. Stockport's predominant industries of the 19th century were the cotton and allied industries. It was also at the centre of the country's hatting industry, which by 1884 was exporting more than six million hats a year; the last hat works in Stockport closed in 1997. Dominating the western approaches to the town is

Stockport Viaduct Stockport Viaduct carries the West Coast Main Line across the valley of the River Mersey in Stockport, Greater Manchester, England (). It is one of the largest brick structures in the United Kingdom and a major structure of the early railway age ...

. Built in 1840, its 27 brick arches carry the mainline railways passing through the town over the

History

Toponymy

Stockport was recorded as "Stokeport" in 1170. The currently accepted etymology is

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th c ...

''port'', a market place, with ''stoc'', a hamlet (but more accurately a minor settlement within an estate); hence, a market place at a hamlet. Older derivations include ''stock'', a stockaded place or castle, with ''port'', a wood, hence a castle in a wood. The castle probably refers to

Stockport Castle Stockport Castle was a promontory castle in Stockport, Cheshire. The castle was in the medieval town, overlooking a ford over the River Mersey. It was first documented in 1173, but the next mention of it is in 1535 when it was in ruins. What rema ...

, a 12th-century motte-and-bailey first mentioned in 1173. Other derivations are based on early variants such as Stopford and Stockford. There is evidence that a ford across the Mersey existed at the foot of Bridge Street Brow. Stopford retains a use in the adjectival form, Stopfordian, for Stockport-related items, and pupils of Stockport Grammar School style themselves Stopfordians. Stopfordian is used as the general term, or demonym used for people from Stockport, much as someone from London would be a Londoner. Stockport has never been a sea or river port as the Mersey is not navigable here; in the centre of Stockport the river has been culverted and the main shopping street, Merseyway, built above it.

Early history

The earliest evidence of human occupation in the wider area are

microlith A microlith is a small stone tool usually made of flint or chert and typically a centimetre or so in length and half a centimetre wide. They were made by humans from around 35,000 to 3,000 years ago, across Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia. Th ...

s from the hunter-gatherers of the Mesolithic period (the Middle Stone Age, about 8000–3500 BC) and weapons and stone tools from the

Neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several p ...

period (the New Stone Age, 3500–2000 BC). Early Bronze Age (2000–1200 BC) remains include stone hammers, flint knives, palstaves (bronze axe heads), and

funerary urn An urn is a vase, often with a cover, with a typically narrowed neck above a rounded body and a footed pedestal. Describing a vessel as an "urn", as opposed to a vase or other terms, generally reflects its use rather than any particular shape or ...

s; all finds were chance discoveries, not the results of systematic searches of a known site. There is a gap in the age of finds between about 1200 BC and the start of the Roman period in about 70 AD, which may indicate depopulation, possibly due to a poorer climate. Despite a strong local tradition, there is little evidence of a Roman military station at Stockport. It is assumed that roads from Cheadle to

Ardotalia Ardotalia (also known as Melandra, or Melandra Castle) is a Roman fort in Gamesley, near Glossop in Derbyshire, England. Ardotalia was constructed by Cohors Primae Frisiavonum—The First Cohort of Frisiavones. Evidence for the existence of ...

(Melandra) and Manchester to

Buxton Buxton is a spa town in the Borough of High Peak, Derbyshire, England. It is England's highest market town, sited at some above sea level.Anglo-Saxon English Kings Edmund (reigned 939–946) and

Eadred Eadred (c. 923 – 23 November 955) was King of the English from 26 May 946 until his death. He was the younger son of Edward the Elder and his third wife Eadgifu, and a grandson of Alfred the Great. His elder brother, Edmund, was killed try ...

(reigned 946–955) were found during ploughing at Reddish Green in 1789. There are contrasting views about the significance of this; Arrowsmith takes this as evidence for the existence of a settlement at that time, but Morris states the find could be "an isolated incident". The small cache is the only Anglo-Saxon find in the area. However, the etymology ''Stoc-port'' suggests inhabitation during this period.

Medieval and early modern period

No part of Stockport appears in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manus ...

of 1086. The area north of the Mersey was part of the

hundred 100 or one hundred (Roman numeral: C) is the natural number following 99 and preceding 101. In medieval contexts, it may be described as the short hundred or five score in order to differentiate the English and Germanic use of "hundred" to des ...

of Salford, which was poorly surveyed. The area south of the Mersey was part of the Hamestan hundred. Cheadle,

Bramhall Bramhall is a suburban area in the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport, Greater Manchester, England. Historically in Cheshire, it had a population of 17,436 at the 2011 Census.Bramhall South and Bramhall North Wards History The Anglo-Saxon m ...

Bredbury Bredbury is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport, Greater Manchester, England, south-east of Manchester, east of Stockport and south-west of Hyde, Greater Manchester, Hyde. At the 2011 census, it had a population of 16,721. It i ...

, and Romiley are mentioned, but these all lay just outside the town limits. The survey includes valuations of the Salford hundred as a whole and Cheadle for the times of Edward the Confessor, just before the Norman invasion of 1066, and the time of the survey. The reduction in value is taken as evidence of destruction by

William the Conqueror William I; ang, WillelmI (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), usually known as William the Conqueror and sometimes William the Bastard, was the first House of Normandy, Norman List of English monarchs#House of Norman ...

's men in the campaigns generally known as the Harrying of the North. The omission of Stockport was once taken as evidence that destruction was so complete that a survey was not needed. Arrowsmith argues from the etymology that Stockport may have still been a market place associated with a larger estate, and so would not be surveyed separately. The Anglo-Saxon landholders in the area were dispossessed and the land divided amongst the new Norman rulers. The first borough charter was granted in about 1220 and was the only basis for local government for six hundred years. A castle held by Geoffrey de Costentin is recorded as a rebel stronghold against Henry II in 1173–1174 when his sons revolted. There is an incorrect local tradition that Geoffrey was the king's son,

Geoffrey II, Duke of Brittany Geoffrey II ( br, Jafrez; , xno, Geoffroy; 23 September 1158 – 19 August 1186) was Duke of Brittany and 3rd Earl of Richmond between 1181 and 1186, through his marriage to Constance, Duchess of Brittany. Geoffrey was the fourth of five sons ...

, who was one of the rebels.See for the traditional view; and for the refutation. Dent gives the size of the castle as about , and suggests it was similar in pattern to those at

Pontefract Pontefract is a historic market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wakefield in West Yorkshire, England, east of Wakefield and south of Castleford. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is one of the towns in the City of Wak ...

and Launceston. The castle was probably ruinous by the middle of the 16th century, and in 1642 it was agreed to demolish it. Castle Hill, possibly the motte, was levelled in 1775 to make space for Warren's mill, see below. Nearby walls, once thought to be either part of the castle or of the town walls, are now thought to be revetments to protect the cliff face from erosion. The regicide John Bradshaw (1602–1659) was born at Wibersley, in the parish of Stockport, baptised in the parish church and attended Stockport Free School. A lawyer, he was appointed lord president of the high court of justice for the trial of King

Charles I Charles I may refer to: Kings and emperors * Charlemagne (742–814), numbered Charles I in the lists of Holy Roman Emperors and French kings * Charles I of Anjou (1226–1285), also king of Albania, Jerusalem, Naples and Sicily * Charles I of ...

in 1649. Although he was dead by the time of the

Restoration Restoration is the act of restoring something to its original state and may refer to: * Conservation and restoration of cultural heritage ** Audio restoration ** Film restoration ** Image restoration ** Textile restoration * Restoration ecology ...

in 1660, his body was brought up from

Westminster Abbey Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an historic, mainly Gothic church in the City of Westminster, London, England, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is one of the Unite ...

and hanged in its coffin at

Tyburn Tyburn was a manor (estate) in the county of Middlesex, one of two which were served by the parish of Marylebone. The parish, probably therefore also the manor, was bounded by Roman roads to the west (modern Edgware Road) and south (modern O ...

Stockport bridge has been documented as existing since at least 1282. During the

English Civil War The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of re ...

the town was supportive of Parliament and was garrisoned by local militias of around 3000 men commanded by Majors Mainwaring and Duckenfield. Prince Rupert advanced on the town on 25 May 1644, with 8–10,000 men and 50 guns, with a brief skirmish at the site of the bridge, in which Colonel Washington's Dragoons led the Royalist attack. Rupert continued his march via Manchester and Bolton to meet defeat at Marston Moor near York. Stockport bridge was pulled down in 1745 and trenches were additionally dug in the fords to try to stop the Jacobite army of Charles Edward Stuart as they marched through the town on the way to Derby. The vanguard was shot at by the town guard and a horse was killed.Stockport Through Time, Coral Dranfield, Amberley Publishing Limited, 10 September 2013 The army also passed through Stockport on their retreat back from Derby to Scotland. One of the legends of the town is that of Cheshire farmer, Jonathan Thatcher, who, in a 1784 demonstration against taxation, avoided

Pitt the Younger William Pitt the Younger (28 May 175923 January 1806) was a British statesman, the youngest and last prime minister of Great Britain (before the Acts of Union 1800) and then first prime minister of the United Kingdom (of Great Britain and Ire ...

's saddle tax on horses by riding to market at Stockport on an ox. The incident is also celebrated in 'The Glass Umbrella' in St Petersgate Gardens, one of the works on Stockport's Arts Trail.

Industrialisation

Hatmaking was established in north Cheshire and south-east Lancashire by the 16th century. From the 17th century Stockport became a centre for the hatting industry and later the silk industry. Stockport expanded rapidly during the

Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes in Great Britain, continental Europe, and the United States, that occurred during the period from around 1760 to about 1820–1840. This transition included going f ...

, helped particularly by the growth of the cotton manufacturing industries. However, economic growth took its toll, and 19th century philosopher

Friedrich Engels Friedrich Engels ( ,"Engels"
'' Stockport was one of the prototype textile towns. In the early 18th century, England was not capable of producing silk of sufficient quality to be used as the

warp Warp, warped or warping may refer to: Arts and entertainment Books and comics * WaRP Graphics, an alternative comics publisher * ''Warp'' (First Comics), comic book series published by First Comics based on the play ''Warp!'' * Warp (comics), a ...

in woven fabrics. Suitable thread had to be imported from

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

, where it was spun on water-powered machinery. In about 1717

John Lombe John Lombe (1693 in Norwich – November 20, 1722 in Derby) was a silk spinner in the 18th century Derby, England. Biography Lombe was born in Norwich in approximately 1693, the son of a worsted weaver. He was a younger half-brother of Thoma ...

travelled to Italy and copied the design of the machinery. On his return he obtained a patent on the design, and went into production in

Derby Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby g ...

. When Lombe tried to renew his patent in 1732, silk spinners from towns including

, Macclesfield, Leek, and Stockport successfully petitioned parliament to not renew the patent. Lombe was paid off, and in 1732 Stockport's first silk mill (the first water-powered

textile mill Textile Manufacturing or Textile Engineering is a major industry. It is largely based on the conversion of fibre into yarn, then yarn into fabric. These are then dyed or printed, fabricated into cloth which is then converted into useful goods ...

in the north-west of England) was opened on a bend in the Mersey. Further mills were opened on local brooks. Silk weaving expanded until in 1769 two thousand people were employed in the industry. By 1772 the boom had turned to bust, possibly due to cheaper foreign imports; by the late 1770s trade had recovered. The cycle of boom and bust would continue throughout the textile era. The combination of a good water power site (described by Rodgers as "by far the finest of any site within the lowland" f the Manchester regionref name=Rodgers/>) and a workforce used to textile factory work meant Stockport was well placed to take advantage of the phenomenal expansion in cotton processing in the late 18th century. Warren's mill in the market place was the first. Power came from an undershot water wheel in a deep pit, fed by a tunnel from the River Goyt. The positioning on high ground, unusual for a water-powered mill, contributed to an early demise, but the concept of moving water around in tunnels proved successful, and several tunnels were driven under the town from the Goyt to power mills. In 1796, James Harrisson drove a wide cut from the Tame which fed several mills in the Park,

Portwood Portwood is an area of Stockport, England, just east of the town centre along Great Portwood Street. The part closest to the town centre contains Meadow Mill and is mainly given over to shops (including the Stockport Peel Centre, Peel Centre); the ...

.; Ashmore (1975). Other water-powered mills were built on the Mersey. The town was connected to the national

canal Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface flo ...

network by the of the Stockport branch of the

Ashton Canal The Ashton Canal is a canal in Greater Manchester, England, linking Manchester with Ashton-under-Lyne. Route The Ashton leaves the Rochdale Canal at Ducie St. Junction in central Manchester, and climbs for through 18 locks, passing thro ...

opened in 1797 which continued in use until the 1930s. Much of it is now filled in, but there is an active campaign to re-open it for leisure uses. In the early 19th century, the number of hatters in the area began to increase, and a reputation for quality work was created. The London firm of Miller Christy bought out a local firm in 1826, a move described by Arrowsmith as a "watershed". By the latter part of the century hatting had changed from a manual to a mechanised process, and was one of Stockport's primary employers; the area, with nearby Denton, was the leading national centre. Support industries, such as blockmaking, trimmings, and leatherware, became established. Stockport Armoury was completed in 1862. The

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

cut off overseas markets, which established local industries and eroded Stockport's eminence. Even so, in 1932 more than 3000 people worked in the hatting industry, making it the third biggest employer after textiles and engineering. The depression of the 1930s and changes in fashion greatly reduced the demand for hats, and the demand that existed was met by cheaper wool products made elsewhere, for example the

Luton Luton () is a town and unitary authority with borough status, in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 census, the Luton built-up area subdivision had a population of 211,228 and its built-up area, including the adjacent towns of Dunstable a ...

area. In 1966, the largest of the region's remaining felt hat manufacturers, Battersby & Co, T & W Lees, J. Moores & Sons, and Joseph Wilson & Sons, merged with Christy & Co to form Associated British Hat Manufacturers, leaving Christy's and Wilson's (at Denton) as the last two factories in production. The Wilson's factory closed in 1980, followed by the Christy's factory in 1997, bringing to an end over 400 years of hatting in the area. The industry is commemorated by the UK's only dedicated hatting museum,

Hat Works The Hat Works is a museum in Stockport, Greater Manchester, England, which opened in 2000. Before that, smaller displays of hatting equipment were exhibited in Stockport Museum and in the former Battersby hat factory. The building, Wellingto ...

Recent history

Since the start of the 20th century Stockport has moved away from being a town dependent on cotton and its allied industries to one with a varied base. It makes the most of its varied heritage attractions, including a national museum of hatting, a unique system of

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

air raid tunnel shelters in the town centre, and a late medieval merchants' house on the 700-year-old Market Place. In 1967, the Stockport air disaster occurred, when a

British Midland Airways British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

C-4 Argonaut aeroplane crashed in the Hopes Carr area of the town, resulting in 72 deaths among the passengers and crew. On 23 November 1981, an F1/T2 tornado formed over

Cheadle Hulme Cheadle Hulme () is a suburb in the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport, Greater Manchester, England,. Historically in Cheshire, it is south-west of Stockport and south-east of Manchester. It lies in the Ladybrook Valley, on the Cheshire Pla ...

. It subsequently passed over Stockport town centre.

Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council is the local authority for the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport, Greater Manchester, England. The council is currently run by a Liberal Democrat minority administration. At the 2022 local elections, the ...

has embarked on an ambitious regeneration scheme, known as Future Stockport. The plan is to bring more than 3000 residents into the centre of the town, and revitalise its residential property and retail markets in a similar fashion to the nearby city of Manchester. Many ex-industrial areas around the town's core will be brought back into productive use as

mixed-use Mixed-use is a kind of urban development, urban design, urban planning and/or a zoning type that blends multiple uses, such as residential, commercial, cultural, institutional, or entertainment, into one space, where those functions are to som ...

residential and commercial developments. Property development company FreshStart Living has been involved in redeveloping a former mill building in the town centre, St Thomas Place. The company plan to transform the mill into 51 residential apartments as part of the regeneration of Stockport.

Governance

Civic history

Stockport was a township mostly within the Macclesfield

Hundred 100 or one hundred (Roman numeral: C) is the natural number following 99 and preceding 101. In medieval contexts, it may be described as the short hundred or five score in order to differentiate the English and Germanic use of "hundred" to des ...

within the historic county of Cheshire with a small part on the north side of the Mersey in

. The Municipal Corporations Act 1835 made Stockport a

municipal borough Municipal boroughs were a type of local government district which existed in England and Wales between 1835 and 1974, in Northern Ireland from 1840 to 1973 and in the Republic of Ireland from 1840 to 2002. Broadly similar structures existed in S ...

divided into six wards with a council consisting of 14 aldermen and 42 councillors. Under the terms of the

Poor Law Amendment Act 1834 The ''Poor Law Amendment Act 1834'' (PLAA) known widely as the New Poor Law, was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom passed by the Whig government of Earl Grey. It completely replaced earlier legislation based on the ''Poor Relie ...

, Stockport Poor Law Union was established on 3 February 1837 and was responsible for an area covering 16 parishes with a total population of 68,906. Stockport Union built a

workhouse In Britain, a workhouse () was an institution where those unable to support themselves financially were offered accommodation and employment. (In Scotland, they were usually known as poorhouses.) The earliest known use of the term ''workhouse' ...

at Shaw Heath in 1841. In 1888, its status was raised to

County Borough County borough is a term introduced in 1889 in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, to refer to a borough or a city independent of county council control, similar to the unitary authorities created since the 1990s. An equivalent te ...

, becoming the County Borough of Stockport. In 1974, under the Local Government Act 1972, Stockport amalgamated with neighbouring districts to form the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport in the metropolitan county of Greater Manchester. In 1986,

Greater Manchester County Council The Greater Manchester County Council (GMCC) was the top-tier local government administrative body for Greater Manchester from 1974 to 1986. A strategic authority, with responsibilities for roads, public transport, planning, emergency services ...

was abolished and

assumed many of its functions, effectively becoming a

unitary authority A unitary authority is a local authority responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additional functions that elsewhere are usually performed by a higher level of sub-national government or the national governmen ...

. In 2011, Stockport bid for city status as part of the 2012 Queen's

Diamond Jubilee A diamond jubilee celebrates the 60th anniversary of a significant event related to a person (e.g. accession to the throne or wedding, among others) or the 60th anniversary of an institution's founding. The term is also used for 75th anniver ...

celebrations but was unsuccessful.

Parliamentary representation

There are four parliamentary constituencies in the Stockport Metropolitan Borough: Stockport, Cheadle, Hazel Grove, and Denton and Reddish. Stockport has been represented by the

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

MP Nav Mishra since

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

Mary Robinson Mary Therese Winifred Robinson ( ga, Máire Mhic Róibín; ; born 21 May 1944) is an Irish politician who was the 7th president of Ireland, serving from December 1990 to September 1997, the first woman to hold this office. Prior to her electi ...

has been the Conservative MP for Cheadle since 2015; and

William Wragg William Peter Wragg (born 11 December 1987) is a British Conservative Party politician. He has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Hazel Grove in Greater Manchester since May 2015. He is a vice-chairman of the 1922 Committee. Early life Wragg ...

has been the Conservative MP for Hazel Grove since 2015. The constituency of Denton and Reddish bridges Stockport and

Tameside The Metropolitan Borough of Tameside is a metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester in England. It is named after the River Tame, which flows through the borough, and includes the towns of Ashton-under-Lyne, Audenshaw, Denton, Droylsden, ...

; the current member is

Andrew Gwynne Andrew John Gwynne (born 4 June 1974) is a British politician who has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Denton and Reddish since 2005. A member of the Labour Party, he has been Shadow Minister for Public Health since 2021 and previousl ...

for the Labour Party.

Council

There are 21 electoral wards in Stockport, each with three councillors, giving a total of 63 councillors with one-third elected three years out of four.

Geography

At (53.408°, −2.149°) Stockport is on elevated ground, south-east of

Manchester city centre Manchester City Centre is the central business district of Manchester in Greater Manchester, England situated within the confines of Great Ancoats Street, A6042 Trinity Way, and A57(M) Mancunian Way which collectively form an inner ring road. ...

, at the confluence of the rivers

Goyt The River Goyt is a tributary of the River Mersey in North West England. Etymology The name ''Goyt'' may be derived from the Middle English ''gote'', meaning "a watercourse, a stream". Derivation from the Welsh ''gwyth'' meaning "vein" has bee ...

and

, creating the River Mersey. It shares a common boundary with the

City of Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The two ...

. Stockport stands on Permian sandstones and red Triassic sandstones and mudstones, mantled by thick deposits of till and pockets of sand and gravel deposited by glaciers at the end of the last glacial period, some 15,000 years ago. To the extreme east is the Red Rock fault, and the older rocks from the Upper Carboniferous period surface. An outcrop of Coal Measures extends southwards through

and into Hazel Grove. The Pennines lie to the east of the town, consisting of the upland moors and Millstone Grit outcrops of sandstones and shales in the

Dark Peak The Dark Peak is the higher and wilder part of the Peak District in England, mostly forming the northern section but also extending south into its eastern and western margins. It is mainly in Derbyshire but parts are in Staffordshire, Cheshire, ...

area of the

Peak District The Peak District is an upland area in England at the southern end of the Pennines. Mostly in Derbyshire, it extends into Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Staffordshire, West Yorkshire and South Yorkshire. It includes the Dark Peak, where moorla ...

Demography

At the

2001 UK census A nationwide census, known as Census 2001, was conducted in the United Kingdom on Sunday, 29 April 2001. This was the 20th UK census and recorded a resident population of 58,789,194. The 2001 UK census was organised by the Office for National ...

, Stockport had a population of 136,082. The 2001 population density was 11,937 per mi² (4,613 per km²), with a 100 to 94.0 female-to-male ratio. Of those over 16 years old, 32% were single (never married) and 50.2% married. Stockport's 58,687 households included 33.1% one-person, 33.7% married couples living together, 9.7% were co-habiting couples, and 10.4% single parents with their children, these figures were similar to those of Stockport Metropolitan Borough and England.
• Retrieved on 17 August 2008. Of those aged 16–74, 29.2% had no academic qualifications, significantly higher than that of 25.7% in all of Stockport Metropolitan Borough but similar to the whole of England average at 28.9%. Although suburbs such as

Woodford Woodford may refer to: Places Australia *Woodford, New South Wales *Woodford, Queensland, a town in the Moreton Bay Region *Woodford, Victoria Canada * Woodford, Ontario England *Woodford, Cornwall * Woodford, Gloucestershire *Woodford, Greate ...

and

are relatively wealthy and 45% of the borough is green space, districts such as

Edgeley Edgeley is a suburb of Stockport, Greater Manchester, England. Edgeley is characterised largely by Victorian terraced housing around Alexandra Park. The population in 2011 was 14,176. Edgeley Park is home to Stockport County F.C. History R ...

, Adswood,

Shaw Heath Shaw may refer to: Places Australia *Shaw, Queensland Canada *Shaw Street, a street in Toronto England *Shaw, Berkshire, a village * Shaw, Greater Manchester, a location in the parish of Shaw and Crompton * Shaw, Swindon, a suburb of Swindon * ...

and

Brinnington Brinnington is a north-eastern suburb of Stockport, Greater Manchester, England, on a bluff above a bend in the Tame Valley between the M60 motorway and Reddish Vale Country Park. Description Brinnington was open farm land before the local auth ...

are among the poorer areas. In the north-west of the borough are the prosperous areas of

Heaton Moor Heaton Moor is a suburb of Stockport, Greater Manchester, England. Within the boundaries of the historic county of Lancashire, it is one of the Four Heatons and borders Heaton Chapel, Heaton Norris and Heaton Mersey. Heaton Moor has Victorian ...

and

Heaton Mersey Heaton Mersey is a suburb of Stockport, Greater Manchester, England. It is situated on the north-western border of Stockport, adjacent to Didsbury and Burnage in Manchester. Heaton Mersey is a mostly residential area and commuter zone for Manche ...

, which together with

Heaton Chapel Heaton Chapel is an area in the northern part of Stockport, Greater Manchester, England. Within the boundaries of the historic county of Lancashire, it borders the Manchester districts of Levenshulme to the north, the Stockport districts of He ...

and

Heaton Norris Heaton Norris is a suburb of the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport, Greater Manchester, England. It is part of the Four Heatons, and neighbours Heaton Chapel, Heaton Mersey and Heaton Moor. Within the boundaries of the historic county of Lanca ...

comprise the so-called ''Four Heatons''.

Population change

Economy

Stockport's principal commercial district is the town centre, with branches of most high-street stores to be found in the

Merseyway Shopping Centre Merseyway Shopping Centre is a shopping complex in Stockport. Name The centre's name, Merseyway, comes from the fact that the centre is supported above the River Mersey which runs for the length of the centre. History The centre was opened ...

or The Peel Centre. Redrock Stockport has a ten-screen cinema, bars and several restaurants. Stockport is from Manchester, making it convenient for commuters and shoppers. In 2008, the council's £500 million plans to redevelop the town centre were cancelled after construction company

Lend Lease Corporation Lendlease is a globally integrated real estate company that creates and invests in communities, workplaces, retail, and infrastructure projects, headquartered in Barangaroo, New South Wales, Australia. History Founding The company was estab ...

pulled out of the project, blaming the credit crunch. More recently work has begun with talks of a metrolink to Manchester, redevelopment of the old bus station amongst many old buildings becoming luxury apartments. Also many roadworks to deal with the intended growth from the development. Market Hall Interior

Landmarks

Stockport Town Hall Stockport Town Hall is a building in Stockport, England, that houses the government and administrative functions of Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council. Stockport Town Hall is a Grade II* listed building. History The building, which was de ...

, designed by Sir

Alfred Brumwell Thomas Sir Alfred Brumwell Thomas (24 February 1868 – 22 January 1948) was an English architect who trained at Westminster School of Art and became an exponent of the Baroque Revival, a style of architecture prevalent for public buildings in the early ...

, has a ballroom described by John Betjeman as "magnificent" which contains the

Wurlitzer The Rudolph Wurlitzer Company, usually referred to as simply Wurlitzer, is an American company started in Cincinnati in 1853 by German immigrant (Franz) Rudolph Wurlitzer. The company initially imported stringed, woodwind and brass instruments ...

theatre pipe organ formerly installed in the Paramount and later Odeon Theater in Manchester. The war memorial and art gallery are on Greek Street, opposite the town hall. Underbank Hall is a Grade II* listed late 16th-century timber-framed building which was the townhouse of the Arderne family from

who occupied it until 1823. Since 1824, it has been used as a bank and its main banking hall lies behind the 16th-century structure and dates from 1915.

is high, and carries four railway tracks over the River Mersey on the line to Manchester Piccadilly. The viaduct built of 11,000,000 bricks, a major feat of Victorian engineering, was completed in 21 months at a cost of £70,000. The structure is Grade II* listed. Beside the M60 motorway is the Stockport Pyramid, a distinctive structure designed by Christopher Denny from Michael Hyde and Associates. It has a steel frame covered with mostly blue glass and clear glass paneling at the apex and was intended to be the signature building for a much larger development planned in 1987. Construction began in the early 1990s and it was completed in 1992 but an economic downturn caused the project to be abandoned as the developers went into administration. The building lay empty until 1995 when

The Co-operative Bank The Co-operative Bank plc is a retail and commercial bank in the United Kingdom, with its headquarters in Balloon Street, Manchester. The Co-operative Bank is the only UK high street bank with a customer-led Ethical Policy which is incorporat ...

repossessed it and opened it as a

call centre A call centre ( Commonwealth spelling) or call center ( American spelling; see spelling differences) is a managed capability that can be centralised or remote that is used for receiving or transmitting a large volume of enquiries by telephon ...

. Vernon Park, to the east towards

, was opened on 20 September 1858 on the anniversary of the

Battle of Alma The Battle of the Alma (short for Battle of the Alma River) was a battle in the Crimean War between an allied expeditionary force (made up of French, British, and Ottoman forces) and Russian forces defending the Crimean Peninsula on 20Septem ...

in the

Crimean War The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia. Geopolitical causes of the war included the ...

. It was named after Lord Vernon who presented the land to the town. St Elisabeth's Church, Reddish and the model village are parts a mill community designed in the main by Alfred Waterhouse for workers of Houldsworth Mill.

Transport

Road

The Manchester orbital

M60 motorway The M60 motorway, Manchester Ring Motorway or Manchester Outer Ring Road is an orbital motorway in North West England. Built over a 40-year period, it passes through most of Greater Manchester's metropolitan boroughs except for Wigan and Bol ...

and the A6, which connects Carlisle with

, cross at Stockport.

Railway

Stockport railway station Stockport railway station in Stockport, Greater Manchester, England, is 8 miles south-east of Manchester Piccadilly on the West Coast Main Line to London Euston. History The Manchester and Birmingham Railway opened in stages from Manchester an ...

is a principal station on the Manchester spur of the

West Coast Main Line The West Coast Main Line (WCML) is one of the most important railway corridors in the United Kingdom, connecting the major cities of London and Glasgow with branches to Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester and Edinburgh. It is one of the busiest ...

. It is served by

Avanti West Coast Avanti West Coast is a train operating company in the United Kingdom owned by FirstGroup (70%) and Trenitalia (30%) that operates the West Coast Partnership franchise. During November 2016, the Department for Transport (DfT) announced the Inter ...

, CrossCountry, East Midlands Railway,

Northern Trains Northern Trains, branded as Northern, (legally Northern Trains Limited) is a publicly owned train operating company in England. It is owned by DfT OLR Holdings for the Department for Transport (DfT), after the previous operator Arriva Rail N ...

TransPennine Express TransPennine Express (TPE), legally First TransPennine Express Limited, is a British train operating company owned by FirstGroup that operates the TransPennine Express franchise. It runs regional and inter-city rail services between the major ci ...

and

Transport for Wales Transport for Wales (TfW; cy, Trafnidiaeth Cymru; cy, TrC, label=none) is a not-for-profit company owned by the Welsh Government and managed at arms length by its appointed board. TfW oversees the Transport for Wales Group (TfW Group) consi ...

services. Stockport Tiviot Dale station also served the town centre between 1865 and 1967, lying on routes from Manchester Central to

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

and

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire a ...

. Most of the station site now lies under the M60 motorway.

Air

Manchester Airport, the busiest in the UK outside London, is south-west of the town, which lies under the airport's flightpath. Historically known as Ringway airport, the area formed part of the Stockport Metropolitan Borough until it transferred to Manchester.

Buses

Stockport bus station, which served as a terminus for many services across the borough, was one of the largest and busiest bus stations in Greater Manchester. It was demolished in late 2021 and is currently being rebuilt into Stockport Interchange; bus services are therefore commencing, stopping and terminating at nearby locations.

Education

Stockport College Stockport College is a medium-sized educational institute in Stockport, Greater Manchester, England, providing further education and higher education to those aged 16 and over. It provides educational opportunities for the community including; s ...

is based in the town centre. Also Stockport is home to Stockport Grammar School, established in 1487, one of the oldest in the north-west of England.

Religion

St Mary's Church, the town's oldest place of worship, was the centre of a large ecclesiastical parish covering Bramhall, Bredbury, Brinnington, Disley, Dukinfield, Hyde, Marple, Norbury, Offerton, Romiley, Stockport Etchells, Torkington and Werneth. Chapels and churches were built in those townships and the parish today covers a much smaller area. Parts of the church, situated by the market place, date to the early 14th century and it houses the Stockport Heritage centre, run by volunteers on market days. The church is Grade I listed. In the town are the Grade II listed Roman Catholic St Joseph's Church and Our Lady and the Apostles Church.

Culture

Stockport's museums include the

in Wellington Mill, a former hat factory, and Stockport Air Raid Shelters in the tunnels dug in World War II to protect inhabitants in air raids. Staircase House, a Grade II* listed medieval townhouse, houses the Stockport Story Museum. The

Plaza A town square (or square, plaza, public square, city square, urban square, or ''piazza'') is an open public space, commonly found in the heart of a traditional town but not necessarily a true geometric square, used for community gatherings. ...

is a Grade II* listed Super Cinema and Variety Theatre built in 1932. It is the last venue of its kind operating in its original format, making it of international significance. In 2018, a new leisure complex opened called Redrock Stockport providing facilities including a cinema, restaurants, bars and a gym. In the same year, it was named by ''

Building Design Building design refers to the broadly based architectural, engineering and technical applications to the design of buildings. All building projects require the services of a building designer, typically a licensed architect. Smaller, less complica ...

'' magazine as the "worst new building" in its annual

Carbuncle Cup The Carbuncle Cup was an architecture prize, given annually by the magazine ''Building Design'' to "the ugliest building in the United Kingdom completed in the last 12 months". It was intended to be a humorous response to the prestigious Stirlin ...

competition.

Strawberry Studios Strawberry Studios was a recording studio in Stockport, England. Founded in 1968, it operated until the early 1990s. Formation The facility was originally called Inter-City Studios and located above a music store in the town centre. In early 1 ...

at No. 3 Waterloo Road was a recording studio from 1968 to 1993, partly owned and used extensively by 10cc, as well as many other major artists including

Joy Division Joy Division were an English rock band formed in Salford in 1976. The group consisted of vocalist Ian Curtis, guitarist/keyboardist Bernard Sumner, bassist Peter Hook and drummer Stephen Morris. Sumner and Hook formed the band after atte ...

Neil Sedaka Neil Sedaka (; born March 13, 1939) is an American singer-songwriter and pianist. Since his music career began in 1957, he has sold millions of records worldwide and has written or co-written over 500 songs for himself and other artists, collabo ...

, Barclay James Harvest,

The Smiths The Smiths were an English rock band formed in Manchester in 1982. They comprised the singer Morrissey, the guitarist Johnny Marr, the bassist Andy Rourke and the drummer Mike Joyce. They are regarded as one of the most important acts to eme ...

The Stone Roses The Stone Roses were an English rock band formed in Manchester in 1983. One of the pioneering groups of the Madchester movement in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the band's classic and most prominent lineup consisted of vocalist Ian Brown, ...

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. One ...

and St Winifred's School Choir. Local writer

Simon Stephens Simon Stephens (born 6 February 1971) is an English playwright and Professor of Scriptwriting at Manchester Metropolitan University. Having taught on the Young Writers' Programme at the Royal Court Theatre for many years, he is now an Artistic ...

' play ''Port'' is set in and around Stockport. The play has been performed at the

National Theatre, London The Royal National Theatre in London, commonly known as the National Theatre (NT), is one of the United Kingdom's three most prominent publicly funded performing arts venues, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal Opera House. I ...

. The painter

Alan Lowndes Alan Lowndes (1921–1978) was a British painter known primarily for his scenes of northern life. He also spent time in St Ives, and he was a close friend of many of the St Ives School artists. Lowndes was born in Heaton Norris, Lancashire, a ...

featured Stockport scenes in his work. The

indie pop Indie pop (also typeset as indie-pop or indiepop) is a music genre and subculture that combines guitar pop with DIY ethic in opposition to the style and tone of mainstream pop music. It originated from British post-punk in the late 1970s and su ...

band

Blossoms In botany, blossoms are the flowers of stone fruit trees (genus ''Prunus'') and of some other plants with a similar appearance that flower profusely for a period of time in spring. Colloquially, flowers of orange are referred to as such as wel ...

are from Stockport. The

indie rock Indie rock is a subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the music they produc ...

band Derailer are also from Stockport Paul Eastham, the front man of folk rock band

COAST The coast, also known as the coastline or seashore, is defined as the area where land meets the ocean, or as a line that forms the boundary between the land and the coastline. The Earth has around of coastline. Coasts are important zones in ...

, was born in Stockport in July 1981 at Stepping Hill Hospital.

Claire Foy Claire Elizabeth Foy (born 16 April 1984) is a British actress. She is best known for her portrayal of the young Queen Elizabeth II in the first two seasons of the Netflix series ''The Crown'' (2016–2017) for which she won a Primetime Emmy Aw ...

, an actress who is best known for her main role in ''

The Crown The Crown is the state in all its aspects within the jurisprudence of the Commonwealth realms and their subdivisions (such as the Crown Dependencies, overseas territories, provinces, or states). Legally ill-defined, the term has different ...

'' as Queen Elizabeth II, was born in Stockport in April 1984 at Stepping Hill Hospital Poet and electroclash musician Elise Hadgraft aka Corporationpop is from Stockport. Her home town features in many of her poems and songs, including "Seven Miles South". Her ''Meet me by the Viaduct'' ep was released on cult indie label Odd Box Records in 2018 The BBC Radio comedy programme ''Stockport, so good they named it once'' was set in the town. Two series were recorded. The singer Barb Jungr released an album entitled ''Stockport to Memphis'' in 2012 inspired by her memories of 1960s Stockport. The town was 'honoured' by the single "Stockport" released in 1983 by

Frankie Vaughan Frankie Vaughan (born Frank Fruim Abelson; 3 February 1928 – 17 September 1999) was an English singer and actor who recorded more than 80 easy listening and traditional pop singles in his lifetime. He was known as "Mr. Moonlight" after his ...

(written by Geoff Morrow and recorded at The Plaza) The 18th century composer and organist of the Manchester Collegiate Church (later Manchester Cathedral), John Wainwright, composed the hymn tune, "Yorkshire (Stockport)", to the Christmas hymn, "Christians Awake, Salute the Happy Morn", by

John Byrom John Byrom or John Byrom of Kersal or John Byrom of Manchester FRS (29 February 1692 – 26 September 1763) was an English poet, the inventor of a revolutionary system of shorthand and later a significant landowner. He is most remembered as t ...

. 2006 UK entrant to the Eurovision Song Contest,

Daz Sampson Darren "Daz" Sampson (born 28 November 1974) is a British professional football manager/scout, music producer and broadcaster. Sampson is known for his commercial dance music as part of several groups and his television appearances. He has had n ...

, was born in Stockport.

Sport

Athletics

Modern 'Cross Country Champion' medal (FindID 975244)

Stockport has three

athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competi ...

clubs: Manchester Harriers & AC, Stockport Harriers & AC and DASH Athletics Club. Manchester Harriers train at William Scholes' Playing Fields in Gatley and they organise highly regarded schools cross country races throughout the winter. Stockport Harriers are based at Woodbank Park in Offerton; they have several international middle-distance and endurance athletes including Andy Nixon. DASH Athletics Club are the newest club in Stockport based at both Hazel Grove Recreation Centre and the

Manchester Regional Arena Manchester Regional Arena is a multipurpose stadium in Manchester, England, primarily used for athletics, football and rugby league. History It was originally developed as the warm-up track for the 2002 Commonwealth Games held at the adjacent ...

at Sportcity in Manchester. In 2006, DASH AC Coach Geoff Barratt was UK Athletics' Development Coach of the Year and, in 2007, the club won England Athletics North West Junior Club and North West Overall Club of the Year accolades.

Football

Stockport County F.C. Stockport County Football Club are a professional football club in Stockport, England, who compete in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1883 as Heaton Norris Rovers, they were renamed Stockport Co ...

play in the EFL League Two . The club was formed in 1883 as Heaton Norris Rovers, changing its name to Stockport County in 1890 to reflect the town's status as a

county borough County borough is a term introduced in 1889 in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, to refer to a borough or a city independent of county council control, similar to the unitary authorities created since the 1990s. An equivalent te ...

. It joined the Football League in 1900. Its most successful season was the 1996–97 season, when it reached the Football League Cup semi-finals and won promotion to

Division One The Football League First Division was a division of the Football League in England from 1888 until 2004. It was the top division in the English football league system from the season 1888–89 until 1991–92, a century in which the First ...

. The town is also home to

Non-League Non-League football describes football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is specifically used to d ...

clubs, Stockport Georgians A.F.C. & Cheadle Heath Nomads F.C. Stockport Town F.C. & Cheadle Town F.C. are based within the Borough of Stockport. Stockport Sports F.C. (formerly Woodley Sports) was another non-League football club that played within the

Borough A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History In the Middle A ...

. In their final season, the club competed in the NWCFL Premier Division before dissolving in 2015, due to a breach of numerous league rules.

Lacrosse

Stockport Lacrosse Club Stockport Lacrosse Club is a lacrosse club based in Davenport, Greater Manchester, a suburb of Stockport. The club was established in 1876 and is the oldest lacrosse club in England. Stockport currently field both men's and women's lacrosse tea ...

which plays at Stockport Cricket Club, Cale Green, was founded in 1876 and its first match was played as Shaw Heath Villa. It is reputed to be the oldest club in the world and has men's, ladies' and junior teams. There are lacrosse clubs at Norbury (Hazel Grove) Cheadle, Cheadle Hulme, Heaton Mersey, Heaton Mersey Guild (now merged with Manchester Waconians) and Mellor. Stockport Grammar School Old Boys (Old Stopfordians) merged with Norbury in 2013.

Rugby league

When the

rugby football Rugby football is the collective name for the team sports of rugby union and rugby league. Canadian football and, to a lesser extent, American football were once considered forms of rugby football, but are seldom now referred to as such. The ...

schism occurred in 1895, Stockport RFC, founded in 1895, became a founder member of the Northern Rugby Football Union (now

Rugby Football League The Rugby Football League is the governing body for professional rugby league in England, and until 1995 for the whole British Isles. The name Rugby Football League previously also referred to the main league competition run by the organisati ...

). Stockport played for eight seasons from the 1895–96 season to the end of 1902–1903 season, the latter two seasons played at

Edgeley Park Edgeley Park is a football stadium in Edgeley, Stockport, England. Built for rugby league club Stockport RFC in 1891, by 1903, the rugby club was defunct and Stockport County Football Club moved in. Edgeley Park is an all-seater stadium hold ...

, the club finished 17th of 22 in the initial combined league, then 5th, 11th, 11th, 9th, 12th, 6th, in the 14-club Lancashire Senior Competition, and then 18th of 18 in Division 2 of the recombined league, after which it withdrew from the Northern Rugby Football Union. In the early 1980s, the Stockport Amateur Rugby League club played in the BARLA North West Counties League. They played at Lancashire Hill although changed at The Three Crowns. The founder was a local postman, Graham Tonge. They used the same colours as the original club - claret and black.

Rugby union

Sale Sharks Rugby Union Club played at Edgeley Park from 2002 to 2012, when they moved to the

AJ Bell Stadium Salford City Stadium (referred to as the AJ Bell Stadium for sponsorship purposes) is a rugby stadium in Barton-upon-Irwell, England, built to replace Salford rugby league club's ground the Willows for the 2012 season. Sale Sharks rugby unio ...

Barton-upon-Irwell Barton upon Irwell (also known as Barton-on-Irwell or Barton) is a suburb of the City of Salford, Greater Manchester, England, with a population of 12,462 in 2014. History Barton Old Hall, a brick-built house degraded to a farmhouse, was the se ...

. Manchester Rugby Union Club play at Grove Lane in Cheadle Hulme.

Swimming

Stockport Metro Swimming Club is based at Grand Central Pools. At the

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

in Atlanta,

Graeme Smith Graeme Craig Smith (born 1 February 1981) is a South African cricket commentator and former cricketer who played for South Africa in all formats. In 2003, he was appointed captain of the national team, taking over from Shaun Pollock. He held t ...

won bronze in the 1500m freestyle, and, at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Steve Parry won bronze in the 200m

butterfly Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The group comprise ...

. Most recently, at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing,

Keri-anne Payne Keri-anne Payne (born 9 December 1987), also known by her married name Keri-anne Carry, is a South African-born British swimmer, specialising in marathon open water swimming, and long-distance freestyle swimming in the pool. She is a two-time 1 ...

and Cassie Patten won silver and bronze, respectively, in the 10 km open water swim.

Tennis

Stockport is the birthplace of former World No.1 tennis player

Fred Perry Frederick John Perry (18 May 1909 – 2 February 1995) was a British tennis and table tennis player and former world No. 1 from England who won 10 Majors including eight Grand Slam tournaments and two Pro Slams single titles, as well ...

; winner of 8 Grand Slam singles titles, 2 Pro Slams singles titles, 2 doubles titles and 4 mixed-double titles. He was the first person to complete a Career Grand Slam and also won the Davis Cup on four consecutive occasions (1933-1936).

Liam Broady Liam Tarquin Broady (born 4 January 1994) is a tennis player and current British No. 6. In 2010, he won the Boys' Doubles at Wimbledon with Tom Farquharson, and the Boys' Doubles at the Australian Open with Joshua Ward-Hibbert, as well as reac ...

and his sister

Naomi Broady Naomi Broady (; born 28 February 1990) is a British tennis player. She has won one WTA doubles title, as well as nine singles titles and 20 doubles titles on the ITF Women's Circuit. On 7 March 2016, she reached her best singles ranking of w ...

, the tennis professionals, were born in Stockport, attending Tithe Barn and then Priestnall School.

Youth organisations

The Stockport area is covered by several different cadet units. A unit of Sea Cadet Corps based near the Pear Mill Industrial Estate and several squadrons of the Air Training Corps, based on the A6 opposite St George's Church and others on Reddish Road in South Reddish. Stockport also has a youth council
Stockport Youth Council
which is based in Grand Central. Young people under the age of 18 directly elect two individuals into the

UK Youth Parliament The UK Youth Parliament (UKYP) is a youth organisation in the United Kingdom, consisting of democratically elected members aged between 11 and 18. Formed in 2000, the parliament has 369 members, who are elected to represent the views of young ...

Twin towns

Stockport is twinned with: * Béziers Blason Béziers

, France (1972) * Heilbronn, Germany (1982) *

Dodge City Dodge City is the county seat of Ford County, Kansas, United States, named after nearby Fort Dodge. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 27,788. The city is famous in American culture for its history as a wild frontier town ...

, United States (2002)

Freedom of the Borough

The following people and military units have received the

Freedom of the Borough The Freedom of the City (or Borough in some parts of the UK) is an honour bestowed by a municipality upon a valued member of the community, or upon a visiting celebrity or dignitary. Arising from the medieval practice of granting respected ...

of Stockport.

Individuals

: 1934. * Christopher Finney GC: 5 September 2007.

Military units

* The

Cheshire Regiment The Cheshire Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army, part of the Prince of Wales' Division. The 22nd Regiment of Foot was raised by the Duke of Norfolk in 1689 and was able to boast an independent existence of over 300 years. ...

: 1969. * 1st Battalion The

Mercian Regiment The Mercian Regiment (Cheshire, Worcesters and Foresters, and Staffords) is an infantry regiment of the British Army, which is recruited from five of the counties that formed the ancient kingdom of Mercia. Known as 'The Heart of England's Infant ...

: 11 November 2010.

Notable people

Joan Bakewell Joan Dawson Bakewell, Baroness Bakewell, (''née'' Rowlands; born 16 April 1933), is an English journalist, television presenter and Labour Party peer. Baroness Bakewell is president of Birkbeck, University of London; she is also an author a ...

Owen Jones Owen Jones (born 8 August 1984) is a British newspaper columnist, political commentator, journalist, author, and left-wing activist. He writes a column for ''The Guardian'' and contributes to the ''New Statesman'' and '' Tribune.'' He has two ...

Margaret Burbidge Eleanor Margaret Burbidge, FRS (; 12 August 1919 – 5 April 2020) was a British-American observational astronomer and astrophysicist. In the 1950s, she was one of the founders of stellar nucleosynthesis and was first author of the influentia ...

Sally Lindsay Sally Jane Lindsay (born 8 July 1973) is an English actress and television presenter known for her roles as Shelley Unwin in the long-running ITV soap opera ''Coronation Street'', Lisa Johnson in the Sky One comedy series '' Mount Pleasant'' a ...

Phil Foden Philip Walter Foden (born 28 May 2000) is an English professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for club Manchester City and the England national team. He is considered one of the best young players in the world. Foden's breakthrough ...

Helen Housby Helen Housby (born 19 January 1995 in Stockport, Manchester) is a professional English netball player.anchester_Evening_News_-_13_May_2014_-"> Housby_played_for_the_Superleague_side_Manchester_Thunder_from_2013_to_2016,_helping_them_to_win_the_ ...

* Ben McAllister *

Michelle Keegan Michelle Elizabeth Keegan (born 3 June 1987) is an English actress, known for her roles as Tina McIntyre in the ITV soap opera ''Coronation Street'' and Sergeant Georgie Lane in the BBC drama series '' Our Girl''. Keegan also starred as Tra ...

Adam Le Fondre Glenville Adam James Le Fondre (born 2 December 1986), known as Adam Le Fondre, is an English professional footballer who plays as a striker for Sydney FC in the A-League. He previously played for his hometown club Stockport County as well a ...

* Peter Snape

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * * *

External links

Stockport CouncilStockport Market in pictures 1977
* {{authority control Towns in Greater Manchester Market towns in Greater Manchester Unparished areas in Greater Manchester Geography of the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport