Stockport
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Stockport (pronunciation ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England. Situated 7 miles (11.3 km) south east of the city of Manchester, it is the largest settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport, and has a population of 136,083 (2001 Census), with the borough as a whole having 281,000. This makes the borough 23rd most populous district in England. There have been several bids by the council for city status.
Historically a part of Cheshire, in the 16th century Stockport was known for the cultivation of hemp and rope manufacture and in the 18th century the town had one of the first mechanised silk factories in the United Kingdom. However, Stockport's predominant industries of the 19th century were the cotton and allied industries. Stockport was also at the centre of the country's hatting industry which by 1884 was exporting more than six million hats a year. In December 1997 the last Stockport hat works closed. The town's hatting heritage is preserved at 'Hat Works - the Museum of Hatting'.
Dominating the western approaches to the town is the Stockport Viaduct. Built in 1840, the viaduct's 27 brick arches over the River Mersey carry the mainline railways from Manchester to Birmingham and London. This structure featured as the background in many paintings by L.S. Lowry.
The River Mersey begins in Stockport, at the confluence of the Rivers Goyt and Tame.
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[edit] History
[edit] Toponymy
Stockport was first recorded as "Stokeport" in 1170.[1][2] The currently accepted etymology is Old English stoc, a market place, with port, a hamlet (but more accurately a minor settlement within an estate); hence, a market place at a hamlet.[1][2]
Older derivations include stock, a stockaded place or castle, with port, a wood, hence a castle in a wood.[3] The castle part of the name probably refers to Stockport Castle, a 12th century motte-and-bailey first mentioned in 1173.[4] Other derivations have been formed, based on early variants of the name such as Stopford and Stockford. There is evidence that a ford across the Mersey existed at the foot of the town centre street now known as Bridge Street Brow. Stopford retains a use in the adjectival form, Stopfordian, used for Stockport-related items, and pupils at Stockport Grammar School style themselves as Stopfordians.[5] By contrast, former pupils of nearby Stockport School are known as Old Stoconians, perhaps from the Old English name for the town.
Stockport has never been a sea or river port. The Mersey is not navigable to anything much above canoe size, and in the centre of Stockport has been culverted and the main shopping street, Merseyway, is built above it.
[edit] Early history
There is sufficient evidence that a fortified stronghold existed in the vicinity in the time of the Ancient Britons, and that Agricola in AD 79 recognised its strategical advantages and fortified Stockport to guard the passage of the Mersey.[3]
After the Norman Conquest, it was ruled by a hereditary Baron of Stockport.
The town was connected to the national canal network by the 5 miles of the Stockport branch of the Ashton Canal 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.
The first borough charter was granted in about 1220 and was the only basis for local government for six hundred years.
From the 17th century Stockport became a centre for the hatting industry and later the silk industry. Stockport expanded rapidly during the Industrial Revolution, helped particularly by the growth of the cotton manufacturing industries. However, economic growth took its toll, and 19th century philosopher Friedrich Engels wrote in 1844 that Stockport was "renowned as one of the duskiest, smokiest holes in the whole of the industrial area".[6]
[edit] 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.
In 1967 the Stockport air disaster occurred, when a British Midland Airways C-4 Argonaut aeroplane crashed in the Hopes Carr area of the town, resulting in the deaths of 72 passengers.
In recent years, Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council has embarked on an ambitious regeneration scheme, known as Future Stockport. The plan is to bring over 3,000 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 residential and commercial developments.
[edit] Governance
Most of the town is within the historic county boundaries of Cheshire (south of the Mersey), although Reddish and the Four Heatons lay within the historic boundaries of Lancashire (north of the Mersey).
[edit] Civic history
The 1835 Municipal Corporations Act made Stockport a municipal borough divided into six wards with a council consisting of 14 Aldermen and 42 Councillors. In 1888, its status was raised to County Borough, becoming the County Borough of Stockport. Since 1972, Stockport has been twinned with in Béziers in France.[7] In 1974, under the Local Government Act 1972 Stockport amalgamated with neighbouring districts to form the Unitary Authority of the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport in the now ceremonial metropolitan county of Greater Manchester.
[edit] 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 Labour MP Ann Coffey since 1992.
Mark Hunter has been the Liberal Democrat MP for Cheadle since a 2005 by-election.
Andrew Stunell has been the Liberal Democrat MP for Hazel Grove since 1997.
The constituency of Denton and Reddish bridges Stockport and Tameside; the current member is Andrew Gwynne.
[edit] Local Council
Stopfordians are governed by Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council, which consists of 63 Councillors representing 21 wards. The Council operates an Executive System, with a ruling group of 10 Executive Councillors, each in charge of a specific area, for example Communities, Transport or Children and Young People.
The Council is currently controlled by the Liberal Democrat group, who have 36 Local Councillors (a majority of 5). The current Council Leader is Cllr Dave Goddard, who took over from Cllr Brian Millard in 2007. The next largest party is the Labour party with 14 seats, followed by the Conservative Party with 10 seats. The small, independent local issues party, the Heald Green Independent Rate Payers also hold three seats in the Heald Green Ward.
The current Mayor of Stockport is Liberal Democrat Councillor Pam King.
[edit] Demography
- Further information: Demography of Greater Manchester
The town had a population of 136,082 according to the 2001 Census, with the wider borough having a population of 284,528. Although suburbs such as Woodford, Greater Manchester, Bramhall and Hazel Grove rank amongst the wealthiest areas of the United Kingdom and 45% of the borough is green space, districts such as Adswood and Brinnington suffer from widespread poverty and post-industrial decay. In the north-west of the borough are the relatively prosperous areas of Heaton Moor and Heaton Mersey, which together with Heaton Chapel and Heaton Norris comprise the so-called Four Heatons.
Opinions on the general quality of life in Stockport greatly differ.[citation needed] In its favour, some highlight its proximity to Manchester, and its abundance of amenities; but its perceived grittiness and loutish youth culture earned it 12th place in the internet-based 2004 guide Crap Towns: The 50 Worst Places To Live In The UK (however, given that its fellows on this list were places such as Oxford, Winchester, Liverpool (European Capital of Culture 2008), and tiny London commuter belt villages, the relevance of the list is disputed).
[edit] Economy
Stockport's principal commercial district is located in the town centre, with branches of most high-street stores to be found in the Merseyway Shopping Centre or The Peel Centre. Grand Central Leisure boasts an Olympic sized swimming pool, a ten-screen cinema, bars, a bowling alley, health complex, and several restaurants. Stockport is located seven miles (10 km) from Manchester city centre, making it convenient for commuters and shoppers.
[edit] Places of interest
Stockport is home to the following:
- Bramall Hall is a superb example of a "Cheshire Black and White" timber framed manor house, with origins dating back to the Middle Ages. The property presents the visitor with a historic record spanning six centuries.
- Stockport boasts the UK's only hat museum, the "Hat Works" based in Wellington Mill - a thriving hat factory in Victorian times.[8]
- Stockport Viaduct is one of the western Europe's biggest brick structures,[9] the 111 feet (34 m) high, four-track railway viaduct over the River Mersey on the line to Manchester which represents a major feat of Victorian engineering, built in 21 months at a cost of £70,000. Eleven million bricks were used in its construction, opening in 1842. The foundation stone was laid on March 10, 1839.
- Staircase House is a Grade II* listed medieval townhouse in the Market Place. The building has been modified several times, but is probably the oldest secular building in Stockport.[10]
- Stockport Story Museum, detailing over 10,000 years of Stockport's history. This museum has free admission and is housed within Staircase House.
- Stockport Town Hall, with its ballroom, described by Poet Laureate, John Betjeman as 'magnificent' containing the largest Wurlitzer theatre organ in Britain designed by Sir Alfred Brumwell Thomas.
- Stockport College with sites in the town centre and Heaton Moor
- Underbank Hall in the centre of Stockport is a late 16th century timber framed building, built as the townhouse of the Arderne family from nearby Bredbury. It remained in the family until 1823, and since 1824 has been used as a bank. The current main banking hall lies behind the 16th century part and dates from 1915.[10] The building is listed Grade II*.
- Stockport Air Raid Shelters is a museum based around the underground tunnels dug during World War II to protect local inhabitants during air raids
- Vernon Park. This is the main municipal park, located a short distance to the east towards Bredbury. It was opened on September 20th, 1858 on the anniversary of the Battle of Alma in the Crimean War. Named after Lord Vernon who presented the land for the park to the town.
- St. Elisabeth's church, Reddish, and model village. Mill community designed in the main by Alfred Waterhouse for the workers from Houldsworth Mill, at the time the largest cotton mill in the world.
[edit] Transport
The Manchester orbital M60 motorway and A6 road to London cross at Stockport. Stockport railway station is a mainline station on the Manchester spur of the West Coast Main Line. Manchester Airport (Ringway), the busiest in the UK outside London, is located five miles (8 km) southwest of the town.
[edit] Sports
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Stockport is home to two professional sports teams, both of which play at Edgeley Park stadium:
Stockport County F.C. play in Football League One;. Their claim to fame is that they currently hold the record for the most consecutive Football League wins without conceding a goal with nine, achieved in 2007.[citation needed]
Sale Sharks Rugby Union club, who currently own Edgeley Park stadium, won the Guinness Premiership title in 2006 and boast current England internationals Mark Cueto, Charlie Hodgson, Andrew Sheridan and Andy Titterrell; Scotland's Jason White as well as capped overseas stars including Sébastien Chabal, Sébastien Bruno, Ignacio Fernández Lobbe.
Stockport Metro Swimming Club, based at Grand Central Pools is the most successful British swimming club, through the last three Olympic Games.[citation needed] Stockport Metro swimmers have claimed 50% of British swimming's medal haul.[citation needed] In the 1996 Atlanta games Graeme Smith won bronze in the 1500m freestyle and in the 2004 Athens games Stephen Parry won bronze in 200m butterfly.[citation needed]
Stockport has three athletics 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, and have several International middle-distance and endurance athletes including Steve Vernon. DASH Athletics Club are the newest Club in Stockport based at both Hazel Grove Recreation Centre,and the Regional Athletics Arena 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.
[edit] Notable people
As one of the larger towns in the UK, Stockport and its surrounding villages have had many notable residents throughout their history including dashing weatherman Chris Fawkes, actor Dominic Monaghan, best-known for his role in the movie adaptations of The Lord of the Rings (who attended Aquinas College in Stockport), John Amaechi, NBA Star and activist, novelist Christopher Isherwood, engineer Sir Joseph Whitworth, tennis player Fred Perry, judge John Bradshaw and architect Norman Foster. Distinguished first-class cricketers Fred Ridgway and Maurice Tremlett were born in Stockport and played test cricket for England.[11][12]
[edit] See also
- Stockport Air Disaster
- St Mary's Church, Stockport
- St Peter's Church, Stockport
- St George's Church, Heaviley
- Stockport Peel Centre
[edit] References
- ^ a b Arrowsmith (1997), p. 23.
- ^ a b Mills, A D (1997). Dictionary of English Place-Names (2nd ed). Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-280074-4.
- ^ a b Local History. Stockport MBC web pages. Retrieved on 2007-04-02.
- ^ Stockport Castle. Pastscape.org.uk. Retrieved on 2008-01-05.
- ^ Old Stopfordians' Association. Stockport Grammar School web pages. Retrieved on 2007-04-03.
- ^ Engels, Frederick [1845] (1969). "The great Towns", The Condition of the Working Class in England. Panther. “Stockport is renowned throughout the entire district as one of the duskiest, smokiest holes, and looks, indeed, especially when viewed from the viaduct, excessively repellent.”
- ^ Twin towns. Stockport.gov.uk. Retrieved on 2008-05-19.
- ^ Hat Works Web Site
- ^ Stockport Railway Viaduct.
- ^ a b Arrowsmith, Peter (1996). Recording Stockport's Past: Recent Investigations of Historic Sites in the Borough of Stockport. Stockport: Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council. ISBN 0-905164-20-2.
- ^ Fred Ridgway player profile. Cricinfo.com. Retrieved on 2007-08-27.
- ^ Wisden Cricket Monthly. Maurice Tremlett player profile. Cricinfo.com. Retrieved on 2007-08-27.
[edit] Bibliography
- Arrowsmith, Peter (1997). Stockport: a History. Stockport: Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council. ISBN 0-905164-99-7.
[edit] External links
- Stockport Council
- HatWorks Museum
- Stockport County Football Club
- The Stockport Express
- The National Library for the Blind
- National Trust
- Stockport Harriers and Athletics Club
- Stockport Grammar School
- Stockport College
- Merseyway Shopping Centre
