Stockport

Stockport ( /ˈstɒkpɔːt/) is a town in Greater Manchester, England. It lies on elevated ground 6 miles (10 km) southeast of Manchester city centre, at the point where the rivers Goyt and Tame join and create the River Mersey. Stockport is the largest settlement in the metropolitan borough of the same name. As of the 2001 Census the town had a population of 136,082 and the wider borough 281,000.

Stockport in the 16th century was a small town entirely on the southbank of the Mersey, and known for the cultivation of hemp and rope manufacture. In the 18th century the town had one of the first mechanised silk factories in the British Isles. 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; the last hat works in Stockport closed in 1997. 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 carry the mainline railways from Manchester to Birmingham and London over the River Mersey. This structure featured as the background in many paintings by L.S. Lowry.

History

Toponymy

Stockport was 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 probably refers to Stockport Castle, a 12th century motte-and-bailey first mentioned in 1173.^[4]

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.^[5] By contrast, former pupils of Stockport School are known as Old Stoconians. Stopfordian is the general term used for people from Stockport, much as someone from London would be a Londoner.

Stockport has never been a sea or river port. The Mersey is not navigable to anything much above canoe size; in the centre of Stockport it has been culverted and the main shopping street, Merseyway, built above it.

Early history

The earliest evidence for human occupation in the wider area are microliths from the hunter-gatherers of the Mesolithic period (the Middle Stone Age, about 8000–3500 BC) and weapons and stone tools from the Neolithic 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 urns; all finds have been chance discoveries, rather than a systematic search 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. This may indicate depopulation, possibly due to a poorer climate.^[6]

Despite a strong local tradition, there is little evidence of a Roman military station at Stockport.^[7][8] It is assumed that roads from Cheadle to Ardotalia (Melandra) and Manchester to Buxton crossed close to the town centre. The preferred site is at a ford over the Mersey, known to be paved in the 18th century, but it has never been proved that this or any roads in the area are Roman. Hegginbotham reported (in 1892) the discovery of Roman mosaics at Castle Hill (around Stockport market) in the late 18th century, during the construction of a mill, but noted it was "founded on tradition only"; substantial stonework has never been dated by modern methods. However, Roman coins and pottery were probably found there during the 18th century. A cache of coins dating from 375–378 AD may have come from the banks of the Mersey at Daw Bank; these were possibly buried for safekeeping at the side of a road.^[7]

Six coins from the reigns of the Anglo-Saxon English Kings Edmund (reigned 939–946) and Eadred (reigned 946–955) were found during ploughing at Reddish Green in 1789.^[1][9] There is contrasting source material 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.^[1] However, the etymology Stoc-port suggests inhabitation during this period.^[10]

Medieval period

No part of Stockport appears in the Domesday Book of 1086. The area north of the Mersey was part of the hundred of Salford, which was poorly surveyed. The area south of the Mersey was part of the Hamestan (Macclesfield) hundred. (Cheadle, Bramhall, Bredbury, 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 (etc.) for the times of Edward the Confessor (i.e. 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'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 needeed (see e.g. Husain^[11]).

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, who was one of the rebels.^[12] Dent gives the size of the castle as about 31 by 60 m (102 by 200 ft), and suggests it was similar in pattern to those at Pontefract 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.^[13][14] 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.^[15]

Industrialisation

Stockport was one of the prototype textile towns.^[17] In the early 18th century, England was not capable of producing silk of sufficient quality to be used as the warp in woven fabrics. Suitable thread had to be imported from Italy, where it was spun on water-powered machinery. In about 1717 John Lombe 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. When Lombe tried to renew his patent in 1732, silk spinners from towns including Manchester, Macclesfield, Leek, and Stockport successfully petitioned parliament to not renew the patent. Lombe was paid off, and in 1732 Stockport's first silk mill (indeed, the first water-powered textile mill 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.^[16] 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" [of the Manchester region]^[17]) 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.^[18] In 1796, James Harrisson drove a wide cut from the Tame which fed several mills in the Park, Portwood.^[19] Other water-powered mills were built on the Mersey.

Hatmaking was established in north Cheshire and south-east Lancashire by the 16th century. 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.

The First World War cut off overseas markets, which established local industries and eroded Stockports eminence. Even so, in 1932 over 3,000 people worked in the 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 area. By 1966–1967 all the major companies merged to form Associated British Hat Manufacturers, leaving Christy's and Wilson's (at Denton) as the last two factories in production. First Wilson's, and then (in 1997) Christy's closed, bringing to an end over 400 years of hatting in the area.^[20][21][22] The industry is commemorated the UK's only dedicated hatting museum, Hat Works.^[23][24]

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".^[25] The town was connected to the national canal network by the 5 miles (8.0 km) 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.

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 underground Second World War 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 C-4 Argonaut aeroplane crashed in the Hopes Carr area of the town, resulting in 72 deaths among the passengers and crew.

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.

Governance

Civic history

Stockport was a township mostly within the Macclesfield Hundred within the historic county of Cheshire with a small part on the north side of the Mersey in Lancashire.^[26] The Municipal Corporations Act 1835 made Stockport a municipal borough divided into six wards with a council consisting of 14 aldermen and 42 councillors. Under the terms of the Poor Law Amendment Act 1834, 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 at Shaw Heath in 1841.^[27] In 1888, its status was raised to County Borough, 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 was abolished and Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council assumed many of its functions, effectively becoming a unitary authority.

In 2011 Stockport bid to be given city status as part of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee celebrations. Competition for this status includes Bolton, Blackpool and Reading. A decision will be made in 2012.^[28]

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; and 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.

Geography

At (53.408°, -2.149°), and 157 miles (253 km) northwest of London, Stockport stands on elevated ground, 6.1 miles (9.8 km) southeast of Manchester city centre, at the confluence of the rivers Goyt and Tame, creating the River Mersey. It shares a common boundary with the City of Manchester.

Divisions and suburbs

Demography

As of the 2001 UK census, 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.^[31] Of those over 16 years old, 32% were single (never married) and 50.2% married.^[32] 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.^[33] 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 significantly similar to 28.9% in all of England.^[30][34]

Although suburbs such as Woodford, 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.

Population change

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 six miles (10 km) from Manchester, making it convenient for commuters and shoppers. In 2008, the council's £500M plans to redevelop the town centre were cancelled. The construction company, Lend Lease Corporation, pulled out of the project, blaming the credit crunch for their choice.^[39]

Landmarks

Stockport Town Hall designed by Sir Alfred Brumwell Thomas, has a ballroom described by John Betjeman as 'magnificent' containing the largest Wurlitzer theatre organ in Britain. The War memorial and art gallery are located 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 Bredbury who occupied it until 1823.^[40] Since 1824, it has been used as a bank and its main banking hall lies behind the 16th-century structure and dates from 1915.^[15]

Stockport Viaduct is 111 feet (34 m) 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.^[41] The structure is Grade II* listed.^[42]

Beside the M60 motorway is the Stockport Pyramid, a distinctive structure designed by Maxwell Hutchinson. 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 repossessed it and opened it as a call centre.

Vernon Park, the main municipal park, located to the east towards Bredbury, was opened on September 20, 1858 on the anniversary of the Battle of Alma in the Crimean War. It was named after Lord Vernon who presented the land to the town. Stockport has 12 local nature reserves, (Abney Hall Park, Carr Wood, Chadkirk Country Estate, Etherow Country Park, Gatley Carrs, Heaton Mersey Common, Happy Valley, Mersey Vale Nature Park, Poise Brook, Reddish Vale Country Park, Woodbank Park and Wright's Wood.^[43]

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, which was once the largest cotton mill in the world.

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. Stockport is connected with Central London by Virgin trains with services departing every twenty minutes. Stockport Tiviot Dale station also served the town centre between 1865 and 1967, lying on routes from Liverpool, Derby and Sheffield. The station site now lies under the M60 motorway.^[44]

Manchester Airport (Ringway), the busiest in the UK outside London, is located five miles (8 km) southwest of the town. Stockport is also home to Stockport bus station, which serves as a terminus for many services across the borough. A free bus service links the bus and rail stations with other parts of Stockport, including shopping areas.

Education

Stockport College has sites in the town centre and Heaton Moor. Also Stockport is home to Stockport Grammar School established in 1487, the oldest in the North of England

Religion

St Mary's Church is the town's oldest place of worship was the centre of a large ecclesiastical parish which covered Bramhall, Bredbury, Brinnington, Disley, Dukinfield, Hyde, Marple, Norbury, Offerton, Romiley, Stockport Etchells, Torkington and Werneth.^[26] Chapels and churches were built in these 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.^[45]

Culture

Stockport's museums include the "Hat Works", based in Wellington Mill, was a thriving hat factory in Victorian times^[46] and Stockport Air Raid Shelters based around the underground tunnels dug during World War II to protect local inhabitants during air raids.^[47] Staircase House is a Grade II* listed medieval townhouse ^[48] which is probably the town's oldest secular building^[15] housing the Stockport Story Museum.^[49]

The Plaza is a Grade II* listed Super Cinema and Variety Theatre built in 1932.^[50] It is the last venue of its kind operating in its original format making it of international significance.^[51]

Sports

Athletics

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 Andy Nixon. DASH Athletics Club are the newest Club in Stockport based at both Hazel Grove Recreation Centre,and the Manchester Regional 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.

Football

Stockport County F.C. play in the Conference National league. The club was formed in 1883 as Heaton Norris Rovers, changing its name to Stockport County in 1890 reflecting the town's status as a county borough. 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 into the Championship.

Lacrosse

Stockport Lacrosse Club 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, and Mellor. Stockport Grammar School old boys (Old Stopfordians) play at Disley. Edgeley Park hosted the 1978 Lacrosse World Cup.

Swimming

Stockport Metro Swimming Club, based at Grand Central Pools, is the most successful British swimming club, through the last three Olympic Games. Stockport Metro swimmers have claimed 50% of British swimming's medal haul. At the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Graeme Smith won bronze in the 1500m freestyle,^[52] and, at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Steve Parry won bronze in the 200m butterfly.^[53] Most recently, at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, Keri-Anne Payne and Cassie Patten won silver and bronze, respectively, in the 10 km open water swim.^[54]

Tennis

Stockport is the birthplace of tennis player, Fred Perry the last Briton to win the Men's Singles titles at Wimbledon and the US Open (in 1936), making him the last British male to win a Grand Slam title.

Rugby league

When the rugby football schism occurred in 1895, Stockport, founded in 1895, became a founder member of the Northern Rugby Football Union (now Rugby Football League). 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, 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.

Rugby Union

Sale Sharks Rugby Union Club have played at Edgeley Park since 2002

Youth organisations

The Stockport area is covered by several different squadrons of the Air Training Corps. Two of these Squadrons are 162 (Stockport) Squadron based on the A6 opposite St George's Church and 1804 (Four Heatons) Squadron based on Reddish Road. There is also a vast amount of youth basketball teams, and currently the Stockport Senior mens league team are in D3 of the EBL league after their promotion earlier last season from Division 4.

Twin towns — sister cities

Since 1972, Stockport has been twinned with in Béziers in France.^[55] Stockport is twinned with:

• Béziers, France (1972)
• Heilbronn, Germany (1982)

See also

• List of people from Stockport
• List of mills in Stockport

References

Bibliography

Further reading

External links

• Stockport Council
• Stockport Express