Stockport in historic gazetteers

Gazetteer of the British Isles (Edinburgh: Bartholomew, 1887). John Bartholomew

Stockport.-- parl. and mun. bor., manufacturing town, par., and township, Cheshire, on river Mersey, 5 miles SE. of Manchester by rail - par. (containing part of Stalybridge bor.), 24,833 ac., pop. 109,279; township, 1371 ac., pop. 33,167; bor. (extending into Heaton Norris township, Manchester par., Lancashire), 2200 ac., pop. 59,553; 4 Banks, 6 newspapers. Market-days, Friday and Saturday. Stockport is an ancient place, with the site of a castle of Saxon and Norman times; but its importance is chiefly of modern date, and is owing to the marvellous expansion of the cotton trade, which has superseded the silk trade, and in its various departments of spinning, weaving, bleaching, printing, and dyeing, has become the staple industry of the town. There are also hat mfrs., engine and machine shops, iron and brass foundries, breweries, and brick works. The town is built on the slopes of a narrow gorge where the Tame and the Goyt unite to form the Mersey, and has a very picturesque appearance. Some of its principal features are St Mary's Church (with ancient chancel), the free grammar school (1487), the Sunday school (with its branches, attended by about 5000 children), the free library, the Vernon Park (with museum), and the great railway viaduct which crosses the Mersey. Stockport was made a free borough in the time of Henry III., and a parl. borough in 1832. It returns 2 members to Parliament.