53°25N 2°10W, pop (2001e) 284 500. Town in Greater Manchester, NW England, UK; at junction of the Tame and Goyt Rivers which join to form the R Mersey, 10 km/6 mi SE of Manchester; birthplace of Joan Bakewell; railway; Manchester airport nearby; electronics, computers, aerospace, textiles (especially cotton), printing, engineering, foodstuffs; football league team, Stockport County.
Stockport is a large town in north west England.
History
Etymology
Stockport was originally a Saxon village.
An alternative theory put forward for the derivation of the town's name is that it is a corruption of Stopford, after a ford across the river at the bottom of what is now the town centre street named Market Street Brow.
Early history
There is sufficient evidence that a fortified stronghold existed in the vicinity in ancient British times, and that Agricola in AD79 recognised its strategical advantages and fortified Stockport to guard the passage of the Mersey.
After the Norman Conquest, it became ruled by a hereditary Baron of Stockport.
Stockport has never been a sea or river port. The River Mersey, which starts in Stockport at the confluence of the Rivers Goyt and Tame, is not navigable to anything much above canoe size, and in the centre of Stockport has been culverted and the main shopping street Merseyway built above it. 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.
Due to its proximity to Manchester, Stockport rapidly expanded during the Industrial Revolution, helped particularly by the growth of the cotton manufacturing industries.
Recent history
In 1967 the Stockport air disaster occurred, when a British Midland Airways Argonaut 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.
Demographics
The town had a population of 136,082 according to the 2001 Census, with the wider borough having a population of 284,528.
Administration
The 1835 Municipal Corporations Act made Stockport a municipal borough divided into seven wards. 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.
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.
The constituency of Denton and Reddish bridges Stockport and Tameside;
Industry and commerce
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.
Places of interest
Stockport is home to the following:
Bramall Hall. Stockport town hall, with its ballroom, described by Poet Laureate John Betjeman as 'magnificent' containing the largest Wurlitzer theatre organ in Britain. Stockport College with sites in the town centre and Heaton MoorTransport
The M60 motorway and A6 road cross over at Stockport.
Sport
League Two football team Stockport County Football Club play at their home ground Edgeley Park, which is also where rugby union side Sale Sharks play their home games. Stockport Metro Swimming Club trains in the Olympic sized swimming pool at The Grand Central Leisure ParkNotable residents
10cc (band) John Amaechi (NBA basketballer) Helen Atkinson-Wood (actor) Driver John Axon GC (locomotive driver and posthumous recipient of George Cross) Sir George Back (Admiral) Joan Bakewell (TV presenter) Peter Boardman (mountaineer) John Bradshaw (judge in trial of Charles I) Craig Cash (TV Writer/Actor) Judith Chalmers (TV presenter) Richard Cobden (politician) Katie Derham (newsreader) David Dickinson (TV presenter) Judy Finnigan (TV presenter) Yvette Fielding (TV presenter) Tibor Fischer (novelist) Sidney Gilliat (film director) John Goto (photographer) Simon Gregson (soap opera actor) Sarah Harding (member of pop group Girls Aloud) Richard Hardman(DJ) Ian Heaps (former World Coarse Fishing Champion) James Hickman (Olympic swimmer) Wendy Hiller (actress) Bill Hopkins (composer) Hotlegs (band) Dom Howard (musician) Christopher Isherwood (novelist) John Mahoney (actor, Frasier) Nicholas Marshall (player of games) Tim McInnerny (actor) Will Mellor (actor) Mr. Scruff (producer, recording artist and DJ) Dominic Monaghan (actor) Paul Morley (music journalist, critic, indie label founder) Emma Morton-Smith (singer) Newton (Billy Myers) (singer) Chelsea Norris (radio presenter) Northern Uproar (1990s band) Samuel Oldknow (cotton manufacturing pioneer) Fred Perry (tennis player) Gabrielle Ray (actress) Sabrina (actress) (real name Norma Anne Sykes, model and actress) Daz Sampson (DJ Daz) (rapper, DJ, Eurovision contestant, member of Uniting Nations) Alex Sanders (Wiccan) Sir Edmund Shaa (Lord Mayor of London) John Davenport Siddeley, 1st Baron Kenilworth (motoring pioneer and founder of Armstrong Siddeley) Simon Stephens (playwright) Bill Tarmey (actor) Steve Thomas (ice hockey player (Canada)) Jon Thorne (double bass player) Maurice Tremlett (cricketer) Paul Warhurst (football player) Joanne Whalley (actress) Sir Joseph Whitworth (engineer & entrepreneur) Frederick Williams (pioneer of the computer) Mike Yarwood (comedian) Ian Roberts (DJ) William Vallely (cricketer)
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