Stockport

Stockport is a town in Greater Manchester, England; it lies 6 miles (10 km) south-east of Manchester, 7 miles (11 km) south-west of Ashton-under-Lyne and 12 miles (19 km) north of Macclesfield. The rivers Goyt and Tame merge to create the River Mersey here. It is the main settlement of the wider Metropolitan Borough of Stockport. At the 2021 census, the built up area as defined by the Office for National Statistics had a population of 117,935, and the metropolitan borough had a population of 294,773. 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. 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. In the 18th century, it had one of the first mechanised silk factories in the British 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. The town's football club, Stockport County, is nicknamed The Hatters. Dominating the western approaches to the town is Stockport Viaduct. Built in 1840, its 27 brick arches carry the main line railway through the town over the River Mersey and the M60 motorway.