County Borough of Stockport

Stockport County Borough was a county-level local authority between 1889 and 1974. The town of Stockport had been an ancient borough governed by a charter dating from circa 1220 granted by Ranulph de Blondeville, 4th Earl of Chester. It was reformed to become a municipal borough in 1836 under the Municipal Corporations Act 1835. The municipal borough consisted of parts of Cheshire, namely the township of Stockport and the neighbouring areas of Edgeley and Portwood, and part of Heaton Norris in Lancashire. When elected county councils were established in 1889 under the Local Government Act 1888, Stockport was considered large enough to provide its own county-level services, and so it became a county borough, independent of the county councils of Cheshire and Lancashire. The county borough continued to be divided between the two counties for judicial and lieutenancy purposes. Under the Stockport Borough Extension Act 1901 the borough was enlarged, absorbing the urban district of Reddish in Lancashire as well a number of parts of Cheshire parishes. The Stockport (Extension) Order 1913 saw a further enlargement with the absorption of Heaton Norris Urban District from Lancashire. In 1956 the borough was placed entirely in Lancashire for judicial purposes, whilst continuing to straddle Cheshire and Lancashire for the purposes of lieutenancy. The county borough was abolished by the Local Government Act 1972 with its territory forming part of the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport district of Greater Manchester.