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The Location of Stockport
Stockport grew up as a defensive site with the original castle, market place and church being on hill top location with steep slopes. The red sandstone on which Stockport's market is situated overlooked and guarded an important ford over the River Mersey. It can also be viewed as a trade route as Stockport is situated at the point at which the rivers Tame and Goyt merge to become the River Mersey. Stockport therefore thrived as its site was at the convergence of trade routes. The fact that Stockport was close to a ford over the River Mersey helped the growth into a town.
Today, Stockport is situated approximately 7 miles South of Manchester city centre and is one of the towns which grew up around Manchester during the industrial revolution and was helped by the growth of the cotton manufacturing industries. Stockport has become an excellent commercial location with easy access to the regional and national road network. It is found at the 'hub of a national communications network, including Manchester Airport which is the fastest growing airport in the UK'. The M63 motorway passes through the town centre and the 27 arch viaduct for which Stockport is famous hosts convenient rail access to Manchester and the surrounding area. The following map shows the situation of Stockport, - its location in relation to the surrounding area including the transport networks:
History of Stockport
After the Romans left, the Saxon's built a village on the same site and named it 'Stockport'. Stockport gained municipal borough status in 1835, county borough status in 1889 and the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport was formed in 1974. Power from the local rivers enabled Stockport to become one of the country's first and most important industrial towns. At the beginning of the 18th Century, Stockport was a picturesque market town housing 2,000 residents. Stockport was the location for one of Britain's first mechanical silk mills in 1732. By 1760, there were 7 mills employing 2,000 people. Cotton spinning and hat manufacturing became the main industries in Stockport. The scars of the industrial revolution remain clearly visible in Stockport in the form of derelict factories.
Stockport Today
Times have changed in Stockport and today the population has reached 284,000 people. The town now has a diverse economic base due to the fact that industry has undergone major changes in terms of size and structure. Some of the traditional industries remain but Stockport is now characterised by many medium sized companies including over 70 international firms. Stockport offers advantages for the location of companies as one businessman said, "Our reason for moving to Stockport was to be among our customers. There is a good infrastructure, especially the airport, pleasant surroundings for our offices, a skilled workforce and schools for our employees' families. All these gives us a competitive advantage". Industrial wealth has changed in Stockport from textiles to food, drink, mechanical and electrical engineering and printing and publishing. Stockport has proved to be a popular location for technological investment and a number of high tech business parks have been created.
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