"Eleven million bricks, a mile of tunnels, and the place where the Mersey begins."
Stockport sits where the River Goyt meets the River Tame, and from that meeting point the Mersey begins its 69-mile journey to Liverpool and the Irish Sea. The town has been here since the Saxons. The market charter was granted in 1260. The viaduct went up in 1840 and is still the largest brick structure in Western Europe. And underneath the town centre, carved into the sandstone, there's almost a mile of tunnels where thousands of people sheltered from the Blitz.
Stockport's story starts with water. The River Goyt flows down from the Peak District. The River Tame comes in from the east through Tameside. They meet in the centre of Stockport, and from that point, the River Mersey begins. The town grew up around this confluence, a natural crossing point that's been used since before the Saxons gave it its name.
The market charter came in 1260, granted by the Earl of Chester to the lord of the manor, Robert de Stokeport. Before the hats and the cotton, there was silk. In 1732, Stockport opened the first water-powered textile mill in the north west of England, a silk mill on a bend in the Mersey. By the 17th century, Stockport was making hats. In 1784, Stockport got its first water-powered cotton spinning mill. By the 19th century, it had 30 hat factories and a viaduct built from 11 million bricks that dominated the skyline for miles. The town earned the nickname "The Workshop of the North." The cotton mills went up in the valleys, powered by the rivers that had brought people here in the first place.
When the bombs came in 1940, the town carved tunnels into the sandstone cliffs beneath the centre and sheltered 6,500 people underground. When the mills closed, the town reinvented itself. The Produce Hall became a food court. The Underbanks filled with independent traders. The Mersey kept flowing, the viaduct kept standing, and Stockport kept going.
Everyone drives through Stockport on the M60. Almost nobody stops. They should.
Above the town centre
Twenty-seven arches. Eleven million bricks. 111 feet tall. Designed by George Watson Buck for the Manchester and Birmingham Railway, completed in 1840 in just 21 months at a cost of £72,000. When it opened on 4 June 1840, it was the largest viaduct in the world. It remains the largest brick structure in Western Europe. Grade II* listed. Trains still cross it every day. It's the single most impressive piece of Victorian engineering in Greater Manchester, and most people see it from the motorway without stopping.
L.S. Lowry was obsessed with this viaduct. He painted and drew it at least five times across four decades, from Crowther Street in 1930 to The Viaduct, Stockport in the early 1970s. He was photographed sketching on Wellington Steps in 1962, staring up at the arches. The compositions weren't always literal. He'd rearrange Stockport in his head and put it back together on canvas, but the viaduct was always there. It haunted him. Eleven million bricks, and the Victorians laid every one by hand in 21 months. That's less time than it takes to get planning permission for a conservatory.
Chestergate, town centre
Almost a mile of tunnels carved into the red sandstone cliffs beneath Stockport town centre. Four sets of underground shelters for civilian use, dug from September 1938. The first opened on 28 October 1939, less than a year before Stockport was bombed on 11 October 1940. The largest could hold 3,850 people, later expanded to 6,500. They were fitted with electric lighting, bunk beds, a first aid post, a sick bay, a warden's post, nursing mother accommodation, and flushing toilets.
The shelter on Chestergate was nicknamed the "Chestergate Hotel" because the facilities were considered luxurious for an air raid shelter. You can walk through the tunnels today. They're open as a museum, and walking through them is one of the most powerful experiences in Greater Manchester. The sandstone walls still have the marks from the tools that carved them.
30-31 Market Place
A Grade II* listed medieval townhouse with timbers dating to 1460, confirmed by dendrochronology. It may have been home to William Dodge, Mayor of Stockport in 1483. The Shallcross family, landed gentry, owned it from 1605 to 1730 and installed the Jacobean cage-newel staircase in 1618 that gives the house its name. It's one of only three surviving cage-newel staircases in the entire country. Inside, 16 room sets take you from 1460 to 1940, when it was last used as a private home. A medieval house in the middle of a market town, with 500 years of history laid out room by room.
The building is a cruck timber construction, one of the oldest structural methods in England, where curved timbers form the frame of the entire building. After centuries of use as a dwelling, it fell into disrepair and was nearly lost. The restoration uncovered the original medieval structure hidden behind centuries of modifications. Three cage-newel staircases survive in the whole country. One of them is in Stockport Market Place, above a Greggs. Free entry.
Wellington Mill, Wellington Road South
The only museum in the UK dedicated to the hatting industry, housed in a restored Victorian fireproof cotton mill. Stockport had up to 30 hat factories at its peak, and the felt hat industry boomed here from the 17th century. By 1884, Stockport was exporting more than six million hats a year. The last hat works in town didn't close until 1997. Vintage machinery, fashion displays, and live demonstrations. It's one of those museums that makes you realise an entire world existed that you knew nothing about.
Marple
The highest canal aqueduct in England, carrying the Peak Forest Canal across the River Goyt on three arches. Grade I listed, completed in 1800, designed by Benjamin Outram. Below it, the Marple Lock Flight drops 209 feet through 16 locks, one of the steepest flights in Britain. The combination of the aqueduct and the locks in one stretch is extraordinary. Walking the towpath from the top of the flight down to the aqueduct is one of the best canal walks in the country.
Nearby, the "Roman Lakes" at Marple were built by Samuel Oldknow in the 1700s to serve his Mellor Mill. Despite the name, they have nothing to do with the Romans. The "Roman Bridge" nearby isn't Roman either. It's just what people called them, and the names stuck. Marple does that, makes everything sound ancient even when it isn't.
Town centre, near Portwood
The River Goyt and the River Tame meet in Stockport town centre, and from that point the River Mersey begins. It flows 69 miles from here to Liverpool Bay and into the Irish Sea. The confluence itself is surprisingly unremarkable to look at, tucked away in an obscure corner of the town centre. But stand there and you're at the exact spot where one of the most famous rivers in England starts. Most people in Stockport have never been to see it.
Nangreave Road, Heaviley
Founded in 1784 and by 1859 the largest Sunday School in the world. The building erected in 1805 could accommodate 5,000 children under 440 teachers. It was 132 feet long, three storeys, with the top floor fitted as an assembly hall where the floor rose in an inclined plane so everyone could see and hear. The school belonged to the town, not any particular church. It still exists on Nangreave Road, reduced in size but still standing.
Five thousand children in one building every Sunday. In 1805. Think about the logistics of that for a moment. The school cost £6,000 to build, raised entirely by public subscription. Stockport has always been a town that educates its own.
Little Underbank & Great Underbank
Two historic streets sitting below the Market Place, on lower ground next to the river. The name says it all: under the banks. These were once the commercial hub of Stockport, and the buildings reflect centuries of trade and change. They're now filling up with independent shops, record stores, and traders. It's Stockport's answer to the Northern Quarter, but quieter, older, and with better architecture.
Mersey Square
Opened in 1932 as the flagship of the Read, Snape and Ward cinema chain, and they didn't hold back. To build it, they blasted 10,000 tons of sandstone out of the cliff behind Mersey Square and carved the stage area underground into the rock. The result is one of the most lavish Art Deco cinemas ever built in Britain. The design by William Thornley takes its motifs directly from the 1925 Paris Exhibition. The front is clad in faience, a glazed terracotta that gleams in the light. Inside, the auditorium is decorated with Greek and Egyptian plasterwork, Corinthian columns, friezes of dancing maidens and musical instruments, and a broad proscenium arch. The original Compton organ is still there, still working.
The Plaza was upgraded to Grade II* in 2000, putting it in the top 5.8% of listed buildings in the country, the same grade as the Hidden Gem in Manchester. Ordsall Hall in Salford is Grade I listed. The lobby, auditorium, and café still have original plasterwork in geometric designs, original tiling, and restored murals. It's an exceptionally complete example of a 1930s "super cinema" that has survived virtually unaltered. Most cinemas like this were gutted, subdivided, turned into bingo halls, or demolished. Stockport kept theirs. They even kept the organ.
12 Little Underbank
A tiny pub built into Underbank Bridge in 1868, on a site that's been pouring drinks since Turners Vaults Wine Merchants set up here in 1764. It's extremely narrow, barely wider than a corridor in places, and shows exactly how small urban pubs used to be before everything got knocked through and opened up. The front bar has alcoves and a grandfather clock. There's a snug in the middle with a stove. A more comfortable room hides at the back. It was remodelled into this three-room layout around 1930 and hasn't changed since.
Beneath the pub, cellars cut into Stockport's sandstone connect to a network of underground tunnels. Local legend says they once ran all the way to Bramall Hall and Lyme Hall, though no complete map has ever been found. The pub also claims to have the smallest urinal in the country, which is either a point of pride or a warning depending on how much you've had. The pub is currently closed and looking for a new tenant. Someone needs to save this one.
Buxton Road, Heaviley
Grade I listed. The former Archbishop of Canterbury, Geoffrey Fisher, called it "the finest church built in England since the Reformation." That's not Stockport talking itself up. That's the head of the Church of England. Designed by Hubert Austin of Paley, Austin and Paley, consecrated in 1897, paid for almost entirely by local brewer George Fearn at a cost of nearly £80,000. Built from Runcorn red sandstone in the Perpendicular Gothic style with hints of Art Nouveau. The spire reaches 236 feet. The church stretches 180 feet long. The reredos is carved from Derbyshire alabaster with panels depicting the Crucifixion. The font is alabaster too, carved with delicate foliage by Robert Bridgeman of Lichfield.
George Fearn made his money from beer and spent it on God. The total cost of the church and its associated buildings was nearly £80,000, equivalent to millions today, funded by one man who wanted Stockport to have something extraordinary. He got it. Most people driving up Buxton Road glance at the spire and keep going. Stop. Go inside. A brewer from Stockport built one of the finest churches in England, and almost nobody outside the borough knows it exists.
Stockport's produced a Wimbledon champion, a queen, a Bluesbreaker, and Lord Percy from Blackadder. Not a bad roster for a hat town.
Born in Portwood, 18 May 1909. Won Wimbledon three years running, 1934-1936. Before Andy Murray, he was the last British man to win Wimbledon, a record that stood for 77 years. Also a world table tennis champion at 20, winning the title in Budapest in 1929. Then he put a laurel wreath on a polo shirt and created one of the most iconic fashion brands in the world. Fred Perry Way in Portwood is named after him.
Born in Stockport, 16 April 1984. Queen Elizabeth II in the first two seasons of The Crown. Won two Emmys, a Golden Globe, and two SAG Awards for playing the most famous woman in the world. From Stockport to Buckingham Palace, via Netflix.
Born in Stockport, 3 June 1987. Tina McIntyre in Coronation Street, Georgie Lane in Our Girl. One of the most recognisable faces on British television. Attended St Patrick's RC High School in Eccles and the Manchester School of Acting.
Born in Stockport, 28 May 2000. Manchester City midfielder. Premier League champion, Champions League winner. The Stockport Iniesta. Still only in his mid-twenties and already one of the most naturally gifted footballers England has produced.
Grew up in Cheadle Hulme, 1933-2024. The Godfather of British Blues. John Mayall's Bluesbreakers were the training ground for Eric Clapton, Peter Green, and Mick Taylor. Every British blues and rock guitarist owes something to a man from Cheadle Hulme.
Born in Cheadle Hulme, 1956. Lord Percy Percy in the first two series of Blackadder, then Captain Darling in Blackadder Goes Forth. "I smell something fishy, and I'm not talking about the contents of Baldrick's apple crumble." Cheadle Hulme's gift to British comedy.
If you've got a morning, start at the Air Raid Shelters on Chestergate. Book in advance if you can. Walk up to the Market Place and Staircase House. The Produce Hall food court is right there for lunch. Stand on the bridge and look at the viaduct properly for the first time.
If you've got an afternoon, drive to Marple. Walk the towpath from the top of the lock flight down to the aqueduct. The views from the aqueduct over the Goyt Valley are stunning. Loop back via the Roman Lakes if you want a longer walk. Stop at one of the pubs in Marple Bridge on the way back.
If you want something quieter, walk the Underbanks. Browse the independent shops, find the spot where the Mersey begins, and then walk along the river towards the Mersey Way trail. It's flat, it's peaceful, and you're following the first mile of one of the most famous rivers in England.
Train: Stockport station is on the West Coast Main Line (London, Birmingham, Manchester Piccadilly). It's one of the best-connected stations in Greater Manchester. Marple and Bramhall have local services.
Bus: Regular services from Stockport bus station to Marple, Bramhall, Cheadle, Reddish, and Hazel Grove. The 192 to Manchester is one of the busiest bus routes in Europe.
Driving: M60 junction 1 for Stockport centre. A6 from Manchester through Levenshulme and Heaton Chapel. A626 for Marple. Parking in Stockport centre is easy and cheap.
Walking: Stockport town centre is compact and hilly. The Mersey Way trail starts here. The Marple canal towpath is flat and well-maintained. The Trans Pennine Trail passes through the borough.
Spotted an error? Think I've missed something that should be here? Got a hidden story about Stockport that deserves telling? This site is built by a local, but no one knows everything. If you've got something worth adding, I want to hear it.