Stockport is a town in the NW of England, immediately south of Manchester. The town's charter was granted by King John in 1220. The centre of Stockport is at the confluence of the Rivers Tame and Goyt and the resultant union is the River Mersey. This location was overlooked by a castle on top of a hill. The parish church is also located there. There is nothing left of the castle which was demolished in the 18th Century.

Stockport is a Cheshire town but the modern town is a Metropolitan Borough (formerly County Borough) which straddles the Lancashire/Cheshire border. Those parts of the borough north of the Mersey and Tame are Lancastrian and those to the south are Cestrian.

Stockport was a cotton town, and like other towns in the SE Lancashire area it was a spinning town but there were some weaving mills. As well as cotton there were engineering works to support the the cotton industry.