Stockport, a parliamentary, municipal, and county borough of East Cheshire, 6 miles SSE. of Manchester and 37 E. of Liverpool. It is built on the slopes of a narrow gorge, where the Tame and the Goyt unite to form the Mersey, which is spanned by the viaduct (1840) of the London and North-western Railway, 111 feet high, and 625 yards long, as well as by several bridges. St Mary's Church was rebuilt in 1817, with the exception of its 14th-century chancel; and Stockport has also a market-hall (1851-61), mechanics' institute (1862), free library (1875), fine technical school (1890), huge Union Sunday-school (1806), grammar-school (1487; rebuilt 1832), infirmary (1832), the Vernon Park (1858), containing a museum, and, in St Peter's Square, a statue (1886) of Richard Cobden, who represented the borough from 1841 to 1847. Stockport was the site of a Roman station, and afterwards of a Norman castle, held till 1327 by the Earls of Chester, and taken by Prince Rupert in 1644, soon after which it was demolished by the parliament. In 1745 Prince Charles Edward passed through Stockport, which Bishop Pococke six years later describes as having ' a little manufacture of the Manchester linen, some woollen and ribands, and two silk-mills like those of Derby.' Since then it has grown to be a most important seat of the cotton industry, in spite of the machinery disturbances (1810-20), the strike of 1828-29, when the military were called out, and many persons wounded, the ' Plug Riots ' (1840), and the cotton-famine (1861-64). Felt hats are also manufactured, and there are iron and brass foundries, engine and machine shops, breweries, etc. Stockport was constituted a parliamentary borough (returning two members) in 1832, a municipal borough in 1835, and a county borough in 1888. Pop. (1851) 53,835; (1881) 59,553; (1901) 78,871. See works by Butterworth (1827-28), Earwaker (East Cheshire, 1877), and Heginbotham (1877-78).