On discovering Stockport’s own Cattle Market …………….

Now, when you are a stranger and unfamiliar with the history of a place you can be forgiven for stating the obvious and even more so if you discover something which everyone else knew about.

So, I had no idea that Stockport had its own cattle market which was sandwiched between Great Portwood Street and the River Goyt in a pocket of land which backed on to the Gas Works.

I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised, given that during the 19th century it was still the practice to bring live animals into our towns and cities, to be butchered by family businesses and sold on to their customers.

In the 1950s, I spent great chunks of time while on holiday with my grandparents at the Derby Cattle Market, which I suppose was what passed for a special treat.

So, with this in mind I went looking for references to the Stockport Cattle market.

It appears on the 1906 OS map, but not on the 1870 version, and so far I can’t find mention of it in the directories.

Today the site is occupied by the retail park which include, Matalan, Next, Boots and Argos, and so I am confident that there will be people who remember the area before the recent development.

And in turn will be able to point me in the direction of pictures, maps and descriptions of the market and its final demise.

Location; Borough Cattle Market, Stockport

Picture; Borough Cattle Market, Stockport, from the OS for Cheshire, 1906, courtesy of Digital Archives Association,  http://digitalarchives.co.uk/

That other Stockport ….The Three Shires ….. looking for something new

The Three Shires on Great Underbank is back on its long journey for another occupant.

This I know because there is a “To Let” sign high up on the side of the building, and because its blue plaque lists its twisty history along with some of its occupants and uses.

It was built sometime in 1580, is a “Cheshire half-timbered town house formerly belonging to the Leighs of Adlington Hall. 

Its shopfront was inserted in 1824, [and] at various times has housed a confectioners, bakehouse, surgery, solicitors, restaurant and wine bar.”

Now I say back on its journey for another occupant, but that is for the upper floor, because at street level this is Huffs, the Café Bar and Restaurant.

Location; Stockport

Pictures; Stockport on a Sunday, 2020, from the collection of Andy Robertson

A little bit of Millgate in Stockport ……….

Now, strip away the modern streetlamps, along with the sign announcing parking restrictions, and represent Andy’s picture in black and white, and I rather think this view of Millgate could pass for any time before now.

Millgate, 2020

Which I suppose says a lot for this bit of Stockport.

In time I will see if I can track down any of the residents at the beginning of the last century.

I know that in 1939, there were fifteen properties listed along Millgate, of which three were unoccupied, and the remaining houses were home to a variety of occupations.

These included a “variety artist”, “shoe repairer”, “a secondhand clothing dealer”, an electrician, some textile workers and a “Railway goods Checker”.

Millgate, 1906

Of the seven in Andy’s picture, number 11, was home to Mr. and Mrs. Hall, he was our secondhand clothes dealer, his son was the shoe repairer, and his daughter described herself as “Paper Bay Maker – Heavy Work”. 

Numbers 7 and 9 were vacant and at number 5 were Charles and Laura Cowley.  Mr. Cowley was a “master decorator” and Mrs. Cowley listed herself as “Unpaid Domestic Duties”.

Location; Stockport

Picture; Millgate, 2020,  from the collection of Andy Robertson, and in 1906, from the OS map of Cheshire, 1906, courtesy of Digital Archives Association, http://digitalarchives.co.uk/

Over the rooftops to the brewery beyond ………

Across the rooftops, 2020

Now Andy has done a good job of capturing just how Robinson’s Brewery remains an important part of Stockport.

It dominates the skyline in many of the pictures he took and rightly so, given that it has been doing the business since the middle of the 19th century.

At which point I could slip into a history of the brewery, but that has been done,* and so I will just say that the first Mr. Robinson bought the Unicorn pub in 1838.

It stood at 23 Lower Hillgate, and his eldest son started brewing there in 1849.

A decade later the family expanded into a warehouse behind the Unicorn and began to purchase pubs.

Looking down on to Lower Hillgate, 2020

By 1890 they had 12, and eventually the empire stretched to 300 pubs in the North West and North Wales.

Sadly, the Unicorn no longer exists, it was demolished to make way for the present brewery, and the best I have to offer up is Andy’s picture of the entrance.

And so, the best I can do is wander back through the historic record, and explore the census returns for 1841 and 1851.

Lower Hillgate is one those narrow streets which are a feature of this bit of Stockport, and it twists and turns down from Little Underbank to Wellington Street.

Lower Hillgate, and the Unicorn Brewery, 1900

Back in 1841 the Robinson family’s immediate neighbours included, a hosier, a hat dyer, various textile workers and two washerwomen.

A decade later, Joseph Faulkner was still running his butcher’s shop from 21 Lower Hillgate  while at 23 Mr. and Mrs. Davenport were engaged in selling the finest drapery, and doing well enough to employ two staff and a servant, all of whom lived with them.

Location; Stockport

Pictures; Robinson’s Brewery, 2020, from the collection of Andy Robertson and Lower Hillgate in 1900, from the OS map of Cheshire, 1900, courtesy of Digital Archives Association, http://digitalarchives.co.uk/


*Robinsons Brewery, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robinsons_Brewery

That other Stockport ………

Now I had quite forgotten just how much of Stockport I had not visited in ages.

Over the last decade, Stockport was the place I passed on the A34, or just occasionally the short trip from the bus station to the shopping centre.

And so, Andy’s new series of pictures have awakened by interest.

They were taken last weekend on one of his essential walks, and cover all the twisty, turny little streets, which offer up a shedload of shops which you won’t find in the big retail arcades.

Added to these there were plenty of rooftop shots which reminded me of just how much I like gazing out over the skyline..

So, here are the first of the new Stockport series, which for want of a better title is called Another Stockport.

Location; Stockport









Pictures; Stockport on a Sunday, 2020, from the collection of Andy Robertson

Stockport by water ………..

There is a lot of Stockport most of us never see.

So, with that in mind this is the first of an offbeat series from Andy Robertson, looking at Stockport from different angles.

And where better to start than this one of the viaduct over the river.

Location; Stockport

Picture; Stockport by water, 2020, from the collection of Andy Robertson