It lies on elevated ground 6 miles (10 km) southeast of Manchester city centre, at the point where the rivers Goyt and Tame join and create the River Mersey. As of the 2001 Census the town had a population of 136,082 and the wider borough 281,000. Historically, the town is mostly within Cheshire, but is historically also a part of Lancashire, to the north of the Mersey. Stockport in the 16th centu
ry was a small town entirely on the south bank of the Mersey, and known for the cultivation of h**p and rope manufacture. In the 18th century the town had one of the first mechanised silk factories in the British Isles. However, Stockport's predominant industries of the 19th century were the cotton and allied industries. Stockport was also at the centre of the country's hatting industry which by 1884 was exporting more than six million hats a year; the last hat works in Stockport closed in 1997. The town's hatting heritage is preserved at 'Hat Works – the Museum of Hatting'. Dominating the western approaches to the town is the Stockport Viaduct. Built in 1840, the viaduct's 27 brick arches carry the mainline railways from Manchester to Birmingham and London over the River Mersey. This structure featured as the background in many paintings by L.S.
