Stockport, Cheshire. Heritage Walk

Loyalists and Radicals 

This era, early 19th Century was a time of huge social unrest. People wanted cheaper corn and they also wanted an education and a vote. 

Sandy Brow... a place in Stockport where there was a riot prior to the Peterloo Massacre which took place in Manchester in 1819.

The trail starts at Lancashire Bridge in the town centre. This was the crossing place between Cheshire and Lancashire. This of course is a rebuilt bridge not the one from 13th Century! The bridge is most famous because this is where the "Blanketeers” were stopped on their march to London to ask the King to help them in their request for rights in March 1817. They were called “Blanketeers" because they marched along with a blanket on their shoulders so they could stop by a roadside and sleep along the 200 mile walk to London. 

Most of the "Blanketeers" were arrested or dispersed here at Stockport. 

The walk continues round past the old Underbank Hall which is now a bank. It dates from 15th Century and is a traditional medieval “black and white " building. It was the home to the Mayor of Stockport. 

All over Stockport centre, there are stone steps to give access to the town. This reflects Stockport's hilly nature. It is on the edge of the Pennine Mountains, the backbone of England. 

St Mary's church stands in Stockport centre and was added to around about the time of the social reformer activity upto 1819. The grave of a police constable shot and injured at Sandy Brow lies in the churchyard.

Stockport Sunday school was the biggest Sunday school in the world. In 1819 the governors expelled older children who were radical reformers. These steps are all that is left of the building.

The Produce Hall is still in use as an indoor market today. I like these links to the past. In 1819, the local post office was here and the postmaster used to intercept and read mail of people who were known to be reformers and inform the local magistrates.  

This is the old Corn Dealers' building.

Benjamin Brownhill in 1818, a gun Dealer had been acquitted for firing his gun into the front doors of the homes of radical reformers. He was a Yeoman soldier and friends with magistrates. 

Sandy Brow was a very important site in Stockport and played a huge part in the consequences of the Peterloo Massacre in August 1819.

A few months earlier at Sandy Brow in Stockport, there as a reform meeting where the reformers had turned on the militia and beaten them and shot some of them. Therefore, when there was a meeting at St Peter's Fields, Manchester, the militia took revenge and several people were killed. The event was known as Peterloo after the famous battle of Waterloo some 4 years previously. 

This was a free trail a few miles away from home on an unusually beautiful October day. Taking our grandson helped us to introduce him into his local heritage. 

Once again, this helps to appreciate our own locality and take stock of where, what and who we are. 

There is so much to see and visit in Stockport- great restaurants, a hotel, a train station, cinema, great shops and events. Please do come to see us.