Stalybridge

"STALYBRIDGE, a chapelry, township, market and post town in the parish of Ashton-under-Lyne, hundred of Salford, county Lancaster, 2 miles W. of Ashton, and 8 N.E. of Stockport. It is connected by branch lines with the London and North-Western, the Manchester, Sheffield, and Lincolnshire, and Lancashire and Yorkshire railways. It is a prosperous manufacturing town, situated upon the Tame, under a hill called "Wild Bank," which rises 1,300 feet above sea-level. This place derives its name from the Staveleighs, a family who resided here, and from the bridge over the river, which has recently been rebuilt at an expense of £4,000, and connects the county of Lancaster with that of Chester. The growth of the town has been rapid since 1776, when the first cotton-mill was erected here. The streets are paved and lighted with gas, and there is an abundant supply of good water. The staple trade is in cotton-spinning, but it, and the cloth trade, once predominant, have declined. Large quantities of firebricks are manufactured. The population of the borough is probably nearly 27,000. It contains a townhall, lock-up, savings-bank, news-room, and two commercial branch banks. The Huddersfield canal passes in the vicinity. There are five churches in the borough, St. Paul's, St. John's, Dukinfield, St. George's, Holy Trinity, and the old chapel of the place, St. George Cockerhill. Market day is Saturday. A fair is held on 5th March."