Fresh Chicken Legs

Saw this sign recently on Bridge Street.

A contribution to signs, signs.

P is for Platform 2

Yesterday I showed you the western entrance to Stockport Station.

Today I bring you Platform 2.

East to west the platforms are numbered 0, 1/2, 3/3a, 4 the middle ones being island platforms linked by stairs and lifts to the subway below the station.

The train waiting to pull out is on its way from Manchester Piccadilly to Bristol Temple Meads.

A contribution to ABC Wednesday.

Stockport Station Entrance (West)

The first post on this blog in April 2013 featured the sign at the eastern entrance to Stockport station.

This is the western entrance which leads into a subway that passes under the station. Steps and lifts connect the subway to the platforms.

The station was opened on 15 February 1843, by the Manchester and Birmingham Railway, following completion of the railway viaduct to the north. After operation by the London and North Western Railway, it became part of the London Midland and Scottish Railway, in 1923. The station was known as Stockport Edgeley to differentiate it from Stockport Tiviot Dale, which closed in 1967.

A contribution to Ruby Tuesday and Our World Tuesday.

Flowerbeds in Merseyway

Merseyway Shopping Centre has a number of large flowerbeds with benches round the sides.

A contribution to Floral Fridays and Blue Monday.

In and out of St Mary's in the Marketplace

Stockport Parish Church is known as St Mary's in the Marketplace. It is a Grade I listed building.

Inside it has stained glass by several different makers, including the East window by O'Connor, 1849.

Outside it has a gateway built of ashlar stone by Lewis Wyatt in the shape of an elaborate Gothic screen forming three pointed archways with crocketed finials above the centre arch. The gateway is Grade II* listed.

The exit from the church leads directly into the Market Hall.

A contribution to
Inspired Sundays;
Whimsical Windows, Delirious Doors.

Plaza Reflection

The Plaza reflected in a pool of water on the flat roof of the shops by the entrance to the bus station viewed from Wellington Road viaduct.

For information about the Plaza see our post from 30th October 2013 and for a close-up of the sign see the post for 31st October 2013.

A contribution to Weekend Reflections.

Flowers for sale on Stockport Market

One of the street stalls in the Market Place outside the Market Hall.

A contribution to Floral Fridays.

N is for NatWest Bank and National Cycle Network

This is Great Underbank. In the background is Underbank Hall, now the NatWest bank. In the foreground are two benches either side of a lamppost and a litter bin. Behind them in front of a wall and next to two Sheffield stands is a National Cycle Network Milepost.

Underbank Hall was the Elizabethan town house of the Arderne family of Bredbury. The original house must have been larger as an inventory of 1619 lists more rooms than survive today. The hall was sold for 3,000 guineas in September 1823 to the banking firm of Christy Lloyd & Co which became the Stockport and East Cheshire Bank in the following year. In 1829, the Stockport and Cheshire Bank became part of the Manchester and Liverpool District Banking Company. By 1880 this bank had 54 branches, in Lancashire, Cheshire, Derbyshire, Staffordshire and Shropshire. The bank changed its name to the District Bank in 1924 and in 1962 was acquired by the National Provincial Bank. Then in 1970 this bank merged with the Westminster Bank to form the National Westminster Bank, which is now known simply as NatWest.

1000 Millennium cast iron mileposts were funded by the Royal Bank of Scotland to mark the creation of the National Cycle Network, and are found along the cycles routes through the UK.

This recently erected milepost is on the National Cycleway Network Route #62 and Trans Pennine Trail, 20 miles from Lymm and 10 from Broadbottom. This one is of the Cockerel design and apart from having a red top is so far unpainted.

A contribution to ABC Wednesday.

Merseyway from Level 3

From the level 3 car park on Mersey Way looking down into the shopping complex.

Merseyway Shopping Centre opened in 1965 . It consists mainly of a large pedestrianised street, where at one point there are two levels of walkways for shoppers, and there is access to both the first and ground floor of many shops. It was extensively refurbished in 1995 with the provision of level 3 parking and an area of covered mall at the western edge of the centre.

It is built on giant stilts above the River Mersey and the river runs for the entire length of the centre. The river had been first covered over in the late 1930s when a road was built over the top.

In the background is the town's iconic railway viaduct and visible under the second arch from the left is the town's modern icon the Stockport Pyramid.

A contribution to Blue Monday and Our World Tuesday.

Marketplace on a lampost

This artwork can be found on a lampost on Castle Street in Edgeley. The text reads:

"On Saturday nights my dad used to take us Stockport Market in those days it stayed open till 9pm.

It was a great event everyone from round here would go. And we'd always go to Woolworths on the way home to buy sweets."

As part of the Stockport Arts Trail, an independent group of young people, working towards an Arts Award Qualification at Stockport Central Library, created the images for one face of the artworks, located on lampposts in and around Edgeley.

Historic photographs from the libraries archives are on the other face, giving people an idea of how the area looked in times gone by.

There are eleven lampposts in total along the trail. More information is at Healthy Stockport.

A contribution to ABC Wednesday and signs, signs.

Double postbox on Castle Street, Edgeley

Castle Street used to be the main thoroughfare through Edgeley before it was bypassed by Mercian Way and sections of it pedestrianised.

It is still a busy street with many shops, pubs, cafés and much else.

A closer view of the double postbox SK3 24.

A contribution to Ruby Tuesday and Our World Tuesday.

The Cheadle End Stand at Stockport County

This stand was opened at the beginning of the 1995-96 season, is two tiered, covered and all seated. It is generally reserved for home fans who enter via turnstiles 17-19 on Hardcastle Road.

Stockport County moved to Edgeley Park, then home of Stockport Rugby League Club, in 1902, having previously played at Green Lane in Heaton Norris. The team currently play in the Conference North League - for details see the club website.

A contribution to Blue Monday.

Sykes Reservoir, Edgeley

Syke's #2 Reservoir is the middle of three reservoirs originally providing water for the Sykes Bleaching Works. It is now part of Alexandra Park, Edgeley and used for fishing.

I posted a 2009 view of it in September 2013.

A contribution to
Good Fences;
Weekend Reflections;
Scenic Weekends.

L is for Lift

The former Stockport Magistrates Court was converted into a 5-storey shopping and leisure complex in 2003/4.

An outside lift was installed which provides for the movement of shoppers from Warren Street and via the upper level store into Castle Yard and the Market Place. TK-Maxx occupied the top storeys until they moved into the former Comet store in the Peel Centre. Their space was taken over by Sports Direct.

A contribution to ABC Wednesday and the Movement theme at City Daily Photo.