From one HAT town to another, Luton (known as The Hatters, famed for the local straw boater industry) FC, featured in yesterday's blog and steps aside, today, for Stockport County (Football Club) known as The Hatters after the town's milinery industry, that was set in the town, some making top hats. The club played today in a Football League Two Play Off Final and a fter extra time (1-1) and penalties (4-5) the Hatters lost to Carlisle United, to win promotion.
During the industrial period of the 19th and early 20th century, Stockport was famous for hat production with over 100 hat factories in the area. The final "hatting" factory closed in 1997, marking the end of over four centuries of local production. However, Stockport is home to Hat Works – the only hatting museum in the UK.
The top hat was an essential part of a man’s wardrobe by the early part of the 19th century, replacing the fashionable three-cornered tricorne and two-cornered bicorne hats of the earlier century. The creation of the first silk top hat in England is credited to a hatter from Middlesex, called George Dunnage, in 1793. A top hat is simply a tall, flat-crowned hat traditionally made of black silk (although felted beaver fur was also used in the early part of the 19th century).
The increased industrial output that took place in Britain during the 19th century meant that popular fashions, such as the top hat, were no longer the preserve of the upper classes and were now more accessible to the majority of the male population, including those lower down the social scale. The resemblance of the hat to the factory chimneys so evocative of the Industrial Revolution was remarked upon by pioneering fashion historian, James Laver, and the fact that many wealthy industrialists also wore top hats helped to turn them into a symbol of urban respectability. The top hat remained the dominant form of headwear in British society for the next hundred years.
The rise of the stylish headgear didn’t come without some risk to the manufacturers. Mercury had been used in the production of felt for hats from the 18th century. The colloquial English phrase, “Mad as a hatter”, is believed to originate from Denton and Stockport in Greater Manchester, where a large number of the male population men worked in the hattery business.
Erethism, also known as mad hatter disease, is a neurological disorder which affects the central nervous system, and is derived from mercury poisoning. Historically, this illness was common among felt-hatmakers who had prolonged exposure to mercuric nitrate, that was used to process and stabilize fur in the manufacture of felt hats. Many people believe that the "Mad Hatter" in Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland is an example of someone suffering from erethism.
It was during the 1840s and the 1850s that the top hat reached its most extreme form, with styles having a high crown and narrow brim. Isambard Kingdom Brunel was regularly photographed wearing a stovepipe hat, a variety of top hat with mostly straight sides. President Abraham Lincoln was also a famous wearer of the stovepipe and helped to popularise the style in America during his presidency by adding the tall hat to his already 6ft 4” frame! In his locked diaries, Brunel described how he cared very much about his physical stature, writing in one diary entry, “As I pass some unknown person who perhaps does not even look at me I catch myself trying to look big on my little pony.” Standing just over 5ft (1.52m) tall, his trademark 8-inch (20cm) stovepipe hat would have gone some way in making him look more imposing to his clients and contractors.
It is very probable that Brunel wanted to project a certain image in order to be viewed as a successful engineer, and the stovepipe hat popular at the time certainly helped him do that and of course is now indelibly linked with his image as the foremost engineer of the Victorian period.
The town's football club was formed in 1883 as Heaton Norris Rovers at McLaughlin's Cafe in local Heaton Norris, by a group of pupils from Stockport Sunday School. After playing home matches in different parks in the Stockport area for several years, Rovers moved to Green Lane in 1889. This is recognised as their first official ground. The club changed its name to Stockport County in 1890 after the local county. The team played in the Lancashire League and also local cup competitions until 1900, when they gained admission to the Football League Second Division. The cliub left Green Lane in 1902 and moved to Edgeley Park.
In 1995, a new 5,000 all-seated Cheadle End stand was built to replace the terrace. In late 2000, chairman Brendan Elwood considered moving Stockport to Maine Road, the home of rivals Manchester City. The potential move was unpopular with supporters, and protests were staged after it was suggested that the club would change its name to Man-Stock County!! Maine Road was demolished in 2004 to make way for a housing estate, and Edgeley Park was then shared with Sale Rugby club, whose parent company, Cheshire Sports, owned the ground. In 2001, The Railway End, opposite the Cheadle End, was the last part of Edgeley Park to be converted to seating, and took the stadium's total capacity to 10,852.
There was another rumour that Stockport would leave its home ground in 2012. This was dismissed by chairman, Peter Snape, before Sale Sharks confirmed that they would be moving to Salford City Reds' new stadium. It left Stockport County as the only tenants at Edgeley Park. In May 2012, County renamed the Main Stand "The Danny Bergara Stand" in honour of the club's former manager.
The local Metropolitan Council purchased the stadium in 2015, to prevent it from being demolished and redeveloped. After a plea from fans to safeguard the ground, an emergency council meeting was held, and the stadium was purchased for £2 million. It is currently leased back to the club. In February 2022, the club agreed a 250-year lease of Edgeley Park from Stockport council. All was safe.
Stockport County won nine league matches in succession without conceding a goal from January to March 2007 under manager Jim Gannon, a Football League record.
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