Stretford is a town in Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, on flat ground between the River Mersey and the Manchester Ship Canal, 3.8 miles southwest of Manchester city centre, 3.0 miles south of Salford and 4.2 miles northeast of Altrincham. Stretford borders Chorlton-cum-Hardy to the east, Urmston to the west, Salford to the north, and Sale to the south. The Bridgewater Canal bisects the town. Historically in Lancashire, in the 19th century Stretford was an agricultural village, known locally as Porkhampton due to the large number of pigs produced for the Manchester market. It was also an extensive market-gardening area, producing more than 500 long tons of vegetables each week for sale in Manchester by 1845. The arrival of the Manchester Ship Canal in 1894, and the subsequent development of the Trafford Park industrial estate, accelerated the industrialisation that had begun in the late 19th century. By 2001 less than one per cent of Stretford's population was employed in agriculture. Stretford has been the home of Manchester United Football Club since 1910, and of Lancashire County Cricket Club since 1864. Notable residents have included the industrialist, philanthropist, and Manchester's first multi-millionaire John Rylands, the suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst, the painter L. S. Lowry, Morrissey, Joy Division frontman Ian Curtis and Jay Kay of Jamiroquai.
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