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The earliest evidence for human occupation in the wider area are microliths from the hunter-gatherers of the Mesolithic period (the Middle Stone Age, about 8000-3500 BC) and weapons and tools from the Neolithic period (the New Stone age, 3500-2000 BC). Early Bronze Age (2000-1200 BC) remains include stone hammers, flint knives, palstaves (ie bronze) and funery urns; all finds have been chance discoveries, rather than a systematic search of a known site. There is a gap in the age of finds between about 1200 BC and the Roman period (ie after about 70 AD). This may indicate depopulation, possibly due to a poorer climate. There is little evidence of a Roman military station at Stockport, despite a strong local tradition. It is assumed that roads from Cheadle to Ardotalia (Melandra) and Manchester to Buxton crossed close to the town centre. The preferred site is at a ford over the Mersey, known to be paved in the eighteenth century, but it has never been shown that this or any of the roads in the area are Roman. Hegginbotham reported (in 1892) the discovery of Roman mosaics at Castle Hill (the area around Stockport market) in the late eighteenth century, during the construction of a mill, but noted it was 'founded on tradition only'; substantial stonework found in the area has never been dated by modern methods. However, Roman coins and pottery were probably found there during the eighteenth century. A cache of coins dating 375-378 may have come from the banks of the Mersey at Daw Bank; these were possibly buried for safekeeping at the side of a road. Six coins from the reigns of the Anglo-Saxon English Kings Edmund (reigned 939-946) and Eadred (reigned 946-955) were found during ploughing at Reddish Green in 1789. There is contrasting source material about the significance of this; Arrowsmith takes this as evidence for existence of a settlement at that time, but Morris states the find could be "an isolated incident". This small cache is the only Anglo-Saxon find in the area. The borough includes the once independent towns of Bredbury, Romiley, Cheadle, Gatley, Hazel Grove, Bramhall and Marple.
No part of Stockport appears in the Domesday Book of 1086. The area north of the Mersey was part of the hundred of Salford, which was poorly surveyed. The area south of the Mersey was part of the Hamestan (Macclesfield) hundred. (Cheadle, Bramhall, Bredbury, and Romiley are mentioned, but these all lay just outside the town limits.) The survey includes valuations of the Salford hundred as a whole and Cheadle (etc) for the times of Edward the Confessor (ie just before the Norman invasion of 1066) and the time of the survey. The reduction in value is taken as evidence of destruction by William the Conqueror's men in the campaigns generally known as the Harrying of the North. The omission of Stockport was once taken as evidence that destruction was so complete that a survey was not needeed (see eg Husain). Arrowsmith argues from the etymology that Stockport may have still been a market place associated with a larger estate, and so would not be surveyed separately. The Anglo-Saxon landholders in the area were dispossessed and the land divided amongst the new Norman rulers. The first borough charter was granted in about 1220 and was the only basis for local government for six hundred years.
A castle held by Geoffrey de Costentin is recorded as a rebel stronghold against Henry II in 1172-3. There is an incorrect local tradition that Geoffrey was the king's son, Geoffrey II, Duke of Brittany, who was one of the rebels. Dent gives the size of the castle as about 31 by 60 m (102 by 200 ft), and suggests it was similar in pattern to those at Pontefract and Launceston. The castle was probably ruinous by the middle of the sixteenth century, and in 1642 it was agreed to demolish it. Castle Hill, possibly the motte, was levelled in 1775 to make space for Warren's mill, see below. Nearby walls, once thought to be either part of the castle or of the town walls, are now thought to be revetments to protect the cliff face from erosion.
The currently accepted etymology of the town's name is Old English stoc, a market place, with port, a hamlet (but more accurately a minor settlement within an estate); hence, a market place at a hamlet.
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