[1] Historically part of Cheshire, it lies in the valley of Longdendale, on the border with Derbyshire and the Peak District near Broadbottom and Hattersley.

[2] In 1795, Aikin in his book, Forty Miles around Manchester, wrote In the 18th century the River Etherow was known as the Mersey.

Mottram was active in the early stages of industrialisation, and there were significant cotton spinning mills in Wedneshough Green and the Treacle Street areas of Mottram Moor, and printing and dyeing works on the Etherow at Broadbottom which until recently was part of the parish.

In 1842 local Chartists met on the green, and planned the closure of Stalybridge factories in the Plug Riots.

[5] A Polish pilot, Josef Gawkowski, was killed on 19 July 1942 when his aircraft crashed near Mottram on a training flight from RAF Newton in Nottinghamshire.

[6] Centred on St Michael and All Angels Church it included the townships of Godley, Hattersley, Hollingworth, Matley, Newton, Stayley, Tintwistle and Mottram itself.

[8] In 1885 the municipal borough of Mossley was created and included parts of Tintwistle and Stayley civil parishes.

The geology is mainly boulder clay above millstone grit,[20] but there are small outcrops of coal at the edge of the Lancashire Coalfield.

The road is single-carriageway through Mottram, Hollingworth and Tintwistle and through the Peak District National Park, it is used by large numbers of heavy goods vehicles.

Congestion at peak times backs up through Glossop and Hadfield rendering local journeys impossible.

Famous former residents also include Kathy Staff (aka Nora Batty from the sitcom Last of the Summer Wine) and Harold Shipman, the UK's most prolific serial killer.