Stalybridge is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Tameside in Greater Manchester, England.

It lies on the course of the River Tame and the Huddersfield canal, on undulating land in the foothills of the Pennines.

Farming and woollen spinning were the main means subsistence before the construction of a cotton mill in 1776, Stalybridge became one of the first centres of textile manufacture during the Industrial Revolution.

When the Chartist petition was rejected, the ensuing disturbances known as the Plug Riots started in Stalybridge.

Stalybridge mill was built in 1868, during the first joint-stock company boom immediately after the cotton famine had ended.

The Bank of England set up the Lancashire Cotton Corporation in 1929 to attempt to rationalise and save the industry.

It was originally driven by 1000 hp twin tandem compound engine by Goodfellow and Matthews built in 1868.

The air pumps were driven by lever from crossheads with guides between HP and LP cylinders.