AS WE bid farewell to the the last Millennium, Messenger takes you on a whistlestop tour of the history of Stretford.

The journey is courtesy of local history expert Bill Ashton, of Stretford History Society, who has picked out some of the area's most significant events and landmarks.

78AD: Romans come to 'Streta'.

429: Area plundered by Picts and Scots.

1017: First reference to Trafford family.

1533: Sir Edmund de Trafford becomes high sheriff of Lancashire.

1577: Wooden Crossford Bridge replaced with stone.

1597: Parish registers ordered to be kept.

1665: Great Stone used to conduct trade during plague.

1718: New Stretford chapel built on site of former chapel.

1745: Crossford Bridge destroyed to delay Bonnie Prince Charlie.

1750: Act to 'turnpike' road from Stretford to Manchester.

1760: Regular stage coach service picking up at the 'Angel'.

1761: Bridgewater Canal extended to Stretford.

1765: Road between Stretford and Altrincham 'turnpiked'.

1795: Bridgewater Canal extended to Runcorn.

1801: First census of England - Stretford population is 1,477.

1810: Thomas Henshaw left £20,000 to build asylum.

1823: Royal School for the Deaf established.

1831: Royal Botanical Gardens opened.

1842: Consecration of St Matthews Church.

1845: New national schools opened.

1849: Railway to Altrincham opened.

1853: Old town hall (civic theatre) built.

1854: Clean water brought to Stretford.

1857: Stretford Cricket Club formed; art treasures exhibition opened by Queen Victoria; Halle Orchestra first performed at exhibition; Catholic mission commenced; Manchester Cricket Club (founded 1817) moved to Old Trafford - became Lancashire CC in 1864.

1862: Stretford Gas Co formed.

1863: Catholic church (Herbert Street) built; first public library in Stretford (Dorset Street).

1885: Stretford Cemetery opened; public baths opened in Dorset Street.

1887: Exhibition of arts, science and industry opened by Prince Albert.

1888: Repeal of 'Turn Pike' Act; Stretford Swimming Club formed.

1894: Stretford Urban District Council elected; Ship Canal opened.

1896: Trafford Park sold for £96,000.

1902: Electric trams come to Stretford.

1903: Electricity station built at Longford Bridge.

1905: Victoria Park School opened.

1907: Electric tramway extended to Altrincham.

1909: 1st Rose Queen (St Peters).

1910: Manchester United come to Stretford.

1912: Longford Park purchased.

1913: New public baths opened in Cyprus Street.

1922: Stretford War Memorial Red Cross Nursing Trust formed.

1923: Cenotaph unveiled; Trafford hall gates moved to Gorse Hill Park.

1925: Basford House purchased by nursing trust.

1931: New post office opened in King Street; last electric tram to Stretford.

1933: Stretford created a borough; new town hall opened by Lord Derby.

1945: Children's theatre formed.

1951: Jean Westwood and Laurence Demmy won world ice dance championship - and also in 1952, 1953, 1954 and 1955.

1958: Twenty-three people, including eight Manchester United plyers, killed in the Munich Air Disaster.

1960: Stretford/Eccles by-pass opened (M62, then M63, now M60).

1962: Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin visited Metros.

1968: Stretford House opened; Manchester United won European Cup.

1969: First phase of Arndale Centre opened.

1974: Trafford Metropolitan Borough Council established.

1977: Visit to Longford Park by The Queen (Silver Jubilee); new swimming pool opened at the sports centre to replace Cyprus Street.

1999: Manchester United won historic 'treble'.

This Victorian grocer's shop was in King Street - originally called Gammershaw Lane, but renamed to celebrate the accession of George 11 to the throne.

Converted for the new archive on 13 March 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.