In 1844 the Rt Hon George John Warren, Lord Vernon, gave the council, through the Mayor, Aldermen and Burgesses of Stockport, an area of agricultural land known as Stringer's Fields, then on the outskirts of the town, 'for the purpose of public walks and as a place for outdoor exercise'. The Deed of Gift contained the clause that the council should lay it out as a park and maintain it thereafter. The Deed was consolidated by Act of Parliament in 1847 and included the sale from Lord Vernon to the council of the market rights.

In 1860 the town's two MPs, James Kershaw and John Benjamin Smith, each subscribed five hundred pounds to go towards the building of the Stockport Museum within Vernon Park. The museum was handed over to the Corporation in 1866.

North from the museum, the ground falls steeply away. At the top of the slope, close to the museum, are the bases surviving from of a pair of guns from the Crimea. These had been secured following a proposal by Alderman Hampson who also personally donated a marble statue of Venus. Both statue and cannons have gone.

Following a 2.1 million pound grant from the Heritage Lottery to restore it, the park reopened on 29 September 2000. This garden or other land is now registered under the Historic Buildings and Ancient Monuments Act 1953 within the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens by English Heritage for its special historic interest.

Today there are two cannons in Vernon park. When the park was opened in September 1858 a 21 gun salute was fired using cannons donated by the War Office. These were Russian cannons captured at the battle of Sebastopol during the Crimean War. The original cannons were taken away as scrap in 1940 and were replaced of 24-pounder cast-iron Blomefields seated on cast iron garrison carriages. We have yet to locate a picture of the original Crimean Cannon. The above is of the replacement.