Sale, United Kingdom

At 53°25′29″N 2°19′19″W (53.4246, −2.322), Sale lies to the north and south of the neighbouring towns of Altrincham and Stretford respectively and five miles (eight kilometres) south-west of Manchester city centre. The district of Wythenshawe is to the south-east. Sale is in the Mersey Valley, about 100 feet (30 m) above sea level on generally flat ground. The River Mersey, which runs just north of the town, is prone to flooding during heavy rains, so the Sale Water Park, close to the town's northern boundary, acts as an emergency flood basin.

Sale's local drift geology consists of sand and gravel deposited about 10,000 years ago, during the last ice age. The bedrock is Bunter sandstone in the west and Triassic waterstone in the east. United Utilities obtains the town's drinking water from the Lake District. Sale's climate is generally temperate, like the rest of Greater Manchester. The mean highest and lowest temperatures (13.2 °C (55.8 °F) and 6.4 °C (43.5 °F)) are slightly above the national average, while the annual rainfall (806.6 millimetres (31.76 in)) and average hours of sunshine (1394.5 hours) are respectively above and below the national averages.

During the medieval period, most of the land was used for growing crops and raising livestock such as cattle. The produce from arable farming would have been sufficient to support the local population, but the cattle would have been sold to the ruling classes. Agriculture provided the main source of employment for Sale's residents until the mid-19th century. Industry was slow to develop in the area, as in most of what would become Trafford. This was partly because of the reluctance of the two main land owners in the area, the Stamfords and the de Traffords, to invest. Although weaving was common in Sale during the late 17th and early 18th century, by 1851 only 4% of the population was employed in that industry.

Along with the rest of the region, Sale's economy during the early-19th century was weak, a state of affairs which persisted until the arrival of the railway in the middle of the century. Despite the dominance of agriculture, there was a growing service industry; Sale and Ashton upon Mersey experienced a growth in numbers employed in retail and domestic services in the first half of the 19th century. By 1901, fewer than 20% of Sale residents were employed in agriculture. Employment was available in workhouses for those who could not find work elsewhere. Sale was part of the Altrincham Union, which ran the nearest work house in Altrincham.

Sale has three Grade II* listed buildings – two churches (St. Martin and St. John the Divine) and Ashton New Hall – and eighteen Grade II listed buildings. The cenotaph outside the town hall was designed by Ashton upon Mersey sculptor Arthur Sherwood Edwards and is a Grade II listed building. It commemorates the 400 men from Sale who died in the First World War and the 300 who died in the Second World War. The memorial consists of a statue of a mourning Saint George on top of a granite pedestal. Costing £600 (£32,000 as of 2025), it was funded by public subscription and unveiled in May 1925 in front of a crowd of 10,000.

The oldest surviving building in Sale is Eyebrow Cottage. Built around 1670, it was originally a yeoman farmhouse and is one of the earliest brick buildings in the area. Its name is derived from the decorative brickwork above the windows. It was built in Cross Street, which at the time was a separate village from Sale. Of the twenty-one conservation areas in Trafford, two are in Sale: part of Church Lane, Ashton-upon-Mersey, and Brogden Grove.

Sale's first school was built in 1667 and was used until the first half of the 18th century. The second school in Sale was built some time in the 18th century, one of about 30 non-grammar schools founded in Cheshire around this time. By 1831, there were two private schools in Sale and one in Ashton upon Mersey, with the children's parents paying fees for their education. At the same time, there were also four Sunday schools in Sale and one in Ashton upon Mersey, operated by various religious denominations, including Congregationalists, Methodists and Unitarians. The first school-chapel built in Sale as part of a school was constructed by Primitive Methodists in 1839 and still survives. The second school-chapel in the town was St Joseph's Roman Catholic Church, built in 1866, and was replaced by the current school in 1899.

Trafford maintains a selective education system assessed by the 11 plus exam. Sale has one grammar school, two comprehensives and nineteen primary schools:

Sale Grammar School consists of two parts: one for 11- to 16-year-olds and 900 pupils, and the other a sixth form college with 300 students. The school was described in its 2006 Ofsted report as "outstanding with an outstanding sixth form".