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Rochdale, Lancashire

Historical Description

Rochdale, a market-town, a parliamentary, municipal, and county borough, and a parish in Lancashire. The town stands on the river Roach, the Rochdale Canal, and the L. &Y.R., 10½ miles NNE of Manchester, and 202 from London. It dates from at least the Saxon times, and it probably had a Saxon castle on Castle Hill and a Saxon church. The family of Byron were owners of the manor for upwards of two centuries, and they take from the town the title of Baron. The manor was sold by the poet Byron in 1823 to the late James Dearden, Esq., to whose family it has since belonged. The town occupies the sides of two hills, stands in parts of four townships, contains numerous streets, and has undergone great improvement. Several of the streets, which liad always been very narrow, have been widened; a marketplace, large and commodious, has been formed; several ornamental public buildings, as well as many excellent private houses, have been erected; and a main drainage system on a large scale has been carried out by the corporation. The town-hall, erected at a cost of £150,000, was opened in 1871. It is a splendid edifice in the Gothic style, on a ground plan resembling the letter E; presents a chief frontage toward the river 220 feet long, besides octagonal staircases at the ends; has flank-frontages each 110 feet long; is divided partly into two storeys, partly into three; and has at one corner a tower and spire 190 feet high. The tower was destroyed by fire in 1883 and re-erected in 1887. The building contains corporation-rooms, an exchange, a large public hall, and other apartments. A free library was erected in 1884, and a new post office in 1875. The Prince of Wales' Theatre was built in 1887; it was afterwards known as the Theatre Royal, and was almost entirely destroyed by fire in 1894. It has since been rebuilt, and is one of the prettiest provincial theatres. Five bridges cross the river, and one of them is a neat, stone, three-arched structure. The waterworks, on an extensive scale, belong to the corporation, draw from four ample reservoirs, and yield a plentiful supply even in the driest season. The gasworks are also the property of the corporation. St Chad's Church, on high ground overlooking the town, is partly Early English; it was extensively repaired in 1856, and in 1885 the chancel was enlarged and restored. The church consists of chancel and nave, both of six bays with aisles, and an embattled western tower; and contains monuments of the Deardens, the Holts, the Walmsleys, the Entwistles, and others. Parts of it date from the 12th century. St Alban's Church, built in 185G, consists of nave, aisles, and chancel, with tower and spire. St James' Church, Wardleworth, consists of nave, aisles, and chancel, with pinnacled tower. St Mary's Church, comprising nave and aisles erected about 1740, and transepts and chancel in 1864, underwent improvement in 1866. There are Baptist, Congregational, Primitive, New Connexion, and United Free Methodist, Roman Catholic, Unitarian, and Wesleyan chapels, meetinghouses for Quakers and the Brethren, and a Countess of Huntingdon chapel. The public cemetery, in Bury Road, opened in 1855, is under the control of the corporation, comprises much ground beautifully laid out, and has three mortuary chapels. The grammar school was founded by Archbishop Parker in 1565, is a handsome brick building in the Tudor style, and has £30 a year from endowment. Hardman's Free School was founded in 1769, and had £110 a year from endowment, which is now used for scholarships and exhibitions, the school itself being closed. Parish church schools of the most modern type, built at a cost of £7000, were opened in 1895. A technical school, built as a memorial of the Queen's Jubilee, was opened in 1893. The building Is of red brick with terra-cotta and stone dressings, and with its equipment cost over £10,000. Provision is made for the teaching of weaving, cotton-spinning, engineering, practical plumbing, wood turning, chemistry, and dyeing. At the same time a higher-grade board school, containing a lecture theatre, a chemical department, and a series of special class-rooms, was inaugurated. A school of art in connection with the Science and Art Department (South Kensington) was opened in 1889. The chief literary and benevolent institutions are the free library, the co-operative society library and newsroom½ the literary and scientific society, the working men's club, several musical societies, the dispensary, the infirmary presented to the town in 1883, the Charity Organisation Society,. The Good Samaritan Society, and various associations for relief of the poor. Baths were erected by the corporation in 1868, and an hospital for infectious diseases established in 1886i There is also a public park of about 12 acres, presented to the town by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners.

Rochdale has a head post office, a railway station, and five-banks, is a seat of petty sessions and county courts, and publishes a newspaper weekly and two twice a week. The town is connected by steam tramways with the neighbouring towns. and villages. A weekly market for provisions is held on Saturday; a market for grain, wool, oil, and dye-stuffs on Monday y cattle fairs on one Monday, and sometimes two, in every month; a horse fair on Whit-Tuesday; and fairs for cattle and horses on 14 May, 4 June, and 7 Nov. Co-operative societies originated in Rochdale in 1844, and there are several now carrying-on a considerable business. Textile fabrics, chiefly cottons, flannels, friezes, ordinary woollens, calicoes, and fustians are largely manufactured. The manufacture of silk plush, velvet, and machines also is considerable, and there are several large foundries and stone and flag quarries. The town was made a parliamentary borough in 1832 and a municipal borough in 1856, sends one member to Parliament, and is governed by a mayor, 10 aldermen, and 30 councillors, who act as the urban district council. It has a separate commission of the peace, and under the Local Government Act of 1888 became a county borough for certain purposes. The parliamentary boundaries, as adjusted in 1832, described a circle of three-quarters of a mile in radius round the chief bridge; the municipal boundaries were slightly less extensive. In 1872 the municipal and parliamentary boroughs were made co-extensive, and comprise part of the townships of Butterworth, Castleton, Spotland, and Wuerdle and Wardle, and the township of Wardleworth. Acreage of the municipal and parliamentary boroughs, 4185; population, 71,401.

The parish comprises the townships of Butterworth, Castleton, Spotland, Wuerdle and Wardle, Todmorden and Walsden, Wardleworth, and Blatchinworth and Calderbrook. The livings are all vicarages in the diocese of Manchester. Value of St Chad, £1500 (gross); of St Alban, £300 (net); of St James, £500 (gross); and of St Mary, £484 (gross),. all with residences. Patron of St Chad, the Bishop of Manchester; of the other three, the Vicar of Rochdale. Population of the ecclesiastical parish of St Chad, 11,410; of St Alban, 6641; of St James, 9046; and of St Mary, 8475. Balderstone St Mary, Falinge, Hamer, Healey, Milnrow, New-bold, Smallbridge, and Spotland are separate ecclesiastical parishes.

Transcribed from The Comprehensive Gazetteer of England & Wales, 1894-5

Administration

The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.

Ancient CountyLancashire 
Ecclesiastical parishRochdale St. Chad 
HundredSalford 
Poor Law unionRochdale 

Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.


Church Records

Ancestry.co.uk, in association with Lancashire Archives, have images of the Parish Registers for Lancashire online.


Directories & Gazetteers

We have transcribed the entry for Rochdale from the following:


Land and Property

The Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Lancashire is available to browse.


Maps

Online maps of Rochdale are available from a number of sites:


Newspapers and Periodicals

The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following Lancashire newspapers online:

DistrictRochdale
RegionNorth West
CountryEngland
Postal districtOL16
Post TownRochdale

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