53°38N 2°09W, pop (2001e) 205 200. Town in Greater Manchester, NW England, UK; on the R Roch, 16 km/10 mi NE of Manchester; railway; textiles (especially cotton), engineering; Co-operative Society founded here in 1844; football league team, Rochdale.
Rochdale is a large town in the north-west of England.
Historically part of Lancashire, Rochdale rose to prominence during the 19th century as a centre of textile manufacture.
It has a population of 94,000 (2001 Census)
Etymology
Rochdale gets its name from its position on the River Roch at the edge of the Pennines.
Twin towns
Rochdale is twinned with the towns of:
Bielefeld in Germany Tourcoing in France Sahiwal in PakistanArchitecture
Rochdale town hall
It has a fine Victorian Town Hall, finished in 1871.
This town hall is built directly next to the underground location where the River Roch flows underneath the town.
The front of the town hall has gargoyles, as well as golden statues of lions which have the emblems of Rochdale, Lancashire and Yorkshire on them.
It was said that Hitler gave instructions that Rochdale town hall was not to be bombed during WW2 as he wanted to take the stained glass windows from the tower back to Germany.
Other notable buildings
Another famous Rochdale landmark is the "Black Box", or the Council offices and bus station, built in the mid 1970s.
Transport
Railways
The borough's location as a crossroads for trade between east and west England saw the building of George Stephenson's Summit Rail Tunnel and the Rochdale Canal from Manchester to Yorkshire (re-opened in 2003 following years of neglect after an east-west motorway cut through it) supporting local textile industries of cotton, wool and silk.
The Manchester and Leeds Railway opened a station serving the town, but the line passed about a mile south of the town centre. Trains run from Manchester Victoria to the south, Halifax, Bradford and Leeds to the east, and is also on the Manchester to Rochdale via Oldham Line
Roads
The M62 motorway passes to the south of the town.
The centre of rochdale is built over a large portion of the river Roch, and is in the Guinness Book of records as the worlds widest bridge, its length is of course only a matter of metres, but its width is almost the town centres whole width. Trams will travel from Rochdale bus station, stop at Drake Street and on to the town's train station.
The co-operative movement
Rochdale is perhaps best known for being the birthplace of the Co-operative movement. Rochdale College in Toronto, Canada, a now-closed co-operative housing and alternative education experiment, was named in honour of the town of Rochdale as a tribute to its historic importance for the co-operative movement.
This Co-operative movement also includes the national supermarket chain, the Co-operative supermarket, which once started where the town centre shopping centre was;
Notable residents
The Chameleons, rock music group Mark Chapman (also known as Chappers), sports reader and Radio 1 sidekick DJ The Mock Turtles, rock music group Tractor, rock music group- signed and championed by short term Rochdale resident John Peel John Peel broadcaster- lived and worked in Rochdale in 1959 at Townhead Mill Chris Hewitt music impressario and record company owner Autechre, internationally famous electronic music group John Bright, Free Trade orator and MP Gracie Fields, singing star Anna Friel, actress Liz Kershaw, broadcaster Andy Kershaw, broadcaster Sir Cyril Smith, Liberal politician Lisa Stansfield, singer Nicholas Blincoe, novelist Colin Baker, actor, although not born in Rochdale Colin moved there and was raised in his early life.Sport
Rochdale has a professional football team - Rochdale A.F.C.
Arts
Arts organisations based in Rochdale include:
Backdoor Music Project, for local youths with bi-weekly performances at a number of venues. Rochdale Music Service - an extremely successful organisation for youth music in Rochdale.
User Comments Add a comment…