Rochdale, Greater Manchester Professional Carpet and Upholstery Cleaning

The history of Rochdale

Rochdale is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, at the foothills of the South Pennines in the dale on the River Roch, 5.3 miles (8.5 km) northwest of Oldham and 9.8 miles (15.8 km) northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale, which had a population of 211,699 in 2011.

Previously administered by Lancashire County Council, Rochdale is part of the historic county of Lancashire whilst being administered under the ceremonial county of Greater Manchester. Rochdale’s recorded history begins with an entry in the Domesday Book of 1086 under “Recedham Manor”. The ancient parish of Rochdale was a division of the hundred of Salford and one of the largest ecclesiastical parishes in England, comprising several townships. By 1251, Rochdale had become important enough to have been granted a Royal charter. Rochdale flourished into a centre of northern England’s woollen trade, and by the early 18th century was described as being “remarkable for many wealthy merchants”.

Rochdale rose to prominence in the 19th century as a mill town and centre for textile manufacture during the Industrial Revolution. It was a boomtown of the Industrial Revolution, and amongst the first industrialised towns. The Rochdale Canal – one of the major navigable broad canals of the United Kingdom – was a highway of commerce during this time used for the haulage of cotton, wool and coal to and from the area. The socioeconomic change brought by the success of Rochdale’s textile industry in the 19th century led to its rise to borough status and it remained a dominant settlement in its region. However, during the 20th century, Rochdale’s spinning capacity declined towards an eventual halt.

Rochdale is the birthplace of the modern Co-operative Movement, to which more than one billion people worldwide belonged in 2012. The Rochdale Equitable Pioneers Society was founded in 1844 by 28 local residents as a response to the high cost and frequent adulteration of basic foodstuffs by shopkeepers at the time. The Pioneers were notable for combining the notion of the patronage dividend alongside investing trading surplus for member benefit, especially in education. The Rochdale Principles, the set of ideals that underpinned the society, are still used, in updated form, by the International Co-operative Alliance. The Rochdale Pioneers shop was the precursor to The Co-operative Group, the largest consumer co-operative in the world.

Rochdale Town Hall—a Grade I listed building—dates from 1871 and is one of the United Kingdom’s finest examples of Victorian Gothic revival architecture.

Early history

A Roman road, leading from Mamucium (Manchester) to Eboracum (York), crossed the moors at Blackstone Edge.

During the time of the Danelaw, Rochdale was subjected to incursions by the Danes on the Saxons. The castle that Castleton is named after, and of which no trace remains, was one of twelve Saxon forts possibly destroyed in frequent conflicts that occurred between the Saxons and Danes during the 10th and 11th centuries.

Rochdale appears in the Domesday Book as Recedham. At the time of the Norman Conquest, the manor was held by a Saxon then, Gamel. Before 1212 Henry II granted the manor to Roger de Lacy whose family retained it as part of the Honour of Clitheroe until it passed to the Dukes of Lancaster by marriage and then by 1399 to the Crown. John Byron bought the manor in 1638 and it was sold by the poet, Lord Byron, in 1823, to the Dearden’s, who holds the title. Rochdale had no manor house but the “Orchard” built-in 1702 and acquired in 1745 by Simon Dearden was the home of the lords of the manor after 1823. It was described as “a red-brick building of no architectural distinction, on the north side of the river opposite the town hall” and sometimes referred to as the Manor House. It was demolished in 1922.

In medieval times, Rochdale was a market town, and weekly markets were held from 1250 when Edmund de Lacy obtained a grant for a market and an annual fair. The market was held outside the parish church where there was an “Orator’s Corner”.

Industrial revolution

The manufacture of woollen cloth, particularly baize, kerseys and flannels, was important from the reign of Henry VIII. At this time the industry was rooted in the domestic system but towards the end of the 18th-century mills powered by water were built. Water power was replaced by steam power in the 19th century and coal mines, mostly drift mines, were opened where coal from the lower coal measures outcropped around the town. The Deardens who were lords of the manor were among the local coal owners. By the mid-1800s the woollen trade was declining and the cotton trade which took advantage of technological developments in spinning and weaving growing in importance. Rochdale became one of the world’s most productive cotton spinning towns when rose to prominence during the 19th century as a major mill town and centre for textile manufacture during the Industrial Revolution. It was a boomtown of the Industrial Revolution and amongst the first ever industrialised towns. By the end of the 19th century, there were woollen mills, silk manufacturers, bleachers and dyers but cotton spinning and weaving were the dominant industries in Rochdale. The socioeconomic change brought by the success of Rochdale’s textile industry in the 19th century led to its rise to borough status and it remained a dominant settlement in its region. However, during the 20th century, Rochdale’s spinning capacity declined towards an eventual halt.

The Rochdale Pioneers opened the first Cooperative shop in Toad Lane in 1844. The reformer and Member of Parliament, John Bright (1811–1889), was born in Rochdale and gained a reputation as a leader of political dissent and supporter of the Anti-Corn Law League. The Baron Street drill hall opened around 1865.

Post-industrial

The first seven series of the BBC school drama Waterloo Road were set in Rochdale between 2006 and 2012 and filmed on location at the former Hilltop Primary School in Kirkholt, which closed on 31 August 2005. Most of the out-of-school scenes in the series were filmed around Rochdale, and many of the pupils’ homes seen on television were council houses in the Kirkholt area which were mostly built in the early postwar years.

It was announced by the BBC and Shed Media that filming on the series in Rochdale was to end in late 2011, with production moving to Scotland from early 2012. The final scenes to be shot at the Hilltop Primary site were filmed in November 2011. In April 2012, filming on the eighth series began on location at the new Waterloo Road set, the former Greenock Academy in Greenock, Scotland.

Greater Manchester Combined Authority

Greater Manchester is one of the country’s most successful city regions. Home to more than 2.8 million people and with an economy bigger than that of Wales or Northern Ireland. Our vision is to make Greater Manchester one of the best places in the world to grow up, get on and grow old. We’re getting there through a combination of economic growth, and the reform of public services.

The Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) is made up of the ten Greater Manchester councils and Mayor, who work with other local services, businesses, communities and other partners to improve the Greater Manchester City Region.

The ten councils (Bolton, Bury, Manchester, Oldham, Rochdale, Salford, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford and Wigan) have worked together voluntarily for many years on issues that affect everyone in the region, like transport, regeneration and attracting investment.

Our services

Areas we cover in Rochdale

Ashworth, Burnedge, Firgrove, Great Howarth, Healey. Heap, Heap Bridge, Heywood, Hurstead, Littleborough, Middleton, Milnrow, Newhey, Rochdale, Shore, Smallbridge, Smithybridge, Summit, Wardle.

If you would like more information on our services, please contact us.