Town Hall

Rochdale lies in a river valley, on the edge of the Lancashire coalfield, with the central Pennines rising to the East, and the Rossendale hills to the North. The River Roch flows through the centre of the town and it is shallow enough to have been forded-one of the reasons, perhaps, for the growth of a settlement in this particular spot. A ford existed at the bottom of Drake Street until the middle of the l9th Century. It is referred to in the Town Centre Trail. Another reason for a settlement here is also linked with communications. The line of the Pennine Hills, which forms such an impenetrable barrier between the counties of Lancashire and Yorkshire, has one of its few natural breaks at Summit, Littleborough. Here, the action of glacial meltwaters at the end of the Ice Age cut through the hills to form the Summit Gap, through which first pack horse routes and later the road and the canal could pass, giving Rochdale vital communication and trading links with Yorkshire. The town of Rochdale, as we now know it, was first settled by man in about 5,000 B.C. (during the Middle Stone Age) and there is ample evidence of continuous occupation from that time. In A.D. 78 the Romans moved into Northern England, and they too left their mark upon this area. Roman remains have been found around Rochdale, although the so called Roman Road, running over Blackstone Edge, is now thought by historians to be of more recent construction. After the Romans left Britain in A.D. 410, the history of Northern England is extremely obscure. South Lancashire seems to have been the fighting ground for the two British Kingdoms of Northumbria and Mercia, and to have eventually become part of Northumbria. However, in the ninth century South Lancashire was incorporated into the Kingdom of Wessex, which ultimately unified the whole of England under its king. The first real information we have about Rochdale itself comes from the Domesday Book-William the Conqueror's survey of the land he had won by his conquest of England in 1066. We learn that the manor of "Recedham" existed, and it has been calculated that about three hundred people lived within it. (In medieval times, a manor may be regarded as the smallest administrative unit-the area of land owned and controlled by one knight, who lived in the manor house.) The manor of Rochdale was part of the Hundred of Salford, and one of the largest manors within it. Of medieval Rochdale, very little remains. The Parish Church which was probably the focus of the medieval settlement dates back to the thirteenth century, though a church may have stood on the site for many years before that. A castle is known to have existed in the twelfth century,' standing on Castle Hill, though no evidence of it is visible now. In 1251, a royal charter was granted for a weekly market in Rochdale one of the earliest of such charters to be granted in Lancashire. The ownership of the Manor of Rochdale has been in various hands. In 1399, the king held it, and in 1638 it was purchased by John Byron, whose family held it until 1823, when the poet, Lord Byron, sold it to the Deardens. The Manor has remained in their hands to this day, although its power has steadily declined through the centuries, 'until today Its administrative control is in name only. However, the Manor Court still exists (though it has not met since 1928) and rents are still collected from some property in Rochdale. It was in the medieval period that the textile trade began, and laid the foundations for Rochdale's future wealth. England's trade in woollen cloth with the rest of Europe began in the thirteenth century and Rochdale played its part. The early woollen industry was based on the domestic system of manufacture, whereby the combing, carding, spinning and weaving of the wool were carried out by families working in their own homes, while the finishing and marketing of the cloth were left to the merchant who had supplied the raw wool. He, of course, took almost all the profit, and in this way a small number of Rochdale' families amassed great wealth. The cotton industry came relatively late to Rochdale, at the end of the eighteenth century. Only then did domestic manufacture cease. Mills sprang up along the Roch, and then, with the advent of steam power, throughout the town along the river valleys and canal banks, water being essential to steam power. With the mills came the poor housing and bad social conditions, which are associated with the industrial revolution. The wealth of the Rochdale people fluctuated with the fortunes of the cotton trade, and periods of high employment alternated with periods of deep depression and poverty. The -name of Rochdale has always been associated with liberalism, and with concern for the individual. The Co-operative Movement, as we know it today, began here in 1844, and spread all over the world, bringing benefit to all working people. John Bright, the radical M.P., whose campaign for Free Trade brought him respect from all working people, was born here, and Richard Cobden, his fellow worker in the cause, was M.P. for the town. In education also, Rochdale's achievement is notable. Archbishop Parker, offering free education for up to 150 pupils, founded a grammar school in Rochdale in 1565. And at the other end of the educational process, Rochdale was one of the first three towns in the country to establish a branch of the Workers Education Association for education beyond school; this organization still flourishes today. The more recent history of Rochdale records on the one hand the slow decline of the industries on which her wealth was founded and on the other, the development and expansion of the town's administrative power, and geographical area. The nation-wide decline of the textile industry has its cause in the growth of foreign competition. Britain's pre-eminence in textile manufacture was due Far e y to her being first in the field in all important areas, and this advantage has, in this century, largely disappeared. In Rochdale, other industries are gradually taking the place of textiles, and the town now supports a diversity of commercial undertakings. In local government, Rochdale's proudest moment came in 1856 when a charter was granted to the town, making Rochdale a Municipal Borough, and the first Borough Council was elected. The population at that time stood at 34,545. In 1933 Norden and Bamford, then outlying villages, were drawn in, and Rochdale became a County Borough. In April 1974, all local authorities were extensively re-organised, and Rochdale became a Metropolitan Borough, being amalgamated with Middleton, Heywood, Littleborough and Milnrow, all of which had had, until that date, some degree of autonomy over their own affairs. Rochdale's population soared from 94,000 to over 211,000. At the same time the county of Lancashire gave way to the Greater Manchester County, of which Rochdale is now apart. If local industry and local government have undergone change in recent years, so also has he appearance of the town. Many mills have been demolished, motorways have been built and the town centre has been reconstructed. Nevertheless much evidence of Rochdale's past still remains, in buildings, place names and in the objects in the Rochdale Museum will lead to a fuller appreciation Of Rochdale's rich and varied history. Elizabeth Poilitt
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