Town in Greater Manchester, England
Rochdale
A shop on Toad Lane opened in 1844 with a few sacks of flour and some candles, and it went on to change how the world does business.
Key information
- County
- Greater Manchester
- Nation
- England
- Known for
- The Rochdale Pioneers and the birth of the modern co-operative movement
- What locals are called
- Rochdalians
- Famous people
- Gracie Fields, John Bright, Charles Howarth
- Football clubs
- Rochdale AFC (Spotland)
About Rochdale
The little shop that rewrote the rules
On 21 December 1844, a group of Rochdale working men opened a small store on Toad Lane. The shelves held very little: flour, oatmeal, butter, sugar and candles. The idea behind it was the radical part. The founders, who became known as the Rochdale Pioneers, were 28 men, many of them weavers. Prices in the town were high and food was often adulterated, so they decided to run a shop that was honest and owned by its customers. Every member had a vote, and profits were shared out in proportion to what each person spent. That is the dividend, which later became the 'divi' of co-op shopping. These ideas, now called the Rochdale Principles, spread across Britain and then around the world. Co-operatives from Japan to Kenya still trace their rules back to this one town. The old shop on Toad Lane is now a museum.
A town hall that looks like a cathedral
Rochdale Town Hall, opened in 1871, is one of the grandest Victorian Gothic buildings in the north of England. It was designed by William Henry Crossland and paid for by the town's cotton wealth. A tall spire and a great hall with a hammerbeam roof show how proud Rochdale was of itself. The original tower burned down in 1883 and was rebuilt, and the building still dominates the centre. It is the sort of place that makes first-time visitors stop and look up.
Cotton, wool and a canal with 92 locks
Rochdale grew rich on textiles. Wool came first and cotton followed, and by the Victorian age the valleys were full of mills and chimneys. The Rochdale Canal, opened in 1804, ran from Manchester to Sowerby Bridge in West Yorkshire. It was a broad canal across the Pennines, 32 miles long with 92 locks. The canal fell out of use in the 20th century but was restored and reopened in 2002. Today it is a route for boats, walkers and cyclists. The mills also fed a tradition of political argument. John Bright, born in Rochdale in 1811, became a leading Quaker campaigner of the Anti-Corn Law League and a famous orator in Parliament.
Our Gracie and the Rochdale sound
Gracie Fields was born Grace Stansfield in 1898, above a chip shop on Molesworth Street. She left the mill town to become one of the biggest entertainers in Britain, a singer and film star known to millions as 'Our Gracie'. Her warm, funny Lancashire voice never really left her act. Rochdale people tend to be proud of such local stars and happy to talk about them. The town has always been a place for plain speaking and big personalities.
Spotland, the Hornets and a League Cup surprise
Rochdale AFC, founded in 1907, play at Spotland. The club has spent most of its life in the lower reaches of the Football League, but it has one proud moment. In 1962 it became the first Fourth Division club to reach a major final, the League Cup, where it lost to Norwich City. Spotland is also home to Rochdale Hornets, one of the oldest rugby league clubs around, formed in 1871. Few towns of Rochdale's size have two sides with such long histories sharing one ground.
Sea air in the hills
Just outside town, Hollingworth Lake began as a reservoir to feed the canal. It became so popular with Victorian day-trippers that locals nicknamed it the 'Weighvers' Seaside', after the mill workers who came for a day out. Rowing boats, pleasure steamers and a promenade grew up around its shore. The lake is still a favourite place for a walk and a breath of fresh air, with the Pennine moors behind it.