Rochdale
What to see
You’ll find accounts of Rochdale’s tourist attractions in Towns of Two Halves (and of 91 other places: order the book now for £8 from info@townsof2halves.co.uk). For additional information plus shopping, eating out etc there’s Visit Rochdale and Rochdale Online.
For events coming up go to Rochdale Online’s Events page.
Rochdale links:
●Gracie Fields Heritage Trail
●Greater Manchester Fire Service Museum
●Hollingworth Lake
●Rochdale Pioneers Museum
●Touchstones
Towns of Two Halves extracts
● “Gracie was a practical Rochdale FC supporter. In the 1930s, during the peak of her popularity, she helped the club financially. Her assistance bore fruit and 35 years later the club achieved the first promotion in its history.”
● “The other Rochdale institution you can hardly miss is the Co-op, represented by the Rochdale Pioneers Museum on the site of the first store set up by working people. This is so highly regarded around the world that in Kobe, Japan, there’s a replica of 31 Toad Lane, where it all began. It’s a fine old Georgian building in a well-preserved row in Rochdale’s Heritage Quarter. The name is almost superfluous: heritage is never very far away in Rochdale.”
● “At the Greater Manchester Fire Service Museum… early appliances are illustrated in full sets of cards issued by John Player, whose products must have been responsible for some of the fires that needed dousing.”
These are taken from the Rochdale chapter of Towns of Two Halves, published in 2018. To buy a copy, email info@townsof2halves.co.uk.