Rochdale (ancient parish)

Rochdale

Church of St Chad, Rochdale

Area
 • 183158,620 acres (237.2 km2)
 • 186140,340 acres (163.3 km2)
 • Coordinates53°36′53″N 2°09′28″W / 53.6147°N 2.1577°W / 53.6147; -2.1577
Population
 • 180126,577
 • 186191,754
History
 • CreatedEarly Middle Ages
StatusEcclesiastical parish
 • HQRochdale
Subdivisions
 • TypeTownships
 • Units1. Todmorden and Walsden

2. Spotland 3. Wuerdle and Wardle 4. Blatchinworth and Calderbrook 5. Wardleworth 6. Castleton 7. Butterworth

8. Saddleworth

Rochdale was an ecclesiastical parish of early-medieval origin in northern England, administered from the Church of St Chad, Rochdale. At its zenith, it occupied 58,620 acres (237 km2) of land amongst the South Pennines, and straddled the historic county boundary between Lancashire and the West Riding of Yorkshire. To the north and north-west was the parish of Whalley; to the southwest was the parish of Bury; to the south was Middleton and Prestwich-cum-Oldham.

Anciently a dependency of Whalley Abbey, the parish of Rochdale is believed to be of Anglo-Saxon origin, as evidenced by historical documentation, toponymy and its dedication to Chad of Mercia.[1]

Urbanisation, population shifts, and local government reforms all contributed towards the gradual alteration and ultimate dissolution of the historic parish boundaries; the social welfare functions of the parish were broadly superseded by the English Poor Laws and new units of local governance, such as the County Borough of Rochdale and the Milnrow Urban District. Today, the territory of the former parish lies within Lancashire, Greater Manchester and West Yorkshire.[2]

  1. ^ Fishwick 1889, p. 127.
  2. ^ Greater Manchester Gazetteer, Greater Manchester County Record Office, Places names - O to R, archived from the original on 18 July 2011, retrieved 11 July 2010