ROCHDALE, municipal, county and parliamentary borough, Lancashire, England, on the river Roch and the Rochdale canal, m. N.E. from Manchester and 196 m. N.W. from London by L.M.S. railway. Pop. (1931) 90,278. The site rises sharply from the Roch, near its confluence with the Spodden, and there are fine views from the high-lying public park. Several interest ing old houses remain near the town. The parish church of St. Chad, mainly Perpendicular, has early English nave piers and a tower the lower part of which is Decorated. Of educational charities the principal is the Archbishop Parker free grammar school (founded 1565). There are also technical and art schools; and a large Roman Catholic orphanage. Rochdale was the birth place of the co-operative movement. The Equitable Pioneers society was founded here in 1844. A statue of John Bright (1891) recalls the connection of the statesman's family with Rochdale. Rochdale was incorporated in 1856, but the parliamentary bor ough has returned one member since 1832. The county borough
was created in 1888.
Rochdale (Recedham, Rachedam, Rachedal) takes its name from the river on which it stands. A Roman road passed the site, and a Saxon castle stood in Castleton. In Edward the Con fessor's reign most of the land was held by Gamel the Thane, but after the Conquest the manor came into the hands of Roger de Poictou, from whom it passed to the Lacys and became merged in the duchy of Lancaster. From 1462 to 1625 the crown leased it to the Byron family. In 1625 Charles I. conveyed the manor in trust, and in 1638 it was sold to Sir John Byron, afterwards Baron Byron of Rochdale, whose descendants held it till 1823 when it was sold to the Deardens. Manor courts are still held periodically. Henry III. (124o-41) granted to Edmund de Lacy the right to hold a weekly market on Wednesday and an annual fair on the feast of SS. Simon and Jude (Oct. 28).