Top 15 Attractions and Activities in Rochdale, Greater Manchester

Located within Greater Manchester, Rochdale has a historical presence dating back to at least the 11th century, as noted in the Domesday Book. The town gained significance through the wool trade in the 18th century and transitioned into a prominent textile manufacturing hub during the 19th century. A remarkable testament to this prosperous era is the town hall, recognized as one of the finest instances of Gothic Revival architecture in the United Kingdom. Additionally, the modern Co-operative Movement emerged in Rochdale in 1844 when the Rochdale Equitable Pioneers established a shop, which has since been converted into a museum.

1. Rochdale Town Hall

Often regarded as one of the premier municipal structures in the UK, Rochdale Town Hall is a Gothic Revival marvel designed by William Henry Crossland and inaugurated in 1871. The clock tower, which rises prominently over the Esplanade and River Roch, is a replacement for the original that was destroyed by fire in 1883; this subsequent design was undertaken by Alfred Waterhouse and draws inspiration from Manchester Town Hall.

Allocate some time to admire the main facade from the adjacent car park, where the portico featuring three pointed arches is adorned with four gilded lions.

Further along, Rochdale’s coat of arms becomes discernible along an embattled parapet embellished with gargoyles.

Public tours are conducted on the first Monday of each month, providing an invaluable opportunity to navigate the intricate corridors, Great Hall, Mayor’s Parlour, and the former Magistrates’ Retiring Room, accompanied by a 15-minute recital on the James Jepson Binns organ, which was installed in 1913.

2. Hollingworth Lake

Excavated in 1800 to supply the Rochdale Canal, Hollingworth Lake developed into a popular tourist destination during the Victorian era.

Its picturesque location offers captivating views towards the Pennines and the distant gritstone formations of Blackstone Edge.

Captain Matthew Webb, famed for being the first individual to swim the English Channel in 1875, undertook his training at Hollingworth Lake.

Since the 1970s, the lake has been under the stewardship of Rochdale Council, transforming it into a country park and revitalizing it as a recreational asset.

An activity center on the western bank provides facilities for sailing, kayaking, canoeing, rowing, and windsurfing.

The northern shoreline houses a visitor center that features a café, a permanent exhibition on local heritage and wildlife, as well as a small art gallery.

Additionally, visitors can obtain a fishing license at the center to try their luck at catching the lake’s diverse fish species, including carp, roach, tench, bream, and perch.

3. Touchstones

Housed in an attractive Historicist structure constructed from Yorkshire stone, Touchstones serves as a museum, art gallery, visitor information center, and study site.

This venue encompasses the Central Library, Museum, and Art Gallery, which originally dated back to 1883 and underwent expansions in 1903 and 1913. As a museum, Touchstones reveals Rochdale’s human and natural history, documenting the evolution of the cotton mills, Rochdale Canal, and the advent of the railway, while also illustrating how glaciers shaped the landscape at the conclusion of the last Ice Age.

Visitors will be acquainted with notable Rochdale figures such as the Victorian photographer Roger Fenton and broadcaster John Peel.

In a similar fashion, the rotating exhibits within the art gallery highlight a collection comprising 1,600 pieces from artists like L. S. Lowry, Charles Burton Barber, Jeremy Critchlow, and Jeffrey Edwards.

The exhibition titled “What if We Tried?” was a significant attempt in spring 2019 to display a substantial portion of the collection across three galleries.

4. Rochdale Canal

The canal named after Rochdale traverses the southern part of the town, extending 32 miles from Castleford Basin in Manchester to Sowerby Bridge in Yorkshire.

Constructed at the cusp of the 19th century, it served as a significant navigable waterway spanning 14 feet, facilitating the Industrial Revolution in the area and functioning as a conduit for cotton, wool, timber, limestone, salt, and coal.

By the 1920s, traffic had diminished on the canal, leading to its closure to boats in 1952. Nevertheless, following its restoration in 2002, the Rochdale Canal stands as one of the few historical waterways fully navigable along its entire length.

Of the original 92 locks, 91 remain, with locks three and four combined into a single unit.

If desired, one could undertake a walk along the complete 32-mile stretch or venture into the surrounding countryside to absorb the Pennine scenery and industrial history (the central section of the town features a somewhat gritty atmosphere).

5. Healey Dell Nature Reserve

Located just a couple of miles from Rochdale town center, the Healey Dell is embraced by dense woodlands along the rushing River Spodden.

Here, the river has carved an impressive gorge, cascading over rapids and waterfalls that once powered corn, wool, and cotton mills.

One of the most striking features is the Victorian viaduct that spans the gorge, constructed in 1867 for a railway that has since ceased operations; it serves as a remarkable viewpoint standing 30 meters above the river.

Ample remnants of industrial history can be discovered along the river, including what remains of Broadley Wood Mill, Stone Rubbing Mill, and Th’Owd Mill l’th Thrutch.

6. Healey Dell Heritage Centre and Tea Rooms

Within the former ranger office of the nature reserve lies an exhibition dedicated to the dell’s industrial heritage alongside a charming tea room.

This Victorian structure was refurbished in 2013 and has quickly established itself as a focal point for visitors to the reserve.

Patrons can enjoy light meals, high tea, or indulgent chocolate fondue, while exploring the heritage room, which regularly hosts temporary exhibits by local artists.

The center operates on Fridays and weekends, often accompanied by musical performances from a resident pianist on the baby grand piano.

7. Tandle Hill Country Park

Situated between Rochdale and Oldham, Tandle Hill encompasses 110 acres of lush grassland and distinguished mature beech forests.

On clear days, Tandle Hill offers romantic vistas of the Manchester Plain, the Pennines, and even the Welsh mountains on the horizon.

A countryside center located within the park features picnic tables and informative displays about the park’s wildlife and history.

Visitors can acquire flyers detailing the birds commonly seen at Tandle Hill and attempt to spot species such as lesser redpolls, twites, song thrushes, or bullfinches.

Enhancements for younger visitors include a playground with a sandpit, and the café operates on most weekends.

8. Greenbooth Reservoir

Enchanting walks await at this collection of four moorland water reservoirs situated northwest of Rochdale.

The upper three reservoirs were finalized in 1846, located in the steep valley above the village of Greenbooth.

As Rochdale expanded in the post-war years, additional reservoir capacity became necessary, leading to the village’s removal from the map.

The lower reservoir was inaugurated in 1965, and a plaque on the dam serves as a memorial to the village.

Multiple walking loops on this natural vantage point overlooking Greater Manchester allow exploration of the beautiful landscape, ranging from 30 minutes to several hours in duration.

Amongst the rugged Pennine backdrop, visitors may encounter flocks of sheep while enjoying picturesque views to the south and across to Yorkshire in the east.

9. Rochdale Pioneers Museum

Located at 31 Toad Lane, this historic building is significant as the site where the Rochdale Equitable Pioneers began operating in 1844. This pioneering consumer co-operative, composed of skilled workers such as weavers, sought to alleviate the poverty imposed by increasing mechanization during the Industrial Revolution.

The organization’s mission was to supply high-quality essential goods such as sugar, tea, butter, tobacco, and flour at accessible prices, thus establishing the foundation for contemporary cooperatives globally.

Although the pioneers relocated from 31 Toad Lane in 1867, the Co-operative Movement acquired the premises and inaugurated it as a museum in 1931. The museum provides context regarding the socio-economic conditions of the mid-19th century, as well as insights into the philosophies of textile manufacturer Robert Owen (1771-1858), a pivotal figure in the establishment of both utopian socialism and the cooperative movement.

Visitors will learn how cooperatives contributed to momentum for 20th-century reforms related to women’s rights, education, and poverty alleviation.

10. Ellenroad Engine House

The Ellenroad Engine House is home to the world’s largest operational steam mill engines, Victoria and Alexandra, housed within a former spinning mill.

This mill, originally constructed in 1890 and reconstructed in 1916, was demolished in 1982, though the engine house and its chimney were preserved.

Victoria and Alexandra were installed in 1917 and form a twin tandem compound steam engine with a capacity of 3000 hp, believed to be the most powerful of its kind.

The facility also features other operational machinery, including the mill pilot generator engine and sprinkler pump, along with two engines sourced from different factories and remnants of a third under restoration.

Victoria and Alexandra are ceremoniously awakened during Steaming Days on the first Sunday of each month, while non-steaming days occur weekly on Tuesdays, Sundays outside of the first Sunday, and the first Saturday of the month when the engine house is open to the public.

11. Greater Manchester Fire Service Museum

Several pivotal events in firefighting history have unfolded in Manchester.

England’s inaugural municipal fire service was established in 1826, followed by the introduction of the country’s first motorized fire engine in Eccles in 1901. At Rochdale’s Art Deco fire station, constructed in the 1930s, a free museum is open on Fridays and Sundays, documenting the history of firefighting in the Greater Manchester area.

The exhibit immerses visitors in various historical periods, such as a Victorian street scene and the London Blitz during autumn/winter of 1940. Notably, the museum features 23 large-scale fire appliances, including a hand-drawn pump from 1741, hose carts from 1900 and 1904, and an exceptional Dennis Metz 125-ft turntable ladder from 1957.

12. Queen’s Park, Heywood

This Green Flag park originated following the death of the affluent local merchant Martin J. Newhouse in 1873. With no will in place, his estate was inherited by Queen Victoria, who graciously donated it back to Heywood.

Using these funds, the town established a dignified park for its community, situated on grounds that gently slope down to the River Roch.

Queen’s Park has preserved its Victorian design, featuring monuments such as the Lodge House and Victoria Fountain.

Visitors can find a riverside path, a lake, a visitor center, a café, play areas for children, formal flowerbeds, bowling greens, and designated wetlands for wildlife.

The visitor center hosts a modest exhibition detailing the park’s history, while the lake’s island is home to a large colony of herons.

13. St Edmund’s Church

Currently no longer serving as a place of worship, St Edmund’s Church is a Grade I listed building, representing an extraordinary example of Victorian religious architecture that combines neo-Gothic elements with Masonic symbolism.

Commissioned by industrialist and Freemason Albert Hudson Royds, the church was executed with exceptional craftsmanship and decoration.

Unprecedented levels of Masonic symbolism are present at St Edmund’s, evident in features such as the hammerbeam roof (ornamented with lilies, water-lilies, and pomegranates), the lectern, weathervane, and stained glass windows.

The Royds Chapel, a notable highlight, contains a window depicting Nehemiah and Ezra, and illustrates the Masonic outer guard, the Tyler, wielding the Tyler’s sword.

Additionally, imagery of Solomon’s Temple can be discerned, and attentive visitors may spot Hudson Royd’s likeness among several master masons featured in the church.

14. St Leonard’s Church, Middleton

Situated a few miles south of the core of Rochdale, but still within the borough, Middleton’s parish church is also a Grade I listed structure deserving closer examination.

Most of the fabric of St Leonard’s originates from the 1520s, with earlier components such as the south arcade, south porch, and tower dating to the 1410s, alongside the priest’s door that traces back a century prior.

The church, completed in the Perpendicular Gothic style by Sir Richard Assheton, was constructed in gratitude for the knighthood he received after the Battle of Flodden in 1513. Be sure to observe the Flodden Window located in the sanctuary, recognized as the UK’s oldest war memorial.

St Leonard’s is also notable for its extensive collection of monumental brasses from the 1500s and 1600s, with one brass representing a Civil War officer in full armor being particularly unique.

15. East Lancashire Railway

Heywood in Rochdale serves as a terminus for a 12-mile heritage railway that extends northward to Rawtenstall in Lancashire.

Initially established in 1846, the East Lancashire Railway was eventually integrated into the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway in 1859. Passenger services ceased in 1972, but restoration efforts have been in progress since 1986, resulting in seven stops along the line as of 2019, including a newly opened halt at Burrs Country Park.

The South Pennine landscape, adorned with Victorian townscapes and cotton mills, seems exquisitely suited for exploration via steam locomotive.

For younger visitors, the railway line offers a tangible experience of a bygone era in its sights, sounds, and smells.

The timetable is typically busiest from April to September, with services running from Wednesday to Sunday.

The line features a calendar of special events, including an Ale Trail, a 1940s Weekend, Ghost Trains during Halloween, and a regular “Wizard Academy” inspired by the world of Harry Potter.