I explored rich heritage of neglected Greater Manchester town and found hope for the future

All the building’s civic functions have been moved elsewhere and now it is open for the public to enjoy. You can now get married there, visit the newly-opened restaurant and café or take a tour around the building, which has something beautiful to look at on every wall.

While it is undoubtedly the jewel in the town’s architectural crown, it is, by no means, the only heritage building in Rochdale that deserves the spotlight. As a once thriving industrial town and birthplace of the Co-operative, there are pieces of history on every street. Wandering around Rochdale can make visitors feel hundreds of miles, and years, away from the hectic cosmopolitan city at the other end of the tram line. 

Sadly, though, Rochdale’s prosperity is largely confined to history. Decades of neglect, underfunding and oversight have left some areas of the town in seriously bad shape. At times, the level of deprivation is almost as startling as its architecture. 

But, not everyone has forgotten about Rochdale. The town hall’s renovation is just the start of the council’s regeneration plans and conservation groups are committed, now more than ever, to future-proofing the town’s landmarks. 

One of those groups is SAVE Britain’s Heritage, which advocates for the protection and sustainable repurposing of the country’s historic buildings. On Friday, November 18, SAVE held a walking tour of Rochdale aimed at highlighting both the success stories and at-risk buildings of town – and we went along to find out more. 

Our tour guide for the day was Kate Martyn, the Victorian Society’s regional chair and Manchester practice lead for Donald Insall Associates, an architecture firm that specialises in historic buildings and worked on the Rochdale Town Hall restoration.

The first stop on the tour, St John the Baptist RC church, was just a short walk away from our meeting point of Rochdale train station. The Grade II listed Art Deco-style church was completed in the 1920s. The first thing that makes this church unique is its white domed roof, which was inspired by Byzantine architecture and the famous Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, one of the parishioners explained to us as we stepped inside.

The second unique feature, the mosaiced sanctuary of the church, is something I was not expecting at all. The whole area is covered in an elaborate mosaic that must consist of tens of thousands of tiles. Each Biblical scene is depicted in glittering detail and it even features, most unusually we were told, the devil himself. 

A lot of money and man-power has been spent on restoring and preserving it. In 2022-23, extensive restoration work was completed on the mosaic, which is considered one of the largest artworks in the North West. It took a couple of months alone to wash the mosaic by hand using just water and sponge. Today, it attracts visitors of all faiths and is a source of great pride for the town. 

I could have sat and marvelled at the mosaic all day, but there was much more to see on the tour. On the way to the next location, we passed the old fire station, which is another great example of how people power can save treasured historic buildings. In 2013, it was put up for sale, but thanks to campaigning from local volunteers it was saved and awarded a multi-million pound renovation. Today it goes by the name Fireground and is home to the Greater Manchester Fire Service Museum, as well as a co-working space and a café. 

The next stop on our tour took us to Drake Street, which was once the retail centre of Rochdale and home to all kinds of shops. There are several other notable spots on this road, including the mid-twentieth century former Rochdale Observer office, Wet Rake garden (the site of the former Union Foundry) and Champness Hall, which has hosted everyone from the town’s own Gracie Fields to the Sex Pistols but today houses the offices of several different charities.

Today, it’s hard to believe that Drake Street holds any historical significance. The kind of businesses you’ll find there today are mostly chicken, vape and discount shops. When we visited, there was a queue forming round the back of Champness Hall for a soup kitchen and several other people sat in a community café. There is an information board with old photos of the area in all its Victorian glory, but there was an intoxicated man sat in front of it, so I couldn’t study it for too long. 

While this may speak to the wider social issues facing Rochdale town centre, there is some work being done on the heritage front, at least. Drake Street was recently the focus of a Historic England program called the Heritage Action Zone. As part of the project, low quality signage above several takeaway shop fronts have been restored to their original design and painted in bright colours to give them a modern feel. Work has also been done to the slate roofs and drainage pipes of some of the buildings.

When it comes to historic shop fronts, the example to follow on Drake Street is that of Butterworth Jewellers. Established in 1896, the business has occupied the same premises since 1903. It is the oldest family-run business in the town centre and one of the original Co-op buildings.

From Drake Street, we headed to the very centre of the town, where the modern and historic parts of the town come together. At the heart of it all there is the River Roch, which was hidden from view for over a century. Dating back to the 14th century, the original bridge was covered over in 1904 to make way for the tram network. In 2016, however, it was opened up again as part of the council’s wider £250 million regeneration project. In order to do this, the team matched the masonry used on the original bridge with stone from the same quarry. Not only has this brought back to life an important part of Rochdale’s history, it has also encouraged wildlife back to the area and helped to reduce flood risk. 

Our final stop on the tour was the Town Hall. I had been here once before, for the press launch of the wonderful Martlet restaurant and was eager for a chance to return and take a proper look around. It turns out that what I saw that day was just a tiny percentage of what the building has to offer. 

This time, I was there under the expert guidance of Kate Martyn, who had worked on the town hall’s restoration and was able to go into detail on some of the important decision-making that went into the project. 

She explained that, on the one hand, the town hall’s rich history and stunning original features had to be preserved, staying true, wherever possible, to the original designs. But on the other hand, it had to meet the modern requirements of a multi-functional public space that anyone could use. This meant making the building accessible with ramps and lifts that fit seamlessly in with original architecture. This meant strength testing the ceiling panels of the opulent great hall (which one tour member described as “a bit over the top”) and designing invisible mesh to help secure them. In some areas, the walls were cleaned of decades of smoke ash, revealing intricate – and notably secular – images of daily life in Rochdale. However, on the giant mural in the main hall, it was deemed too risky to be cleaned up. 

These are just a few examples of what went into the mammoth project and the results are undeniably impressive – and it’s not even complete. The next phase of the project will see the restoration of the Esplanade behind the Town Hall, an area troubled with anti-social behaviour in the past, to include new paths and green spaces. It was not my first time at the Town Hall, and it probably will not be my last – the perfect high-note to end the tour on. 

As my tram pulled out of Rochdale on my way home, my eye was drawn towards the white dome of the first building of our tour, St John the Baptist RC Church. It’s something that completely passed me by on my incoming journey, I was more concerned about finding a place to grab a coffee. But now I know what’s inside, I know about the hard work that has gone into maintaining it and I know about the community it serves. Sometimes, a closer look is all it takes to understand the value, both architectural and social, of these old and often forgotten buildings.