Rochdale

Northwards from Oldham on to Rochdale. One of the outstanding features of many towns made prosperous by the industrial revolution is the impressive town halls, and Rochdale is no slouch in this respect.

And more importantly for this blog, the town hall has a massive clock tower. In fact, a truly impressive clock tower that makes many other clock towers seem positively wimpish.

The Town Hall was opened in September 1871. The clock tower was built with a wooden spire, which in hindsight may have been a big mistake as the tower was destroyed by fire in 1883. A new tower, standing 58 metres high, was designed by Alfred Waterhouse and completed in 1887.

Yorkshire Street seems to have its fair share of clocks. First up is this lovely specimen on the side of Townhead Court.

On the opposite side of the main road is Our Lady Immaculate church.

And a little bit further on is the Yorkshire Street Surgery.

The Rochdale Observer clock has certainly seen better days.

Nearby is this building on the corner of Milnow Road.

Our last port of call is Rochdale station. The clock is situated on the main staircase leading up to the platforms.

Rochdale acquired a station as early as 1839, but the current location dates from 1889.

A plaque below the clock shows in provenance. The Rochdale Pioneers were established in 1844, so I am taking a wild guess that the clock was installed in 1994.

And finally, just because I feel like it, a picture of a tram as taken from the platform at Rochdale station.