Rochdale was an
ecclesiastical parish
A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...
of early-medieval origin in
northern England
Northern England, or the North of England, refers to the northern part of England and mainly corresponds to the Historic counties of England, historic counties of Cheshire, Cumberland, County Durham, Durham, Lancashire, Northumberland, Westmo ...
, administered from the
Church of St Chad, Rochdale. At its zenith, it occupied of land amongst the
South Pennines, and straddled the
historic county boundary between
Lancashire
Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...
and the
West Riding of Yorkshire
The West Riding of Yorkshire was one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the riding was an administrative county named County of York, West Riding. The Lord Lieutenant of the West Riding of Yorkshire, lieu ...
. 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
The Anglo-Saxons, in some contexts simply called Saxons or the English, were a Cultural identity, cultural group who spoke Old English and inhabited much of what is now England and south-eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. They traced t ...
origin, as evidenced by historical documentation, toponymy and its dedication to
Chad of Mercia.
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and ultimate dissolution of the historic parish boundaries; the social welfare functions of the parish were broadly superseded by the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
The English Poor Laws were a system of poor relief in England and Wales that developed out of the codification of late-medieval and Tudor-era laws in 1587–1598. The system continued until the modern welfare state emerged in the late 1940s.
En ...
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
Greater Manchester is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders Lancashire to the north, Derbyshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Cheshire to the south, and Merseyside to the west. Its largest settlement is the city of Manchester. ...
and
West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire is a Metropolitan counties of England, metropolitan and Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and east, South Yorkshire and De ...
.
History
Rochdale was recorded in the ''
Domesday Book
Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...
'' as ''Recedham''; and in 1242 as ''Rachedale''.
Divisions
From a very early stage in its history, Rochdale consisted of five divisions or
townships: in the Lancashire part of the parish was
Butterworth,
Castleton (in which stood the parish church),
Hundersfield and
Spotland;
Saddleworth
Saddleworth is a civil parishes in England, civil parish of the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham in Greater Manchester, England. It comprises several villages and Hamlet (place), hamlets as well as suburbs of Oldham on the Saddleworth Moor, west ...
, for ecclesiastical purposes, was a part of Rochdale, but lay entirely in Yorkshire and otherwise had only a "very slight" connection to the parish.
[.] Hundersfield was later parted into four townships;
Blatchinworth and Calderbrook;
Todmorden and Walsden;
Wardleworth; and
Wuerdle and Wardle, bring the total number of divisions to eight.
See also
*
Manchester (ancient parish)
Manchester was an ancient ecclesiastical parish of the hundred of Salford, in Lancashire, England. It encompassed several townships and chapelries, including the then township of Manchester (now Manchester city centre). Other townships are n ...
References
Notes
Bibliography
*
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Rochdale (Ancient Parish)
History of Rochdale
History of Lancashire
Church parishes in the United Kingdom