Early September heralds Heritage Open Days when buildings not often open to the public welcome visitors. We had been intending to travel north to Rochdale to see the newly restored Town Hall for some time but this was a chance to combine the visit with others.
I had last been to Rochdale Town Hall in about 1966 when taking part in a sponsored walk, in aid of Leonard Cheshire Homes. We were seen off at midnight from the front of the Town Hall. A return visit was well overdue.
A drizzly Sunday morning meant that the wide Esplanade in front of the Town Hall was deserted as we arrived. The exterior presents a craggy cliff of dark stone with the clock tower at the north-east end. The main body of the building has Germanic elements. In fact, it is said Hitler planned to transport the building brick by brick to Germany. On a dismal morning it could appear rather forbidding but the gilded gold lions atop the ‘porte cochere’ and the touch of red on the roof fleche relieve the overall blackened appearance.
The Town hall was built in the 1800’s in neo-Gothic style
Rochdale Corporation came into being in 1856. Very quickly there were calls for a purpose built town hall to house a variety of functions. Alongside a Council Chamber and offices, there was the Police Station, Fire Station and Magistrates’ Court. The Town Hall Committee agreed a budget of £20,000 and decided to run a competition for the design of the building. The prize was to be £100. William Henry Crossland of Leeds, a pupil of George Gilbert Scott, was the winner. The site chosen for the Town Hall was occupied by an old foundry. It was by the river, so prone to flooding, with the land behind rising steeply to St Chad’s church. The foundation stone was laid in 1866 and the building was completed by 1871. Costs had escalated. The original estimate of £20, 000 had grown to a final cost of £150,000.
Northern industrial towns competed with each other by building magnificent town halls to demonstrate civic pride and dignity. Leeds Town Hall is neoclassical in style and was completed by 1858. Manchester and Rochdale chose to build in Neo-Gothic style. Widely regarded as one of the U.K.’s finest examples of Victorian Gothic architecture, there has been a four-year restoration project and the Town Hall opened to the public in March 2024. Open seven days a week with improved accessibility, it is truly a “People’s Palace.”
The restored Hall is open to the public
We were greeted as we entered under the “porte cochere” and advised to go straight upstairs to the Great Hall as there was a wedding due to take place. But first we had to admire the Minton tiled floor and the three-naved vaulted hall of The Exchange. Mansfield stone was used to great effect in red and white stripes in the arches. The Exchange was never used as such; the tradespeople preferred to do their deals in the public houses.
The Grand Staircase rises in two flights with stone arches, marble balustrades and tall stained glass windows by Heaton, Butler and Bayne, one of the leading manufacturers of Gothic Revival stained glass. The colours shine out from a huge representation of the royal arms filling the whole of a three-light window as you ascend to the Great Hall.
The Great Hall will take your breath away
If you’ve been impressed so far, then the Great Hall will take your breath away. It is jaw-dropping! It is at once simple but nevertheless of great splendour. It has a huge hammerbeam roof with graceful carved angels holding the light fittings. The walls are decorated with a stencilled design and the warm wooden panelling is made from Danzig oak from Poland. At the east end the wall is covered by a huge painting of the Magna Carta by Henry Holiday (1870). More stained glass by R.T. Bayne filled with a pageant of kings and queens from William the Conqueror to William IV lines the walls. The monarchs have full-length portraits and are dressed in Garter regalia. Oliver Cromwell is given prominence which is probably a nod to Rochdale’s politics. At the West End is an organ built in 1913 by J.J. Binns. An inaugural concert had taken place the day before our visit, given by the organist at Manchester’s Bridgewater Hall, Jonathan Scott.
The Council Chamber and the Mayor’s Parlour were next
Back downstairs, we were able to see the Council Chamber. Back in the days when the council met there, the public had to stay behind an oak screen. Shuttles and sheep, symbols of Rochdale’s textile industry, decorate the ceiling and the windows.
A small room formed the private entrance to the Mayor’s Parlour but it was once at the base of the original clock tower designed by Crossland. There was a spectacular fire in 1883 when the clock tower burned down. In spite of the fire station being at the rear of the Town Hall, the tower was unable to be saved. The stock of the town’s first free library, housed on the first floor of the Town Hall, was ruined. In 1884 a new architect was commissioned to design a new clock tower. This was Alfred Waterhouse, whose Manchester Town Hall was completed in 1877. The new clock tower was positioned at the east end and was joined to the main building by a small bridge at first floor level. A display case shows some of the objects that were made from the melted metal from the fourteen bells after the fire.
Once in the Mayor’s Parlour, we see the place the Mayor would have done business in, but also received guests. It is charmingly decorated with delicately painted birds and flowers, the ceiling has peacocks and sprigs. The stained glass depicts the months of the year, by C.J. Allen. The fine Gothic chimneypiece is of Bath stone.
Dark green stencilled walls in the Reception Room
The Mayor’s Reception Room has dark green richly stencilled walls. There are carved corbels representing the architect Crossland holding a rolled plan and dividers; Councillor Ashworth, who supported Crossland, holding the town hall itself, and across the room, shaking his fist at both of them, is Councillor Edward Taylor who argued the money should be spent on 5,000 toilets for the population of Rochdale.
The budget had certainly spiralled out of control but, as Councillor Ashworth said at the opening ceremony: “We cannot have beauty without paying for it”
All pictures by Meg Gain, with permission to use, unless otherwise noted.
