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View Full Version : Archived: Rochdale Town Hall - very Pic Heavy



judderman62
30-10-2010, 11:47 PM
+++ Hope the admins will indulge me on this one - it's a stunning building so difficult to keep the image count down +++

Rochdale Town Hall is a Victorian building widely recognised as one of the finest municipal buildings in the Country.
It is listed as Grade 1 by English Heritage.

Building commenced on 31 March 1866 and the building was inaugurated 27 September 1871.
Originally it had a 240 foot tower topped by a wooden spire topped by a gilded statue of St. george and the
Dragon. The spire and statue were destroyed by a fire on 10 April 1883. The Architect was William Henry Crossland.
It cost £160,000 to build (2010 equivalent would be £11, 040,000.00)

It's stained glass windows are credited as "the finest modern examples of their kind"

For anyone wanting to know more about it there is shed loads of information on tinterweb on it - and it is a very
interesting building so i would recommend a good read - the wikepdia page has loads of info too.

So on with the images:

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Lets go inside now



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Apparently these were to represent a forest - the Pillars representing the tree trunks and the curved ceiling
bits (excuse the techie speak) representing the canopy of the forest.



We'll continue downstairs.


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Upstairs now for the council chambers , main hall and Balcony.

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All the walls were hand painted so all the patterns you see are not wallpapered


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From the Main hall a door leads to the balcony

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Back inside and lets head for the main council chamber


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the above image has particular relevance which I shall explain at the end


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lets leave the council chamber and have a general wander around.


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I guess we should look at some of the fine stained glass windows.


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there were several of these and they had the crests on them of towns that Rochdale traded with.


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More eagle eyed readers may recognise the chubby gentleman in the middle.

OK lets head outside before wrapping up.


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The five parts of the building you can see with the pointy roofs originally housed the fire brigade - this was in the days when the fire engines were horse drawn.

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A very Narrow door indeed.


That, ladies and gentlepeople, is it ... except I did say i would explain the relevance of the Plaque of
John Connell - Mayor 1977-78. The relevance is that I visited the Town Hall with a friend of mine , said friend being the
Granddaughter of Mr. John Connell - she was 4 years of age when he was Mayor there. You can imagine what a thrill it
was for her and made the day all the more enjoyable for me too. I also asked them if they could get any information on
him and his time in office and they liaised with the local studies library nearby and photocopied lots of news paper clips
etc and gave her a little pack to take with her. They also have a book in the Mayor's Parlour with photographs of all the
Mayors in so she was shown that too.

All in all an excellent day.

If you wish to see all the images form this visit, close on 150, and I oh so recommend that you do as I have left loads
out and it is a stunning place they can be seen here. (http://www.flickr.com/photos/84462488@N00/sets/72157625149806309/with/5129605918/)