ROCHDALE a municipal and parliamentary borough of south-east Lancashire, is situated on the river Roch and on the Lancashire and Yorkshire railway, 11 miles north-north-east of Manchester and 12 east of Bolton. By means of the Rochdale Canal, extending from the duke of Bridgewater’s canal, Manchester, to the Calder and Hebble navigation at Sowerby Bridge, it has water communication with the most important towns in the north of England. Within recent years the town has largely increased. Though inhabited chiefly by the working classes, the streets generally are spacious and regular. The sanitary arrangements are very satisfactory, the main drainage having been executed on a very large scale. The gasworks and waterworks are in the hands of the corporation, which also erected public baths in 1868. There is a public cemetery belonging to the corporation, and also a public park 12 acres in extent. The parish church of St Chad, occupying the high grounds overlooking the town, is built on the site of a church which was erected in the 12th century. The town-hall is a very extensive and elaborate structure in the Decorated Gothic style, and had originally a tower surmounted by a gilded spire 140 feet in height, which was destroyed by fire in 1883. The building, completed in 1871 at a cost of £150,000, includes a large lιall for public meetings and various municipal rooms. For the free public library, with about 40,000 volumes, a new building was opened in. 1884. Of the educational charities the principal are the Archbishop Parker free grammar-school, founded in 1565, and the free English school. Among the other public institutions are the infirmary (lately much enlarged), the literary and scientific society, and the art society. The staple manufactures are those of woollens ...