Rochdale and Area Primitive Methodist Societies and Chapels

John Bartholomew’s 1887 Gazetteer of the British Isles (in ‘A Vision of Britain’) described Rochdale like this:

Rochdale, parl. and mun. bor. and par., SE Lancashire, on river Roch and Rochdale Canal, 10 miles NE. of Manchester …  Rochdale is a place of great antiquity; there was a Roman station in the vicinity.  It was early noted for its woollen mfrs., which in the time of Elizabeth had attained to great prosperity; it is still a seat of the woollen trade, chiefly flannels, but to a greater extent it is a seat of the cotton trade, chiefly calicoes; it also has foundries, machine shops, a paper mill, &C., and in the neighbourhood are quarries of free-stone and pavement, and extensive collieries.    The parish church (St. Chad’s), of 12^th century, situated on an eminence, is approached from the lower part of the town by a flight of 122 steps. …  Rochdale is the centre of the co-operative movement, which originated there in 1844. …’

In March 2023, the MyPrimitiveMethodists website does not have any Preaching Plans for the Rochdale Primitive Methodist Circuit so the table below shows all of the chapels that might have been in it.  Some of the more distant chapels may have been members of adjoining circuits: Knowlwood to the north, Oldham to the south and Bury to the west.

My main sources are the following three lists:

1867:  The following places were listed in the Rochdale Registration District of the 1867 Register of Non-Conformist Chapels (Primitive Methodist):

1869:  Slater’s 1869 Rochdale Trade Directory p. 767 listed Places of Worship in Rochdale; the following places were listed under Primitive Methodist:

1870:  Report in the Rochdale Observer, 6 August 1870:

‘LITTLEBOROUGH BAND OF HOPE FESTIVAL.- Last Saturday, the 2^nd annual demonstration of the Littleborough United Bands of Hope was held, and seldom has such a pleasing scene been witnessed by the inhabitants of the village.  Upwards of 700 persons joined in the procession (principally youths), representing various bands of hope in the neighbourhood.  The procession was headed by the Darwen Temperance Band, which performed a programme of music in excellent style.  The following is the order in which the schools came in the procession:- Primitive Methodists, Featherstall; Primitive Methodists, Summit; United Methodist Free Church, Littleborough; Wesleyan Methodists, Temple; Wesleyan Methodists, Littleborough; Wesleyan Methodists, Dearnley; Primitive Methodists, Shore; Primitive Methodists, Greenshill.  The procession was embellished with banners and bannerets, with very appropriate mottos, indeed, the affair altogether was a decided attraction.  The route, as shown on the bills, was all along the principal thoroughfares, which, as the young army of teetotallers passed, were crowded with spectators.  After parading the village, the procession went to the Wesleyan Chapel, where a meeting was held on the spare ground adjoining.  … The meeting was afterwards addressed by the Rev. J. Hill …  At intervals the band played selections of music, and the children enlivened the proceedings by songs, which they rendered in good style.  The whole affair passed off well.’