Borough of Greater Manchester, England
Metropolitan borough in England
The Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale is a metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester in North West England. It is named after its largest town, Rochdale, The borough covers other outlying towns and villages with a population of 206,500 at the 2011 census. It is the ninth-largest district by population in Greater Manchester. [2]
History
The borough was formed in 1974 as part of the provisions of the Local Government Act 1972 and is an amalgamation of six former local government districts. It was originally proposed that the borough include the neighbouring town of Bury and disclude Middleton; Bury however went on to form the administrative centre for the adjacent Metropolitan Borough of Bury. The borough was formed by a merger of the former county borough of Rochdale and from the administrative county of Lancashire, the municipal boroughs of Heywood and Middleton, along with the urban districts of Littleborough, Milnrow and Wardle.The borough lies mostly within the historic county of Lancashire but a small part lies in the former West Riding of Yorkshire. Prior to its creation, it was suggested that the metropolitan borough be named Chadwick (with reference to Sir Edwin Chadwick), but this was rejected in favour of Rochdale.[3]
Saint Luke's Parish Church, Heywood
Geography
The borough lies directly north-northeast of the City of Manchester, to the east of the Metropolitan Borough of Bury, to the north of the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham and partly to the east of the county of West Yorkshire bordering near to the Metropolitan Borough of Calderdale and the Lancashire borough of Rossendale is to the northwest. There are some rural parts and urban parts of the district including Blackstone Edge and the Pennine hills which form part of the rural areas of the borough. The more urban areas centre around the town and neighbouring boroughs of Bury, Oldham and Manchester. The town of Middleton is contiguous with the northeastern suburbs of Manchester and the towns of Chadderton, Failsworth and Oldham. The towns of Heywood, Littleborough and Milnrow form an urban area with Rochdale.
Towns, villages and suburbs
Aside from the aforementioned town of Rochdale, other towns in the borough include Heywood, Littleborough and Milnrow. Villages, hamlets and suburbs of the borough include Balderstone, Birtle, Clough, Newhey, Summit and Wardle.
Demographics
St Chad's Church, Rochdale's parish church
Ethnicity (2021 Census)
- All residents 223,773 - 100.0
- White - 165,485 - 74.0
- English/Welsh/Scottish/Northern Irish/British - 156,669 - 70.0
- Irish - 1,735 - 0.8
- Gypsy or Irish Traveller - 194 - 0.1
- Roma - 163 - 0.1
- Other White - 6,724 - 3.0
- Mixed/multiple ethnic groups - 5,284 - 2.4
- White and Black Caribbean - 1,303 - 0.6
- White and Black African - 1,210 - 0.5
- White and Asian - 1,736 - 0.8
- Other Mixed - 1,035 - 0.5
- Asian/Asian British - 41,406 - 18.4
- Indian - 1,190 - 0.5
- Pakistani - 30,525 - 13.6
- Bangladeshi - 5,170 - 2.3
- Chinese - 867 - 0.4
- Other Asian - 3,654 - 1.6
- Black/African/Caribbean/Black British - 7,927 - 3.6
- African - 6,476 - 2.9
- Caribbean - 440 - 0.2
- Other Black - 1,011 - 0.5
- Other ethnic group - 3,669 - 1.7
- Arab - 815 - 0.4
- Any other ethnic group - 2,854 - 1.3
Religion
The following table shows the religious identity of residents residing in Rochdale.
Milkstone Mosque, Rochdale
Population change
The table below details the population change since 1801, including the percentage change since the last available census data. Although the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale has only existed 1974, figures have been generated by combining data from the towns, villages, and civil parishes that would later be constituent parts of the borough.
| Population growth in Rochdale since 1801
|
| Year
|
1801
|
1811
|
1821
|
1831
|
1841
|
1851
|
1861
|
1871
|
1881
|
1891
|
1901
|
1911
|
1921
|
1931
|
1941
|
1951
|
1961
|
1971
|
1981
|
1991
|
2001
|
| Population
|
28,689
|
36,815
|
46,440
|
57,377
|
69,956
|
80,317
|
102,247
|
124,177
|
146,107
|
151,490
|
165,617
|
181,061
|
181,227
|
181,395
|
177,574
|
173,833
|
188,316
|
204,071
|
206,351
|
204,802
|
205,233
|
| % change
|
–
|
+28.3
|
+26.1
|
+23.6
|
+21.9
|
+14.8
|
+27.3
|
+21.4
|
+17.7
|
+3.7
|
+9.3
|
+9.3
|
+0.1
|
+0.1
|
−2.1
|
−2.1
|
+8.3
|
+8.4
|
+1.1
|
−0.8
|
+0.2
|
| Source: Vision of Britain[6]
|
Twin towns
The Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale has formal twinning arrangements with six places. Three were originally twinned with a place within the Metropolitan Borough boundaries prior to its creation in 1974.[7]
Freedom of the Borough
The following people and military units have received the Freedom of the Borough of Rochdale.
Individuals
Military units
[16]
