The Covering of the River
Because of the large number of mills and domestic residences built on the banks of the River Roch it inevitably became very polluted. In the 17th century the town was described as "pretty neate towne built all of stone". This was a far cry from a later description by one prominent visitor in 1857 of "a little bridge that spans like a rocking horse an imaginary stream in which there is nothing liquid but mud" and continued "the town is in the shape of a tea cup with a gutter at the bottom and a burying-ground upon the rim". as you will agree, not very flattering at all. The adverse comments to one side the river was polluted with factory and, one can only have an educated guess, household waste or 'nightsoil', this of course was yet another unwanted health hazard to the poorer classes that lived in the tight confines of the Gank.
To combat this and to make a wider thoroughfare for the increase in traffic it was decided by the council, towards the end of the 19th century, to cover the river within the Town Centre. Obviously, the river was bridged in a number of places in the Town Centre and it seemed a natural thing, to do the work in sections and join different bridges together. As it turned out, the work was done in four sections.
The first section to be covered was from the Wellington Bridge, at the bottom of Drake Street, and Rochdale Bridge, at the bottom of Yorkshire Street. Work started in 1903 and was completed in July of the following year, 1904.
The first section prior to covering
Taken from the Town Hall balcony, phase 1 under construction
The covering was constructed of 6" slabs of Ferro concrete laid across a series of main beams supported by Ferro concrete columns. The covering was then paved and tramway tracks laid. On top of this was the flagged pedestrian islands and public tram shelters which completed this section and was remarked upon as being "one of the finest tramway centres in the British Isles".
The first section completed (Left: around 1904 Right: 1999. The building on the right of both pictures is the same one, the present day one is missing it's ornate corner piece)
The next section of the river to be covered was from Yorkshire Street to the west of Newgate. This section was opened in 1910. This was then carried further during the third phase of the build from Newgate along the Esplanade to the present Police Station access ramp. So by the end of 1923 the River Roch in the Town Centre was completely covered from Drake Street and west as far as the new Police Station.
This picture, taken in
May 1937 when Gracie Fields was given the Freedom of the Borough,
shows the length that the river was covered, The blue lines
denote the route of the river.
The last part, or fourth section, to be covered was from Drake Street and east to Weir Street (Where Yelloway coach depot used to be). On 30th January 1926 it was finished, completing the Town Centre Redevelopment which was initially conceived over 55 years previous when the Town Hall was first built. By covering the river the town was no longer split and access to either side of the Town Centre was, obviously, made a lot easier. Another "by-product" of the redevelopment was that by covering the river gave Rochdale a place in the Guinness Book of Records as having the widest bridge in the world, measuring 1460ft wide (and only about 20ft long!). It can be looked at as though the length would be the extent of the covering from Weir Street to the Police Station, but by its construction (across the river) it is it's width.
By the start of 1926, Rochdale Town Centre looked more or less the same as it does today.
Last updated 15/07/03