Bamford & Norden October 2020

bells which not only chimed the hours and
quarters but also played 14 tunes including
Rule Britannia, Auld Lang Syne, Yankee
Doodle and Home Sweet Home. The old
clock itself had a dial of 12ft in diameter,
the weights to drive the clock being 1 ton
each and having to be hoisted through 70ft
against gravity. Evidently a Mr Deakin,
living in Granville Square, used to wind the
weights up every Sunday.
Nine years after opening the building, in
1882, dry rot was spotted in the wooden
structure of the spire and the borough
Surveyor Mr Platt recommended demolition
as far down as the stone battlements. The
council agreed and work was started.
However, at 9.30pm on April 10th 1883,
whether caused by a gas leak as was
suggested or whether it was arson, during
a concert at the Public Hall (not the Town
Hall) by Rochdale Choral Society singing
‘Elijah,’ fire broke out in the tower. Acting
like a chimney with a fierce flue, the clock
tower which housed many library items
went up like a torch although some brave
council workers went into the fire to rescue
some of the books.
Not only was the Free Library destroyed but
so were the Town Clerk’s chambers. The fire
was huge and could be seen as far away as
Blackstone Edge. Fortunately, no-one died
although two police constables inside the
library were badly burned. A large crowd
gathered on the Esplanade to watch the
blaze and cheered as the steam engines and
pumps from Milnrow and Oldham arrived.
A telegram to the Heywood fire crew found
their telegraph office closed so they didn’t
arrive until next morning.
At about 10.40pm to the cries of on-lookers,
the figure of St George and the Dragon fell
to earth. Early next day some people took
souvenirs from the pavement of the statue’s
wood carving and gold leaf and metal from
the old bells that had melted and crashed to
the ground. Insurance covered part-cost of
the disaster of £17,800 although the overall
damage was £20,000.
The replacement tower, completed in 1887
and designed by the architect A Waterhouse
who also designed Manchester Town Hall,
is 49 feet shorter than the original one
but holds additional weight of bells. It is
felt by many to be in better proportion to
the rest of the building, some considering
that the old tower made it look more like a
cathedral than a town hall. A great deal of
the stonework from the old tower was buried
but some say that masonry was salvaged
and used in the garden walls of cottages
near the Elephant and Castle on Bury Road,
a case of early but heavy re-cycling!
If you have any comments about the old Town Hall tower or the Town Hall,
I’d be delighted to hear from you and add them to a growing Rochdale
archive on the subject. Please contact Gary Heywood-Everett at
garyheywoodeverett@yahoo.co.uk or leave your comments by text
or by recorded message at 07562 752774
Visit our website www.streetwisemag.co.uk for all the info about the Streetwise magazines
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