Parish Church on Heritage Trail

Date published: 04/05/2007

Rochdale's historic Parish Church, St Chad's, will open its doors to drop-in visitors on midweek afternoons through the summer.

The church will be on the town's heritage trail until the end of August, on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, 2 - 4 pm. Guides will be on duty to show visitors round.

The church is the town's oldest building and tells the story of Rochdale from medieval times. Parts of the stonework date back to pre-1066.

A spokesman said: "Every year St Chad's attracts hundreds of callers; visitors come from all over the world - and from just round the corner - and from all faiths. Many overseas tourists come because they want to see where their grandparents were married.

"One man from Canada called to sit in the seat he'd sat in as a choirboy 50 years before. But most visitors are comparatively local. Passers-by drop in because they see the doors open. Many say they've walked past daily, but never seen inside.

"A national survey has revealed that 90 per cent of people in England went into a church building last year - many spontaneously, or 'to seek a quiet place.

"Heritage groups and historians come because they want to study particular aspects of the ancient building. The 'Faith, Hope and Charity' window in the tower attracts artists and students interested in the work of the painter Edward Bume-Jones and designer William Morris."

Welcoming visitors, the Vicar of Rochdale, the Rev'd Dr David Foss, says: "We have so many treasures, and so much tradition here at St Chad's. This is the oldest Christian church for miles around. The worship of God has been going on here for at least 1,000 years.

"We hope visitors, stepping for a moment or two into the past, will be refreshed in the present, and inspired for the future."

Things to see…

An outside stone wall reputed to be of Saxon origin - Rochdale's oldest structure.

The thirteenth century font buried in the churchyard in the mid-1600s and found by accident by a man planting a tree in 1893. Legendary 1930s-40s film star Gracie Fields was baptised here in 1898.

The town's seventeenth century stocks last used to shackle an offender in 1822.

Thirteenth century stone pillars defaced by Cromwell's men during the Civil War.

The 1786 grave of Lancashire dialect poet and political satirist Tim Bobbin.

Memorials to the town's war heroes, from a Rochdale officer in Wellington's army who died in the Peninsular Wars in 1813 to a 1940s Battle of Britain fighter-pilot - one of 'The Few.'