This would give it limited political autonomy via an elected town council, comprising a mayor, aldermen, and councillors, to oversee local affairs.

[12] The newly formed Rochdale Corporation—the local authority for the Municipal Borough of Rochdale—suggested plans to build a town hall in which to conduct its business in May 1858.

[13] A design competition to find a "neat and elegant building" was held by the Rochdale Corporation,[14] who offered the winning architect a prize of £100 (£12,400 in 2025),[7] and a Maltese cross souvenir.

[14] Public criticism of the high cost was aimed at Crossland and the Mayor of Rochdale, George Leach Ashworth, who oversaw the work.

[3] His work on the clock tower, which was built between 1885 and 1887[3] about 15 yards (14 m) further to the east than the original,[2] shows many similarities to Manchester Town Hall,[3] which he also designed.

[3] On 15 January 1931, at the height of the Great Depression, the Territorial Army was called to guard the town hall during a protest against unemployment and hunger.

"When the ceremony was over, Gracie went onto the town hall balcony to receive the cheers and good wishes of the thousands of people who were packing the streets below.

[23][24] It has been suggested that military intelligence on Rochdale, or information from Nazi sympathiser William Joyce (who had lived in Oldham), brought the building to his attention.

Hitler admired the architecture so much that it is believed he wished to ship the building, brick-by-brick, to Nazi Germany had German-occupied Europe encompassed the United Kingdom.

Bright was a Rochdale-born orator, pacifist and Member of Parliament for Birmingham known for his campaigns to repeal the Corn Laws as well as his opposition to slavery in the United States and the Crimean War.

[26] The frontage and principal entrance of the Town Hall face the River Roch,[1] and comprises a portico of three arches intersected by buttresses.

Four gilded lions above a parapet around three sides of the portico bear shields carrying the coats of arms of Rochdale Council and the hundred of Salford.

[2] Naturalistic carved foliage on the exterior recalls the style of Southwell Minster,[5] and the architecture is influenced by Perpendicular Period and medieval town halls of continental Europe.

They flank asymmetric round-headed arcades—two to the left and three to the right, all of single-storey height—which sit below plain mullioned windows, balconies and ornately decorated gables.

It was designed by Alfred Waterhouse in a similar style to one of his earlier works, the clock tower of Manchester Town Hall.

The first stone was laid by Thomas Schofield JP, Alderman and Rochdale Borough Councillor, on 19 October 1885 and the tower was declared complete on 20 June 1887, the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria.

It was fitted with five bells (again by Taylor),[28] which ring on the hour and at 15-minute intervals, and a Cambridge-chiming clock by Potts & Sons, which was set going in November of that year.

[2] Murals in the former council chamber depict the inventions that drove the Industrial Revolution,[31] and the Great Hall is adorned with a large fresco of the signing of Magna Carta by artist Henry Holiday, although the painting is dirty.