River Roch

River Roch
River
Flowing under one of the world's widest bridges
Country England
Districts Littleborough, Rochdale, Heywood, Bury
Tributaries
 - left Tack Lee Brook, Naden Brook, River Spodden, Hey Brook, Ash Brook, Featherstall Brook, Town House Brook
 - right Parr Brook, Hollins Brook, Wrigley Brook, Millers Brook, Sudden Brook, Moss Brook, Stanney Brook, River Beal, Ealees Brook, Greenvale Brook, Chelburn Brook
Source
 - location Chelburn Moor
Mouth
 - location River Irwell, Radcliffe
 - coordinates

The River Roch ( /ˈr/) is a river in Greater Manchester in North West England, a tributary of the River Irwell that gives Rochdale its name.

Contents

Course

Rising on Chelburn Moor (south of Todmorden in the Pennines), the river flows south through Littleborough towards Rochdale where it is joined by the River Beal at Belfield, and the River Spodden from Whitworth. Turning west it runs past Heywood and Bury before meeting the River Irwell just to the east of Radcliffe.

History

The Domesday Book records the name of Rochdale as Recedham, formed from Old English reced "hall", and ham "homestead". The name of the river is a back-formation from this Old English name. With time, the town's name changed to Rachedale and eventually Rochdale.[1] The name of the river Roch is /ˈr/, with a long o. The name of the town, however, is pronounced /ˈrɒtʃdeɪl/, with a short o.

The river has been culverted in Rochdale town centre since the early 20th century. This was built by the joining together of seven bridges to form one large bridge, making it one of the widest bridges in the world. Maintenance work was carried out on the bridge in the 1990s and the river was uncovered temporarily. [2]

Tributaries

Moving upstream from the Irwell confluence, the tributaries include the following: -

Gallery

References

  1. ^ Mills, A.D.: A Dictionary of English Place Names, 2nd Edition, page 289, s.n. Rochdale. Oxford University Press, 1998
  2. ^ Link4Life | Covering the River Roch in Rochdale | Provider of arts, sport and heritage development work in the Rochdale area