Rochdale

The Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale is a metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester in North West England. It is named after its largest town, Rochdale, but spans a far larger area which includes the towns of Middleton, Heywood, Littleborough and Milnrow, and the village of Wardle.

The borough was formed in 1974 as part of the provisions of the Local Government Act 1972 and is an amalgamation of six former local government districts. It was originally proposed that the borough include the neighbouring town of Bury and disclude Middleton; Bury however went on to form the administrative centre for the adjacent Metropolitan Borough of Bury.

The borough, which lies directly north-northeast of the City of Manchester, has a population of 206,500, and although most parts are highly industrialised and densely populated, contiguous with one of the United Kingdom's major cities, some of the borough consists of rural open space, for the most part due the territory in the eastern half stretching across Blackstone Edge and the Pennine hills.

The borough, which is the largest such borough of Greater Manchester, was formed on 1 April 1974, under the Local Government Act 1972, by a merger of the former county borough of Rochdale and, from the administrative county of Lancashire, the municipal boroughs of Heywood and Middleton, along with the urban districts of Littleborough, Milnrow and Wardle.

Prior to its creation, it was suggested that the metropolitan borough be named Chadwick (with reference to Sir Edwin Chadwick), but this was rejected in favour of Rochdale.