Local Studies library
Discover the Rochdale area
The Local Studies Centre at Touchstones Rochdale holds the main
Local Studies and Archives collections for Rochdale Borough. This
includes a wide range of material relating to the Rochdale area,
and includes Castleton, Littleborough, Milnrow, Norden and
Wardle.
Local Studies material for the Heywood and Middleton areas is
held at Heywood and Middleton Libraries.
To discover more about Rochdale Metropolitan Borough's
fascinating heritage please visit the link4life website, click on
Arts & Heritage and Discover.
Link4life - Trading name for
Rochdale Boroughwide Cultural Trust
Newspapers
Each Local Studies Library holds microfilmed copies of local
newspapers for their area. These includes: The Rochdale Observer
1856 onwards, Heywood Advertiser 1850 onwards, Middleton Guardian
as well as various other local newspapers.
We advise you to contact Local Studies prior to your planned
visit to book a microfilm reader.
The Newspaper Index began as a special project to produce a card
index of Middleton Newspaper articles. This is now being
transferred to an online index. Rochdale and Heywood Newspaper
articles are also being added to the online index.
Search the online Newspaper Index
Books
We also have a large collection of books, pamphlets and articles
which covers all aspects of Rochdale's past .
We have digitised some of the Local History books:
History of the Parish of Rochdale by Henry Fishwick, Historical
Middleton by John Dean, Heywood Notes & Queries by J A Green
and Rochdale Retrospect by Rebe Taylor.
View Local Studies Ebooks
Photographs
Collections of photographs from the
mid- nineteenth century to the present day. Copies are available
for purchase.
Archives
Archives are original documents relating to many aspects of
local life, including: business and industrial records, family and
estate papers, Trades Union and political records and the Methodist
Archive Deposit.
Access is usually by prior arrangement as most of the archives
are stored elsewhere.
Maps
The large collection of over 600 maps and plans, includes
Ordinance Survey maps, estate plans and railway maps.
Not forgetting...
Posters, postcards, audio-visual, special
collections and much more. Visit and discover Local Studies for
yourself.