The restoration of a unique set of historic steps which are more than 4 centuries old has been completed in the heart of Rochdale town centre.
Running through the Broadfield Park Slopes, the Packer Spout steps link the major historic attractions of Rochdale Town Hall and its surrounding area to St Chad’s Church, the oldest church in the borough, parts of which have Saxon origins.
Dating from sometime before 1660, the church steps have a rich history and were thought to be used by mourning relatives who would travel up the steps to St Chad’s Church, where they would scatter rue and rosemary in ‘God’s Acre’ (St Chad’s Churchyard) as an offering to ease the spirits of their loved ones.
The steps are more than 400 years old
Situated in the recently restored Broadfield Park Slopes area, during the Victorian period, the steps ran directly through a notorious slum area, known as ‘the gank’. The gank was characterised by tightly packed housing, narrow passageways, high crime rates and large numbers of ‘houses of ill repute’. Many of the residents who worked in Rochdale’s mills would have lived out their lives in this area.
The site is so steep that Oldham contractors, Maysand, who delivered the work, had to devise a special pulley system with tracks and rollers to help transport the stone up the hill.
The team had to painstakingly remove all 122 steps, many of which had become broken and uneven, before reconstructing both the area underneath and the damaged steps using traditional sandstone, to match the existing stone. All materials that were salvageable were recycled and used to help reconstruct the steps. A new handrail was also created.
The steps ran through a notorious Victorian slum area known as ‘the gank’
Councillor Danny Meredith cabinet member for regeneration at Rochdale Borough Council, said:
“I’m pleased to see another slice of Rochdale’s fascinating history painstakingly restored in the heart of our town centre conservation area. These steps have been part of the Rochdale landscape for many centuries and are a focal point of this stunning area. Combined with the beautifully restored Rochdale Town Hall and Square and the Broadfield Park Slopes, these are the final piece of this jigsaw and they look fantastic.”
Bryn Lisle, managing director of Maysand, said;
“As a company, we specialise in historic work, which often calls for inventive and unusual approaches. We were really pleased to win the tender for this project, having previously restored the Packer Spout fountain just a few feet away from the steps. We were also pleased to work with other local companies on this project, including Joseph Parr and Maguire and Hurst. It’s really satisfying to see the end result. They look fantastic.”