Who'd Have Thought It? [leisure trust, arts heritage, sports centres, fitness health, rochdale, link4life, entertainment, Rochdale Boroughwide Cultural Trust, museum, middleton arena, gallery, touchstones, local studies, central, bowlee, springhill, marland, heywood, littleborough,]
Rochdale Parish Church (c.1840)
Have you ever heard of the Goblin Builders of Rochdale, or the Baum Rabbit - or the Clegg Hall Boggart? As with most areas there are strange tales and unusual happenings, from ghost stories to supposed witches like Janet of Packer, plus UFO sightings. We even had our quota of 'coiners' if William Robertson is to be believed. There are plenty of eccentric characters to discover too, and amusing photographs. In addition there are records of old traditions & sports - some of which would be regarded as cruel today, like bull-baiting and cock-fighting.
Who'd have thought, for instance, that a deep sea diver was ever employed by Rochdale Council? And just what did he do?
Then there was the 'Hen-Pecked Club' whose members were probably candidates for wife-selling at the Market Cross, and the report of buying a child in 1885.
And how could a hen be patriotic in World War 11?
