Birthplace of co-operative movement features in new book

Rochdale Pioneers Museum

The birthplace of the global co-operative movement will be featured in a new book from Historic England published later this month.

The Rochdale Pioneers Shop is just one of many historic places featured in Irreplaceable: A History of England in 100 Places which highlights some of England’s landmark places where remarkable things have happened.

The illustrated book is divided into ten categories ranging from Music & Literature, through Science & Discovery to Power, Protest & Progress, with our local entry featuring in the Industry, Trade & Commerce section.

Each entry has been guided by public nominations and a panel of expert judges, including Robert Winston, Mary Beard, Will Gompertz, George Clark, David Olusoga, Baroness Tanni Grey Thompson and Bettany Hughes.

Author Philip Wilkinson, a specialist writer on history, architecture and religion, also explains why each of these 100 places is so important and brings our nation’s story to life.

With striking photographs of 100 historic places across England, and an insightful foreword by English Historian and Broadcaster Bettany Hughes, Irreplaceable: A History of England in 100 Places highlights tourist hotspots and less familiar places that are surprising, intriguing and enlightening, from the observatory in Greenwich where the modern measurement of time began, to England’s oldest inn carved into sandstone in Nottingham.

Irreplaceable: A History of England in 100 Places will be published on Tuesday 18 September, costing £20.