Knitting 31 Toad Lane

The knitted Pioneers’ famous store, complete with the famous Co-operative Tea advert on the side

The Toad Lane premises where the Rochdale Pioneers set up their co-operative grocery store on 21 December 1844 is well-known around the world. Now, an unusual tribute to the iconic building has been revealed.

Since August Gillian Lonergan, Head of Heritage Resources at the Co-operative Heritage Trust (which manages the Museum), has been painstakingly recreating the Pioneers’ famous store, complete with the famous Co-operative Tea advert on the side. Working in minute detail, she has replaced bricks and mortar with coloured wool and stitches.

Gillian’s knitted tribute to the building was unveiled recently after several months of stopping and starting and returning to the museum to take photos of each wall, which were then transferred into a knitting pattern via graph paper.

Knitting the building was a long process, and one which Gillian says “kept my husband entertained for a few months.”

Gillian started with the tea advertisement, she explains, because: “How you could recreate the tea advert in knitting is something which has always intrigued me. I have knitted lots of images and patterns before and the tea advertisement is a lovely image. The way it is designed has all the colours quite separate, which helps in knitting.”

The rest of the building was then worked out around it, although the roof proved most difficult and Gillian had to climb up to the top of a nearby multi-storey car park to take the photos which enabled her to work out how to approach it.

The challenge, though, is exactly what Gillian relishes about knitting. Coming from a family of knitters, Gillian has been knitting since she was ten, but she took it up with particular enthusiasm when she was a teenager and has always carried knitting around with her.

“It’s creative and it’s something you can pick up and do. You can spend hours or just a few minutes doing it, and it’s something you can do wherever you are or in front of the TV,” she explains, adding. “I like to have a challenge and I like to knit things which are different and not too simple.”

The Toad Lane store is the latest in a series of Gillian’s knitting projects, but it is her first building and the inspiration came from the unlikeliest of places: a tardis. Gillian explains: “I knitted a tardis a few years ago and realised there isn’t that much difference between a tardis and a building.”

Although she likes making things, Gillian admits that she doesn’t really think about what she will do with them afterwards. It’s hoped, however, that the knitted Pioneers store will now become a permanent fixture at the museum. “It’s quite large and very squishy, so it might be an addition to the museum’s resources,” she explains. “I imagine there will be a lot of bouncing about on it.”

You can visit the Museum and view Gillian’s creation during museum opening hours which are Tuesday to Saturday 10am – 5pm. The Museum’s Christmas hours are 23-26 December closed, Friday 27 and Saturday 28 December open 10am – 5pm, 29 December to 1 January closed.