Heritage Open Day: Vintage bus tour of Rochdale

Heritage Open Day: Vintage bus tour of Rochdale

As part of Heritage Open Day, Yelloway Motor Coach Museum organised a vintage bus tour of Rochdale.

The tour took in a variety of sites from across the town.

Starting outside of Rochdale Town Hall, the tour took passengers past Touchstones and made its first stop at The Pioneers Museum and St Mary in the Baum Church.

The church was founded in 1740 as a chapel of ease to minister people living north of the River Roch. Today’s church is designed by eminent church architect Sir Ninian Comper and opened in 1911. In February 2011, the church celebrated its centenary.

The tour then moved to St Chads, Rochdale Parish Church.

The building has been re-shaped, re-built and restored down the centuries with later builders keeping faithful to the 1400s perpendicular style. There has been a church on the hill overlooking Rochdale Town Centre for more than 1,000 years.

After taking in the sites of local churches, the tour moved on to the Fire Museum on Maclure Road.

The Greater Manchester Fire Service Museum is located in the 1930s Rochdale Fire Station. Tthe building was known for being technologically advanced for its time.

The last stop of the tour was the recently Grade II* listed building, St John Church. In June 2015, the church celebrated 90 years of the present building.

St John is often described as one of Rochdale’s hidden gems. Hidden inside is a beautifully and recently restored mosaic. Designed and created by a firm of Italian craftsman in 1933, the mosaic covers the entire wall behind the altar, which took over a year to complete.

The bus used for the tour was built in 1958 and has a top speed of 35mph.