ROCHDALE CANAL, a canal in Lancashire and W. R. Yorkshire. It begins in a junction with the Bridge-water canal at Manchester; goes north-eastward, past Failsworth, Middleton, Rochdale, Littleborough, Todmorden, and Mytholm, to a junction with the Calder and Hebble navigation at Sowerby Bridge, near Halifax; is31½ miles long; and, with 78 locks, rises 534 feet and falls 353½ feet. It was formed under an act of 1794; and was leased in 1851, for 21 years, to jointly the North-western, the North eastern, and the Manchester and Sheffield railway companies.

(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))