IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Manchester Road, ROCHDALE, OL11 4HY

Entrance from Manchester Road.

Two 42ft high Spires were placed diagonally opposite each other on Manchester Road at its junction with The Esplanade and St Mary's Gate at its junction with Dane Street Image in 1998. The structures rise on a circular base of green slate and blue glass bricks with the spires being made of steel ending in copper verdigris. The one at the end of the Esplanade and Manchester Road includes a metal seat around the base and bears the inscription SPIRE - INSPIRE Image - SPIRE - ASPIRE. They were commissioned by Rochdale Council and designed by Jem Waygood of Partnership Art. The £85,000 cost was financed by Trafford Park Estates Plc, the developers of a new supermarket on St Mary's Gate.

The Spire Image at the end of the Esplanade and Manchester Road includes a metal seat around the base and bears the inscription SPIRE - INSPIRE - SPIRE - ASPIRE.

One of a pair of sculptures

Two 42ft high Spires were placed diagonally opposite each other on Manchester Road at its junction with The Esplanade Image and St Mary's Gate at its junction with Dane Street in 1998. The structures rise on a circular base of green slate and blue glass bricks with the spires being made of steel ending in copper verdigris. They were commissioned by Rochdale Council and designed by Jem Waygood of Partnership Art. The £85,000 cost was financed by Trafford Park Estates Plc, the developers of a new supermarket on St Mary's Gate.

John Bright, the son of a cotton manufacturer, was born in Rochdale in 1811. Bright rose tol fame as one of the leaders of the Anti-Corn Law League in the 1840s.

The bronze statue of John Bright on a tapering square stone pedestal with cornice and moulded base, on stylobate is sited in Broadfield Park and is positioned so that it looks out towards Rochdale. Designed by Hamor Thorneycroft, it is Grade II listed https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1370017 Rochdale Town Council proposed a statue be erected in the month following Bright's death in March 1889. The statue was unveiled by John Morley in 1891 and remained in the Town Hall Square until 1933 when alterations to the road layout resulted in it being moved to Broadfield Park. It is inscribed on all four sides: Image Image Image Image

The inscription on one side of the John Bright statue Image reads: JOHN BRIGHT BORN 16TH NOVR 1811 DIED 27TH MARCH 1889. "BE JUST AND FEAR NOT"

The inscription on one side of the John Bright statue Image reads: THIS STATUE OF ROCHDALE'S GREATEST TOWNSMAN WHO DEVOTED THE LABOURS OF A LIFE AND THE MIGHT OF AN UNEQUALLED ELOQUENCE TO THE ADVANCEMENT OF JUSTICE, OF FREEDOM, AND OF PEACE, LOOKING FOR NO EARTHLY REWARD IS ERECTED AS A MARK OF THE LOVE AND VENERATION WITH WHICH HIS MEMORY IS CHERISHED BY ALL CLASSES OF HIS COUNTRYMEN OCTOBER 1891.

The bronze statue of John Bright on a tapering square stone pedestal with cornice and moulded base, on stylobate is sited in Broadfield Park and is positioned so that it looks out towards Rochdale. Designed by Hamor Thorneycroft, it is Grade II listed https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1370017 Rochdale Town Council proposed a statue be erected in the month following Bright's death in March 1889. The statue was unveiled by John Morley in 1891 and remained in the Town Hall Square until 1933 when alterations to the road layout resulted in it being moved to Broadfield Park. It is inscribed on all four sides: Image Image Image Image