Villages, Towns, Hamlets, Cities & et al

The places our ancestors lived both here and overseas. NEW

Rochdale

Rochdale a large market town in Greater Manchester, England. It lies amongst the foothills of the Pennines on the River Roch, just over 15.8km north-northeast of the city of Manchester. Rochdale is surrounded by several smaller settlements, which together form the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale, of which Rochdale is the largest settlement and administrative centre. Rochdale has a total population of 95,796 and the wider borough, 206,500.

Historically a part of Lancashire, Rochdale's recorded history begins with an entry in the Domesday Book of 1086 under Recedham Manor. By 1251, Rochdale had become important enough to have been granted a Royal charter.

It was a boomtown of the Industrial Revolution, and amongst the first ever industrialised towns. The Rochdale Canal—one of the major navigable broad canals of the United Kingdom—was a highway of commerce during this time used for the haulage of cotton, wool, coal to and from the area.

St Chad's Church was the mother church of the ancient ecclesiastical parish and was founded before 1170 possibly on a Saxon site.

A local legend relates that the site was chosen by spirits and fairies as on several occasions stone for the church building was moved from near the river to the hill on which St. Chad's stands. The church is accessed from the town below by a flight of 124 steps. The town stocks (no longer in use) are in the churchyard.

Le Coudray-Montceaux, Essonne,

Essonne is a French department in the region of Île-de-France (91). It is named after the Essonne River. It was formed on 1 January 1968 when Seine-et-Oise was split into smaller departments. It has a current population of just over 4000 people with a land area of just 11km²