Wardle Academy

Smallbridge is a district of Rochdale in Greater Manchester, England. It lies at the foothills of the Pennines, in the northeast of Rochdale, contiguous with Buckley, and to the south of the village of Wardle. The Rochdale ward is called Smallbridge and Firgrove. This ward had a population of 11,469 at the 2011 Census.

Wardle (; pop. 7,092) is a village near Littleborough within the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale, in Greater Manchester, England. It lies amongst the foothills of the South Pennines, 1.8 miles (2.9 km) east-southeast of Whitworth, 2.5 miles (4 km) north-northwest of Rochdale and 12 miles (19 km) north-northeast of the city of Manchester. Historically a part of Lancashire, Wardle and its surroundings have provided archaeological evidence of Mesolithic activity in the area. The name Wardle is said to be derived from "Ward Hill", implying "fortified place". Brown Wardle Hill overlooks the village from the north, its name being derived from the Celtic word bron meaning "round". During the Middle Ages Wardle was a small centre of domestic flannel and woollen cloth production, and many of the original weavers' cottages survive today as listed buildings.Wardle, the most northerly settlement in Greater Manchester, encompasses small parts of Smallbridge and Dearnley — urban areas contiguous with Rochdale — but "retains a rural character". Watergrove Reservoir, which is situated on the northern outskirts of Wardle, is the largest of a series of reservoirs in the Borough of Rochdale, with a storage capacity of 720 million gallons. Wardle comprises 17th- and 18th-century stone churches, farmhouses and cottages by the hills. The village square is preserved as a place of historic interest.

Birch Hill Hospital is a health facility in Wardle, Littleborough, near Rochdale, Greater Manchester. It was managed by Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust when it was a general hospital. Parts of the hospital are now managed as a psychiatric hospital by Pennine Care. There is also the Floyd Unit which is a Neuro Rehabilitation Unit managed by Pennine Acute.

St John the Baptist's Church is in Halifax Road, Smallbridge, Rochdale, Greater Manchester, England. It is a redundant Anglican parish church in the benefice of Wardle and Smallbridge, the deanery of Rochdale, the archdeaconry of Rochdale, and the diocese of Manchester. The church is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II listed building. It was a Commissioners' church, having received a grant towards its construction from the Church Building Commission.

Ash Brook is a watercourse in Greater Manchester and a tributary of the River Roch.

The Beal is a small river in Greater Manchester, England, and is a tributary of the River Roch. It rises in the Beal Valley in green space between Sholver and Royton, before continuing northwards through Shaw and Crompton, Newhey, Milnrow and Belfield.

Smithy Bridge railway station serves the village of Smithy Bridge and Hollingworth Lake near Rochdale in Greater Manchester, England. The station is on the Caldervale Line 12+3⁄4 miles (20.5 km) north of Manchester Victoria on the way to Leeds.

Buckley is a suburban area within the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale, in Greater Manchester, England. It lies at the northern fringe of Rochdale, along the course of Buckley Brook, "upon an eminence of ground" by the South Pennines. It is 1.2 miles (1.9 km) south-southwest of the village of Wardle and 1.3 miles (2.1 km) north-northeast of Rochdale's town centre. Buckley spans a watercourse, a prison, farmland and residential properties. Buckley emerged as a constituent community of the manor of Hundersfield following the Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain. Although the name Buckley is of Old English derivation, the settlement's medieval history is tied closely to a Norman family who were granted the estate as a gift for their services given in the Norman conquest of England; they subsequently adopted the surname 'de Buckley'. Members of the Buckleys of Buckley family appear throughout the High Middle Ages in legal charters related to Buckley, the surrounding area, and its manor house Buckley Hall. Throughout the Late Middle Ages and the Early Modern Period, Buckley was the principal estate of the township of Wardleworth. The Buckleys of Buckley Hall continued to hold positions of regional importance, such as priests, gentry and military officers, but their size and influence diminished through death and migration prompting the obsolescence of the Buckley estate. Industrialisation resulted in the neighbouring town of Rochdale to encroach on Buckley; the area was absorbed into the Municipal Borough of Rochdale in the 1870s. Although continuously occupied and revamped during the 18th and 19th centuries, Buckley Hall became unoccupied in the 1880s. The Brothers of Charity, an institute of the Catholic Church, successfully agitated for the purchase of Buckley Hall and its conversion into an orphanage for Catholic boys. The orphanage was operational from 1888 until 1947. The original building was demolished in the early-1990s and HM Prison Buckley Hall was opened in its place.

Buckley Hall was a historic house in Buckley near Rochdale, Lancashire, England which was the home of the Buckley and later Entwistle family. The building was a Catholic boys' orphanage from 1888 to 1947, when it was demolished; Buckley Hall Prison now occupies the site.

Watergrove Reservoir is a reservoir close to Wardle in the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale, within Greater Manchester, England. Rochdale Corporation chose Watergrove as a suitable site to build a large reservoir largely to a prolonged drought in the 1930s, resulting in water regularly being bought from Oldham. The ruins of the old village of Watergrove submerged under the large expanse of water in 1938, and dotted around the landscape above the reservoir there are several ruins originally belonging to the village. The book Watergrove: A History of the Valley and its Drowned Village by Allen Holt gives a personal view of the transition as the author grew up in Wardle, a mile to the south of Watergrove. Several photographs in the book show people walking along roads that have resurfaced during times of extreme drought.In July 2008, a 13-year-old boy, Joseph Thomas, was found dead in the reservoir after he had gone swimming with friends.A free, weekly, 5 km parkrun takes place every Saturday morning. The event is hosted by local volunteers and was first held on Saturday 7 June 2014.

Buckley Hall Prison is a Category C male prison in the Buckley district of Rochdale in North West England. It is operated by His Majesty's Prison and Probation Service.

Arkwright Mill, Rochdale is a cotton spinning mill in Rochdale, Greater Manchester. It was built in 1885 by the Arkwright Cotton Spinning Co. It was taken over by the Lancashire Cotton Corporation in the 1930s and passed to Courtaulds in 1964. It was located next to Dale Mill on Roch Street. The ring and doubling frames were made by Howard & Bullough, Accrington. The mill closed in 1980, was demolished in 2007 and the land redeveloped for housing.