Memorial Gardens

The great wave of memorial building after the First World War resulted in thousands of commemorative monuments being raised both at home and on the battlefield.  Lutyens was the most outstanding designer to work in this field and he was appointed as architect and prepared an unusual scheme for a war memorial bridge across the River Roch (which was then open but is now culverted) in front of the Town Hall. 

The centrepiece would be a Stone of Remembrance with a statue of a recumbent soldier on a bier on either side. However Alderman William Cunliffe (a former mayor of Rochdale) purchased Manor House, a C18 building, on the opposite side of the river from the Town Hall, which he then donated for the construction of a suitable memorial. This had a particular resonance because Manor House had been used as a recruiting station during the War.