River Roch
Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Use British English Template:Infobox river
Template:River Roch Map The River Roch Template:IPAc-en is a river in Greater Manchester in North West England, a tributary of the River Irwell.
CourseEdit
Rising on Chelburn Moor (south of Todmorden in the Pennines), the river flows south through Littleborough towards Rochdale where it is joined by the River Beal at Belfield, and the River Spodden from Whitworth. Turning west it runs past Heywood and Bury before meeting the River Irwell just to the east of Radcliffe.
EtymologyEdit
The town of Rochdale is recorded as Recedham in the Domesday Book and Rachetham in 1193, with variations of Rechedham continuing into the thirteenth century.<ref name="mills">Mills, A.D.: A Dictionary of English Place Names, 2nd Edition, page 289, s.n. Rochdale. Oxford University Press, 1998</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> It is thought that these names represent a pre-existing Brittonic name for the river Roch, borrowed into Old English for the name of the settlement.
The early forms of Rachet-ham and Reched-ham suggest a compound of two elements, ro-ced or ro-cet. The first element is either from the common intensive prefix rö- (Modern Welsh rhy-, Cornish re-) meaning "great" and found in other river names such as the Ribble and the Rother<ref name="BLITON">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> or rag-, (Modern Welsh ar-) meaning "opposite" or "adjacent to".<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The second element would then almost certainly be cę:d or cet, (Modern Welsh coed) meaning "wood".<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> This would give the name a meaning of "River of the great wood" or "River opposite the wood".
Another etymology focused on the early forms similarities to Rheged, the Cumbric-speaking kingdom in North West England during the Middle Ages.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Although this etymology is used to support the theory that the Roch may have been the centre of a separate kingdom known in Medieval Welsh literature as "South Rheged" or "Argoed" (opposite the wood), it remains unproven as the kingdom of Rheged's boundaries have not been identified.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> A further suggestion is that the name "rheged" simply means "area" in the Cumbric language (related to Regio in Latin and Region in Modern English) and that the kingdom of Rheged and the river merely shared a common Celtic name.
Although Rochdale is pronounced Template:IPAc-en (with a shorter o sound), the name of the river is still pronounced Template:IPAc-en (with a long vowel sound).
Later historyEdit
The river has been culverted in Rochdale town centre since the early 20th century. This was built by the joining together of seven bridges to form one large bridge, making it one of the widest bridges in the world. Maintenance work was carried out on the bridge in the 1990s and the river was uncovered temporarily.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In 2015 work began on opening the bridge again in a multimillion-pound project.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> On Boxing Day 2015, following heavy rain, the Roch burst its banks causing flooding in the town centre.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
TributariesEdit
Moving upstream from the Irwell confluence, the tributaries include the following:
- Parr Brook
- Hollins Brook
- Whittle Brook
- Gigg Brook
- Barn Brook
- Green Brook
- Gipsy Brook
- Tack Lee Brook
- Wrigley Brook
- Naden Brook
- Plumpton Wood Brook
- Millers Brook
- Primrose Hill Brook
- Sudden Brook
- River Spodden
- Moss Brook
- Hey Brook
- Stanney Brook
- River Beal
- Ash Brook
- Clegg Hall Brook
- Wuerdle Brook
- Stubley Brook
- Featherstall Brook
- Ealees Brook
- Town House Brook
- Greenvale Brook
- Chelburn Brook
GalleryEdit
- Source of the Roch 1.JPG
The source on Chelburn Moor
- Roch Aqueduct.jpg
Aqueduct across the Caldervale Railway
- Looking downsteam from Smallbridge.jpg
Looking downstream from Smallbridge
- Beal and Roch Confluence.JPG
Confluence of River Beal
- River Roch after heavy rain 2.jpg
Flowing under one of the world's widest bridges
- Spodden Roch Confluence 3.jpg
Confluence of River Spodden
- River Roch Bottom o th brow.JPG
Upstream from Bottom o' th' Brow, Heywood
- Roch Irwell confluence Keith Williamson.jpg
Confluence with River Irwell
ReferencesEdit
Template:Reflist Template:River item box Template:Greater Manchester