<p><b>Social and economic profile</b></p><p>Situated in the foothills of the Pennines ten miles north-east of Manchester, Rochdale was a manufacturing town with a substantial number of collieries: by 1867, there were 50 in the district, and stone-quarrying provided another source of employment.<fn>R. Taylor, <em>Rochdale</em><em> retrospect </em>(1956), 92.</fn> Unusually for a Lancashire town, it was the woollen industry, especially baize and flannels, which predominated until the 1830s.<fn>I.