Rochdale was an ecclesiastical parish of early-medieval origin in northern England, administered from the Church of St Chad, Rochdale. At its zenith, it occupied 58,620 acres (237 km2) of land amongst the South Pennines, and straddled the historic county boundary between Lancashire and the West Riding of Yorkshire. To the north and north-west was the parish of Whalley; to the southwest was the parish of Bury; to the south was Middleton and Prestwich-cum-Oldham.

Rochdale is a town in Greater Manchester, England, and the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale. In the 2021 census the town had a population of 111,261, compared to 223,773 for the wider borough. Rochdale is in the foothills of the South Pennines and lies in the dale (valley) of the River Roch, 5 miles (8 km) northwest of Oldham, and 10 miles (16 km) northeast of Manchester.