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By Car: St Chad’s is situated at the junction of Sparrow Hill and Church Stile.

The Sat Nav address for Sparrow Hill is OL16 1QT and for Church Stile is OL16 1FF.

From the M62 ... exit at Junction 20 and follow the A627M to Rochdale

Keep in the left lane, follow road (Edinburgh Way) round to left

Move into right hand lane and then turn right at traffic lights onto A58 Manchester Road

Continue for about half a mile and, soon after you pass Beech House School on your left, turn right onto Drake Street

Take 4th on the left, Church Stile, just after the semi-obscured cemetery on your left

The church is in front of you at the end of this road.

# There is 3 hours free parking outside the Church,  but always obtain a ticket from the machine and display this in your vehicle.

There is other parking nearby, but please take care not to park in a residents only parking bay or other restricted areas.

On Foot:  from the Town Centre, walk up the Church Steps at the back of the Town Hall car park to St Chad's.

By Bus:  the number 17 passes along Drake Street, and there is a bus stop at Church Stile.

By Train or Tram:  There are trains to Rochdale from Leeds and Manchester every 20 minutes or so, and there is also a frequent tram service to Rochdale Railway Station.  Ask for directions from here to the Town Hall and you will find the Church en route.  NB Trams are slower than trains journey time 40 mins from Manchester.

Coming from the M61 J20 follow the signs for Rochdale, turn right at the junction with Manchester Road, continue through four sets of traffic lights,
1. junction with Tweedale Street,
2. junction with Drake Street,
3. junction with Dane Street/The Esplanade,
then you'll see the colleges on your left, and by this point it's helpful to have moved into the right-hand straight-ahead lane (not the right-turn lane) by the time you've reached the
4. lights at junction with College Road/Newgate

Looking ahead you'll see tower blocks on your left, shopping centre on your right. 

You should be in the right-turn lane for the lights at Hunter's Lane.

The church is set back from road - not directly visible at this point, but you'll probably see the bell tower.

Turn right onto Hunter's Lane and you will find the entrance to the multi-storey carpark on the right-hand side, a little further along on the right-hand side there is a small car park for blue badge holders and then the entrance to the Reed Hill car park on Hunter's Lane on the left-hand side. 

Please note that changes to the road layout on St Mary's Gate are in progress (Dec 2024) and this page will be updated as info is available.

As of 11 Dec 2024 Google's Street View had not been updated to show the entrance to the Reed Hill car park from St Mary's Gate as now being closed and the entrance from Hunter's Lane as being opened - as soon as this has been updated then the info will be updated here.

In the meantime, click this link to view a map of the changes

There is also the option to park outside the church (3 hours free parking, but don't forget to obtain ticket from machine, and unlimited on Sundays) but the ongoing changes to the road layout make this awkward to access if coming from the motorway side of town.  You can try turning into Hunter's Lane as before and then continue on along Hunter's Lane until you see the carpet warehouse, turn left at this junction and then left again on to St Mary's Gate, drive on until you reach the parking area outside the church. 

If there are no spaces, drive on and turn left into Hunter's Lane and park in one of the car parks mentioned before.