I meant to photograph the Minton foor tiles in Rochdale Town Hall’s foyer but there were people making it difficult to get the whole pattern in, both when we entered and on the way out so I didn’t. They are beautifully set into large squares whose perimeters contain various royal mottos such as “Dieu et Mon Droit” (used by the UK monarch outwith Scotland) and “Nemo Me Impune Lacessit” the ancient one of the Scottish kings usually uttered in Scots as “Wha daur meddle wi’ me?” or as I translated into Glaswegian to our friends from Rochdale who’d taken us there, “Don’t mess wi’ me, pal.”

A small portion of the tiled floor can be seen in my photo of the staircase in my Rochdale Town Hall, Stained Glass post. Other images can be found here.

The ground floor vaulted ceiling is a bit Islamesque:-

One of the function rooms has a magnificent hammer beam ceiling:-

Along with decoration:-

And a similarly magnificent fireplace:-

Wood panelling on the walls:-

Wall decoration:-

I liked these internal doors:-

And the old signage:-

There’s even decoration in the corridor to the toilets:-

One of the striking features of Rochdale Town Hall’s interior is the stained glass windows many of which feature portraits of the Kings and Queens of England.

The windows flanking the entrance though have stained glass representations of the coats of arms of European countries, here Greece, France, Belgium, Turkey, Russia and Portugal:-

The other such window betrays the building’s age. Coats of arms for Sweden & Norway, Prussia, Switzerland, Spain, Denmark and Austria. Note Sweden & Norway, as was (they separated in 1905) and Prussia which, subsumed the rest of Germany in 1871.

Grand staircase:-

This is a closer view showing the stained glass window on the half-landing to greater effect.

A glimpse of Rochdale’s imposing Town Hall could be seen in yesterday’s post.

Here is the building’s frontage:-

Side view from Town Square (left hand side in previous photo):-

View (from right hand side in first photo):-

Facade and entrance canopy:-

Detail. Note gilded lions above the entrance canopy:-

The inside of the building is as splendid – more of which later – but I also photographed a model of the building which was as I recall in Rochdale Museum:-

Front view:-

Rear of building:-