Bailey, Jennie Ruth (2018)For Rochdale: reading, mapping, and writing place in the era of the northern powerhouse. Doctoral thesis (PhD), Manchester Metropolitan University. Downloaded from: http://e-space.mmu.ac.uk/622594/ Usage rights: Creative Commons: Attribution-Noncommercial-No Deriva- tive Works 4.0 Please cite the published version https://e-space.mmu.ac.uk For Rochdale: Reading, Mapping, and Writing Place in the Era of the Northern Powerhouse Jennie Ruth Bailey A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the Manchester Metropolitan University for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Interdisciplinary Studies The Manchester Metropolitan University (Cheshire) May 2018 Abstract The aim of this thesis is to explore the way in which popular perceptions Rochdale, a town and borough in Greater Manchester, can be challenged and reconfigured through a range of critical and creative practices. Using the Northern Powerhouse project – an initiative introduced by George Osborne, the former Chancellor of the Exchequer – as a starting point, this thesis argues that the language of the Northern Powerhouse is invidiously insubstantial: it is a vague rhetoric of regeneration which is inextricably indexed to top-down place-making practices. The research has a multifaceted approach and utilises methodologies from the fields of literary and creative geographies to critically, and creatively, explore how a place is made through literary texts, maps and new writing. The thesis is organised in a tripartite structure: Reading Place, Mapping Place and Writing Place. Chapter One presents theories of place which underpin the analysis of the literary texts. In Chapter Two a literary survey of poetry, prose, folk tales, and plays is used to pull out some of the key themes and tropes in extant writing about Rochdale. The second part introduces critical cartography. Chapter Three starts from J. Brian Harley’s premise that maps are a form of text that reveal and conceal what Michel de Certeau calls spatial stories. Following a discussion of ‘official’ maps of Rochdale, new maps are made, and explored, in Chapter Four. The final part features a discussion on practice- as-research and exegeses of the creative work. Crucially, creative literary and artistic responses are scattered throughout the thesis, interrupting the expected narrative of traditional critical research. This experimental, hybrid approach demonstrates the complexities of Rochdale. This research contributes to nascent geohumanities scholarship and practice that explores the intertwining and blurred boundaries within (and without) the normally siloed fields of the arts, humanities, and sciences. Rochdale is not a cultural lacuna, and the imaginative approach offered by my thesis challenges the “business as usual” narratives posed by regeneration organisations and the language of the Northern Powerhouse. Keywords: Rochdale, place, maps, literary geographies, geohumanities, creative-critical writing Acknowledgements A PhD project has the reputation of being a task taken individually, however, this PhD thesis was not completed in isolation. The generous Interdisciplinary Studies studentship award from Manchester Metropolitan University, support from colleagues, friends, and people from Rochdale have allowed me to complete this thesis. There are a host of people and organisations that I would like to thank. And possibly the cats who all sat upon previous drafts of the project. Rochdale Thanks to the kindness and enthusiasm of Ray Stearn, the former Rochdale Borough Council children’s librarian, I was connected to various people and leading organisations from around the borough. In particular I would like to thank: Touchstones Creative Writing Group - especially Val Chapman, Jenny and the Local Studies staff from Touchstones heritage centre, Punam Ramchum, Danny Lamb, Steve Cooke, Nadeem Hussain and the team at Smallbridge library, Barry Hobson and Castleton Literary and Scientific Society, Bob Huddart and Middleton Archaeological Society, and Cllr. Janet Emsley. I would like to thank Jane Lowe of Touchstones heritage centre and the Communications Team from Rochdale MBC for allowing me to reproduce the maps in Chapter Three. Manchester Metropolitan University I would like to thank Dr Adam O’Riordan and Kay Tewe who offered me personal references for the PhD application. Thanks also to the Graduate School, especially Maddie Hickman, Christine Smith, Clare Holdcroft, Dr Martin Blain and Rachel Huddleston. And thanks to my colleagues Dominika Wielgopolan and Steve Morton for offering me a ‘room of one’s own’ the night before my PhD viva. I could not have asked for a more supportive supervisory team from the Interdisciplinary English Studies and Contemporary Arts departments. My supervisory team are six amazing humans who continue to demonstrate tenacity, patience, and #AcademicKindness in action. Firstly, I’d like to thank my Director of Studies, Dr Rachel Dickinson for her stylistic pointers and organisational advice. Dr Kirsty Bunting for assisting with the readability of the thesis, and for tea, cake and writing sessions. I am grateful to Dr Julie Armstrong for helping me shape the original creative interventions and for book recommendations, and Dr Jane Turner for tips on creative writing projects and a serendipitous chat about supernatural Rochdale. I would like to thank Professor Jean Sprackland for her valuable input into my creative work, especially after the cuts at Cheshire culminated with several stellar members of staff, including Dr Armstrong, taking voluntary redundancy. I would especially like to thank my primary PhD supervisor Dr David Cooper for his generosity with mentoring, support, time and ideas. I am grateful for David’s (well- meaning) cajoling and for believing in me even when I didn’t. Outside Organisations I’d like to thank the Sheffield Gothic scholars for their input into the paper and storytelling session I gave at their conference in 2015. The bioregional writing team at the ASLE 2015 conference for feedback on bioregional approaches to reading place. Dr Katrina Navickas for her work on dialect and for being a proud Rochdalian! Jonathan Porter and the ialeUK team who inspired me to seek out Landscape Character Assessments and consider the ecology of Rochdale. I would like to thank the archive staff at John Rylands Library, the local studies staff at Manchester Central Library, and the team at the Working Class Movement Library. I’d like to extend my gratitude to friends and colleagues from the National Association for Writers in Education, in particular: Dr Deann Bell, Liz Hyder, and Jean Atkin. Personal I would not have undertaken this PhD had it not been for the persuasive skills of Dr Richard Goulding who convinced me that I was “clever enough” to apply. Further, I’d like to thank Rich for being a guinea pig for many of the creative writing activities, for intellectual arguments over space and place, and to his family for local knowledge and Middleton stories. My office buddy Dr Marie Choiller who indulged me with far too much coffee and cheese. Dr Rebecca Daker spent more than a couple of caffeinated afternoons discussing space, place, and literature. Thanks too to Rochdale artist Stacey Coughlin for discussions on place theories, art, and her memories of the borough. I’d like to thank my friends for their moral support including but certainly not limited to: Michelle Rudek, Cazz Howes, Sophie Chivers, Natalie Burdett, and the Didsbury Players. Most importantly I’d like to thank my family, especially my mum, even though there have been moments of domestic turbulence over the last four years. I am incredibly grateful to James Young, for emotional and, during the write-up period, financial support – I owe you a lot of cake and knitted socks! – and for putting up with all the ups and downs that the writing process engenders. I would like to extend my thanks and gratitude to Dr David Borthwick and Dr Paul Evans for a fair and through viva exam, and to the Independent chair Dr Gladys Pearson. As the orchestral music to move me off the stage begins to build to a crescendo, this leads me to finally say that this work is dedicated to the borough of Rochdale, its people, wildlife and its edgelands. Everywhere has stories, and any errors in the writing and retelling of these are my own. Contents Abstract Acknowledgements List of Illustrations and Maps Preamble: Tram Lines .................................................................................................. 1 Introduction: (Re)claiming Rochdale ........................................................................... 7 Locating Rochdale .............................................................................................. 10 Navigating Rochdale: A Chapter-by-Chapter Overview .................................... 21 Towards a Deep Map of Rochdale: An Interdisciplinary Methodology ............. 29 Part One: Reading Place............................................................................................. 33 Chapter One: Making Sense of Place/s .................................................................. 34 Theorising Place ................................................................................................. 36 The Era of Northern Powerhouse: Place-making as Storytelling and a Textual Analysis of the Language of Regeneration ......................................................... 60 Chapter Two: The Literary Geographies of Rochdale ..........................................