Gracie Fields Purple Plaque Trail

Overview

The Gracie Fields Purple Plaque Trail trail marks places of significance in the life of the late Rochdale-born singer, actress and comedian, Dame Gracie Fields.

The plaques’ purple colour is unique to this trail and distinguishes them from the wide range of blue plaques in the town. Gracie Fields was born in Rochdale in 1898 and went on to become an internationally famous singer and Hollywood star. She was the highest paid actress in the world during the 1930s. Many of Gracie’s biggest moments, from being encouraged to enter her first singing contest to her first professional performance, took place here in her hometown of Rochdale.

The trail takes in many of these important sites, as well as the statue of Gracie, which was erected in autumn 2016 as a permanent tribute to Rochdale’s favourite daughter.

Accessibility

Almost all of the walk is on paved and level surfaces and should be accessible for families with pushchairs and for wheelchair users (with assistance). The last part of the walk, however, close to St Chad’s Church is steeper and there is a long flight of steps shown near point 8 on the map. A diversion could be made via Church Lane, though there will still be some gradients. Note that we have not checked conditions on the ground.

How to get there

To work out how to get to and from the walk start point, simply click the Google Maps link shown on this page. Then click ‘Directions’ and enter your postcode or location in the relevant field. For public transport options, click the train icon.

Alternatively, input the postcode shown into the TFGM journey planner at https://my.tfgm.com/#/planner/