Toad Lane Rochdale

I originally created my pen illustration of Toad Lane across two pages of my sketchbook. I began by drawing 31 Toad Lane – now home to the Pioneer’s Museum. If you’re not familiar with Rochdale history, it was inside this very building that the Cooperative movement was founded in 1844. What started as a small local society soon became the blueprint for cooperatives all over the world, and grew into the Co-Op group as we know it today. I inked the Pioneer’s Museum onto the paper brick-by-brick until I eventually reached the first bay window of The Baum pub.

If you’ve ever walked past, you’ll know that this window is decorated to look like an old toy shop and is inhabited by quite a spooky-looking fella. Named Garrett, he’s the mascot for Rochdale Ghost Walks, and he features in the doodle alongside the large doll house that also decorates this window display.
By the time I’d sketched up to the front door of The Baum, I knew the end was in sight. I was a bit worried that I might not have been able to squeeze in the gas lamp that illuminates the top corner of the building, but it turned out that I had plenty of room. Phew!