Baron Street drill hall, Rochdale

The building was designed as the headquarters of the 12th Lancashire Rifle Volunteers in around 1865.[1] This unit evolved to become the 2nd Volunteer Battalion the Lancashire Fusiliers in 1883 and the 6th Battalion, the Lancashire Fusiliers in 1908.[2] The battalion was mobilised at the drill hall in August 1914 before being deployed to Gallipoli and ultimately to the Western Front.[3] The drill hall continued to be used by the battalion until the Second World War[4] and, although the 6th Battalion was disbanded after the war, elements of the 5th (Volunteer) Battalion continued to use it[5] until the 1980s when it was decommissioned and sold for industrial use.[6]