The issue of how to deal with people, who could not or would not work and found themselves homeless or penniless, had stimulated quite a bit of legislation in England from very early times.  In 1598 a Parliamentary Act was passed which required every parish to appoint a person who would oversee the poor. It was this person's role to find them employment and set up "parish-houses" for those who could not support themselves. This act was replaced in 1601 by "An Acte for the Reliefe of the Poor" which essentially built on the provisions of the 1598 act. This 1601 act is regarded as the First Poor Law in the United Kingdom.  In 1662 another piece was added to the puzzle when legislation known as the Settlement Act was passed.

Essentially under the provision of these two acts each parish was responsible for providing assistance to the poor. They responded by providing relief to people who were unemployed. They provided shelter to the old and sick who were unable to provide for themselves. They found employment for those who could work. Some parishes were seen to be more generous than others and people moved around to improve their lot. This obviously put a strain on the resources of some parishes so the Settlement Act was designed to prevent such behaviour by essentially tying the poor to a specific parish. Were they to leave, they would be hard pressed to receive any assistance in their new setting and might even be transported home should they attempt to do so. Parishes found it cheaper to send people back to their own parish than it was to care for them.

In 1834 Parliament introduced legislation that was known as the "Poor Law Amendment Act". This was a highly controversial law which stimulated protests and riots throughout the country but especially in the North. The New Poor Law was designed to eliminate the parish-based support for the poor and replace it with the requirement that any person unable to provide for themselves must be placed in a workhouse. Communities were required to cooperate through the creation of a Union that would build and operate the Workhouse. It would provide shelter, food and employment to those unable to provide for themselves. Since the conditions within most of these workhouses were so horrible, they also provided a deterrent to those who were able bodied but preferred not to work. The law passed in 1837, but it met considerable opposition and a great deal of resistance. However, by the early 1850s most of the towns in Britain had a "Union" Workhouse.

The situation was rather different in Rochdale. Thomas Livsey, a strong opponent of the Law, found an effective way to thwart its implementation by becoming the chairman of "The Guardians", the committee charged with its implementation. In 1844 the central government actually issued a writ to prosecute Livsey and his fellow Guardians. They were tried in Liverpool but were acquitted on a technicality. The Government then used its considerable power to remove Livsey and his supporters from the committee, but that proved fruitless when many of them were re-elected soon after.

However, in 1877 the Dearnley Union Workhouse, with its central clock-tower, did open.  When it finally closed its doors as a workhouse, the building took on new roles. During W.W. I., it was used as a military hospital for soldiers injured at the front. Subsequently it became the Birch Hill Hospital.