Todmorden is a
market townMarket town or market right is a legal term, originating in the medieval period, for a European settlement that has the right to host markets, distinguishing it from a village and city...
and civil parish, located 17 miles from
ManchesterManchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
, within the
Metropolitan Borough of CalderdaleThe Metropolitan Borough of Calderdale is a metropolitan borough of West Yorkshire, England, through which the upper part of the River Calder flows, and from which it takes its name...
, in
West YorkshireWest Yorkshire is a metropolitan county within the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England with a population of 2.2 million. West Yorkshire came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972....
, England. It forms part of the
Upper Calder ValleyThe Upper Calder Valley lies in West Yorkshire in northern England, and covers the towns of Todmorden, Hebden Bridge, Mytholmroyd, Luddendenfoot, and Sowerby Bridge, as well as a number of smaller settlements such as Portsmouth, Cornholme, Walsden and Eastwood. The valley is named after the River...
and has a total population of 14,941.
Todmorden town centre occupies the confluence of three steep-sided
PennineThe Pennines are a low-rising mountain range, separating the North West of England from Yorkshire and the North East.Often described as the "backbone of England", they form a more-or-less continuous range stretching from the Peak District in Derbyshire, around the northern and eastern edges of...
valleys, which constrict the shape of the town. Todmorden is surrounded by moorlands with occasional outcrops of
gritstoneGritstone or Grit is a hard, coarse-grained, siliceous sandstone. This term is especially applied to such sandstones that are quarried for building material. British gritstone was used for millstones to mill flour, to grind wood into pulp for paper and for grindstones to sharpen blades. "Grit" is...
sandblasted by winds.
The
historic county boundaryThe historic counties of England are subdivisions of England established for administration by the Normans and in most cases based on earlier Anglo-Saxon kingdoms and shires...
between
YorkshireYorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...
and
LancashireLancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...
is marked by the
River CalderThe River Calder is a river in West Yorkshire, in Northern England.The Calder rises on the green eastern slopes of the Pennines flows through alternating green countryside, former woollen-mill villages, and large and small towns before joining the River Aire near Castleford.The river's valley is...
and its tributary, the Walsden Water, which runs through the centre of the town. The historic border remains but the administrative border was altered by the
Local Government Act 1888The Local Government Act 1888 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which established county councils and county borough councils in England and Wales...
, whereby today all of Todmorden lies within West Yorkshire.
The town is served by
Todmorden railway stationTodmorden railway station is in West Yorkshire, England, originally in Lancashire. It was built by the Manchester and Leeds Railway and is on the Caldervale Line west of Leeds and north-east of Manchester Victoria....
and
Walsden railway stationWalsden railway station serves the village of Walsden, Todmorden in West Yorkshire, England, on the edge of the Pennines.It is served by the Caldervale Line operated by Northern Rail. The station is west of Leeds and north east of Manchester Victoria. Walsden is the last station before the...
.
The town's name is subject to a variety of pronunciations. The
Longman Pronunciation Dictionary lists ˈtɒdmədən as the most common, and [ˈtɒdmɔːdən] as a common alternative. Locally, some may also use a
rhoticEnglish pronunciation can be divided into two main accent groups: a rhotic speaker pronounces a rhotic consonant in words like hard; a non-rhotic speaker does not...
pronunciation, [ˈtɒdmərdən]. The traditional dialectal pronunciation is [tɔːmdɪn], although to most people living in the town, the place is just known as "Tod".
Toponymy
The name Todmorden first appears in 1641. The town had earlier been called Tottemerden, Totmardene, Totmereden or Totmerden. The generally accepted meaning of the name is Totta's boundary-valley, probably a reference to the valley running north-west from the town. Alternative suggestions have been proposed, such as the speculation "maybe fancifully" that the name derives from two words for death:
tod and
mor (as in
mort), meaning "death-death-wood", or that the name meant "marshy home of the fox", from the
Old EnglishOld English or Anglo-Saxon is an early form of the English language that was spoken and written by the Anglo-Saxons and their descendants in parts of what are now England and southeastern Scotland between at least the mid-5th century and the mid-12th century...
.
Pagan prehistory
In 1898 Blackheath Barrow—a ring cairn monument situated above Cross Stone in Todmorden—was excavated and proved to be a site of "surpassing archaeological interest", according to J. Lawton Russell, one of the men who carried out the excavation. Various Bronze Age items were discovered, including sepulchral urns, a human skull, teeth and hands.
Russell contended that Blackheath Barrow was primarily a religious site, specifically intended for the "performance of funeral rites", as there was no evidence that it had been settled for domestic use. Of particular interest were the four cairns, positioned at the cardinal points of the compass, and it has been suggested that this indicates "a ritual evocation of the airts, or spirits of the four directions, with obvious correlates in relation to spirits in the land of the dead".
The various finds from the 1898 dig are now housed in the Todmorden Library, on permanent display.
Early history
The earliest written record of the area is in the
Domesday BookDomesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...
(1086) . Settlement in Medieval Todmorden was dispersed. Most people living in scattered farms or in isolated hilltop agricultural settlements.
Packhorse.A packhorse or pack horse refers generally to an equid such as a horse, mule, donkey or pony used for carrying goods on their backs, usually carried in sidebags or panniers. Typically packhorses are used to cross difficult terrain, where the absence of roads prevents the use of wheeled vehicles. ...
trails were marked by ancient stones of which many still survive.
For hundreds of years streams from the surrounding hills provided water for corn and fulling mills. Todmorden grew to relative prosperity by combining farming with the production of woollen textiles. Some Yeomen clothiers were able to build fine houses, a few of which still exist today. Increasingly, though, the area turned to cotton. The proximity of Manchester, as a source of material and trade, was undoubtedly a strong factor. Another was that the strong Pennine streams and rivers were able to power the machine
loomA loom is a device used to weave cloth. The basic purpose of any loom is to hold the warp threads under tension to facilitate the interweaving of the weft threads...
s. Improvements in textile machinery (by
KayJohn Kay was the inventor of the flying shuttle, which was a key contribution to the Industrial Revolution. He is often confused with his namesake: fellow Lancastrian textile machinery inventor, the unrelated John Kay who built the first "spinning frame".-Life in England:John Kay was born...
,
HargreavesJames Hargreaves was a weaver, carpenter and an inventor in Lancashire, England. He is credited with inventing the spinning Jenny in 1764....
and
ArkwrightSir Richard Arkwright , was an Englishman who, although the patents were eventually overturned, is often credited for inventing the spinning frame — later renamed the water frame following the transition to water power. He also patented a carding engine that could convert raw cotton into yarn...
), along with the development of
turnpike roadsTurnpike trusts in the United Kingdom were bodies set up by individual Acts of Parliament, with powers to collect road tolls for maintaining the principal highways in Britain from the 17th but especially during the 18th and 19th centuries...
(1751–1781), helped to develop the new cotton industry and to increase the local population.
19th century
In 1801 the majority of people still lived in the uplands; Todmorden itself could be considered as a mere village. During the years 1800–1845 great changes took place in the communications and transport of the town which were to have a crucial effect on promoting industrial growth. These included the building of: (1) better roads; (2) the
Rochdale CanalThe Rochdale Canal is a navigable "broad" canal in northern England, part of the connected system of the canals of Great Britain. The "Rochdale" in its name refers to the town of Rochdale, Greater Manchester, through which the canal passes....
(1804); and (3) the main line of the
Manchester and Leeds RailwayThe Manchester and Leeds Railway was a railway company in the United Kingdom which opened in 1839, connecting Manchester with Leeds via the North Midland Railway which it joined at Normanton....
(1841), which became the
Lancashire and Yorkshire RailwayThe Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway was a major British railway company before the 1923 Grouping. It was incorporated in 1847 from an amalgamation of several existing railways...
in 1847. This railway line incorporated the (then) longest tunnel in the world, the 2,885-yard
Summit TunnelThe Summit Tunnel in England is one of the oldest railway tunnels in the world: it was built between 1838 and 1841 by the Manchester and Leeds Railway beneath the Pennines...
. A second railway, from Todmorden to Burnley, opened as a single line in 1849, being doubled to meet demand in 1860. A short connecting line, from Stansfield Hall to Hall Royd, completed the "Todmorden Triangle" in 1862, thus enabling trains to travel in all three directions (Manchester, Leeds and Burnley) without reversing.
The
Industrial RevolutionThe Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transportation, and technology had a profound effect on the social, economic and cultural conditions of the times...
caused a concentration of industry and settlement along the valley floor and a switch from woollens to cotton. One family in the area was particularly influential on the town; the Fielden family. They created a "dynasty" that changed the town forever by establishing several large mills, putting up assorted impressive buildings and bringing about social and educational change.
A double murder took place at Christ Church, Todmorden on 2 March 1868. The victims' graves lie in the churchyard. Miles Weatherhill, a 23-year-old weaver from the town, was forbidden from seeing his housemaid sweetheart, Sarah Bell, by the Reverend Anthony John Plow. Armed with four pistols and an axe, Weatherhill took revenge first on the vicar and then on Jane Smith, another maid who had informed Plow of the secret meetings. Miss Smith died at the scene, while the vicar survived another week before succumbing to his injuries. Weatherhill also seriously injured the vicar's wife. On 4 April 1868 Weatherhill became the last person to be publicly hanged in
ManchesterManchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
, at the New Bailey prison. Local legend has it that the face of a young woman is sometimes seen in the window of the vicarage, now in private ownership.
20th century
Throughout the first decade of the 20th century, the population of the Borough of Todmorden remained constant. The ten-yearly UK census returns show figures of 25,418 in 1901 and 25,404 in 1911. Like the rest of the
Upper Calder ValleyThe Upper Calder Valley lies in West Yorkshire in northern England, and covers the towns of Todmorden, Hebden Bridge, Mytholmroyd, Luddendenfoot, and Sowerby Bridge, as well as a number of smaller settlements such as Portsmouth, Cornholme, Walsden and Eastwood. The valley is named after the River...
, Todmorden's economy experienced a slow decline from around the end of the First World War onwards, accelerating after the Second World War until around the late 1970s. During this period there was a painful restructuring of the local economy with the closure of mills and the demise of heavy industry.
On 1 January 1907, Todmorden Corporation became only the second municipality in the British Isles to operate a motor bus service. By the end of that year, the fleet had expanded to five double-deck vehicles: two by Critchley-Norris, two by Lancashire Steam (predecessor of Leyland Motors) and one by Ryknield. In 1931, the service became jointly operated by the Corporation and the LMS railway under the name "Todmorden Joint Omnibus Committee". At its maximum size in the 1940s and 1950s, the undertaking operated 40 vehicles over 50 route miles through the rugged South Pennine terrain.
Until 1938, the town was served by no fewer than six railway stations: Todmorden, Stansfield Hall, Cornholme, Portsmouth, Walsden and Eastwood. With the exception of Todmorden station, all six closed during the middle third of the 20th century, though Walsden station reopened on 10 September 1990 on a site a few yards north of the original 1845 station. In December 1984 a goods train carrying petrol
derailed in the Summit TunnelThe Summit Tunnel fire occurred on 20 December 1984 on a dangerous goods train passing through the Summit Tunnel on the Greater Manchester/West Yorkshire border, on the rail line between Littleborough and Todmorden, England.-History:...
between Todmorden and Littleborough causing what is still considered as one of the biggest underground fires in transport history.
In 1980, Todmorden found itself at the centre of a celebrated murder enquiry. On June 11 of that year police were called to J.W.Parker's coal yard in Todmorden after the discovery of a body, subsequently identified as 56-year-old
Zigmund AdamskiZigmund Jan Adamski was a coal miner at Lofthouse Colliery, who mysteriously disappeared from his Tingley home in June 1980. His body was found on top of a large stack of anthracite in Todmorden....
from Tingley, near Wakefield. The former coal miner had not been seen since setting out on a local shopping trip five days earlier. Although still wearing a suit, his shirt, watch and wallet were missing. A post mortem established that he died of a heart attack earlier that day, and discovered burns on his neck, shoulders, and back of his head. These appeared to have been dressed by a green ointment, which toxicology tests were unable to identify. Adamski's case has never been solved, no suspect was ever arrested, and in a television documentary the coroner, James Turnbull, described it as "one of the most puzzling cases I've come across in 25 years". Among the explanations to gain currency was that Adamski was the victim of extraterrestrial abduction. After intense media interest, the Todmorden police force were forbidden from talking further to the press about the case.
Governance
Todmorden has a complex geo-administrative history. It lies along the
historic county boundaryThe historic counties of England are subdivisions of England established for administration by the Normans and in most cases based on earlier Anglo-Saxon kingdoms and shires...
of
YorkshireYorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...
and
LancashireLancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...
. Todmorden is in the
Oldham postcode areaThe OL postcode area, also known as the Oldham postcode area, is a group of postcode districts around Ashton-under-Lyne, Bacup, Heywood, Littleborough, Oldham, Rochdale and Todmorden in England....
and the telephone code (01706) is also that of
RochdaleRochdale is a large market town in Greater Manchester, England. It lies amongst the foothills of the Pennines on the River Roch, north-northwest of Oldham, and north-northeast of the city of Manchester. Rochdale is surrounded by several smaller settlements which together form the Metropolitan...
(both in
Greater ManchesterGreater Manchester is a metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 2.6 million. It encompasses one of the largest metropolitan areas in the United Kingdom and comprises ten metropolitan boroughs: Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford, Wigan, and the...
).
Until the boundary reformation by the
Local Government Act 1888The Local Government Act 1888 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which established county councils and county borough councils in England and Wales...
, the Lancashire-Yorkshire boundary ran through the centre of Todmorden, following the River Calder to the north-west and the Walsden Water for less than a mile to the south before turning south-eastwards across Langfield Common. The Town Hall, which was presented to Todmorden by the Fielden family and opened in 1875, straddles the Walsden Water; thus, from 1875 to 1888 it was possible to dance in the Town Hall ballroom, forward and back, across two
counties of EnglandCounties of England are areas used for the purposes of administrative, geographical and political demarcation. For administrative purposes, England outside Greater London and the Isles of Scilly is divided into 83 counties. The counties may consist of a single district or be divided into several...
.
Following the
Local Government Act 1894The Local Government Act 1894 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales outside the County of London. The Act followed the reforms carried out at county level under the Local Government Act 1888...
, the Todmorden Local Board became an Urban District Council, comprising the wards of Todmorden, Walsden, Langfield and Stansfield. At the same time, Todmorden Rural District Council, comprising the parishes of Blackshaw, Erringden, Heptonstall and Wadsworth, came into being. Two years later, on 2 June 1896, the town was granted a Charter of Incorporation and the area covered by the Urban District Council became a
Municipal BoroughMunicipal boroughs were a type of local government district which existed in England and Wales between 1835 and 1974, in Northern Ireland from 1840 to 1973 and in the Republic of Ireland from 1840 to 2002...
. The number of wards was increased from four to six: Central, Walsden, Langfield, Stansfield, Stoodley and Cornholme. Todmorden Rural District was later re-named
Hepton Rural DistrictHepton was a rural district in the West Riding of Yorkshire, England, from 1894 to 1974.The district included four civil parishes:*Heptonstall,*Blackshaw*Erringden*WadsworthIt was created in 1894 as the Todmorden rural district...
. Since the
local government reforms of 1974The Local Government Act 1972 is an Act of Parliament in the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales on 1 April 1974....
, Todmorden has been administered as part of the
Metropolitan BoroughA metropolitan borough is a type of local government district in England, and is a subdivision of a metropolitan county. Created in 1974 by the Local Government Act 1972, metropolitan boroughs are defined in English law as metropolitan districts, however all of them have been granted or regranted...
of
CalderdaleThe Metropolitan Borough of Calderdale is a metropolitan borough of West Yorkshire, England, through which the upper part of the River Calder flows, and from which it takes its name...
, within the
Metropolitan countyThe metropolitan counties are a type of county-level administrative division of England. There are six metropolitan counties, which each cover large urban areas, typically with populations of 1.2 to 2.8 million...
of
West YorkshireWest Yorkshire is a metropolitan county within the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England with a population of 2.2 million. West Yorkshire came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972....
. At the local government level, Todmorden, the town, is almost entirely within Todmorden ward although the eastern portion of the town toward Eastwood shares some of adjoining Calder ward with Hebden Bridge.
Twin towns
Todmorden's
twin townsTwin towns and sister cities are two of many terms used to describe the cooperative agreements between towns, cities, and even counties in geographically and politically distinct areas to promote cultural and commercial ties.- Terminology :...
are: -
RoncqRoncq commune in the Nord department in northern France.It is from the border with Belgium.-Heraldry:-Twin towns:It is twinned with Todmorden in Britain, Delbrück in Germany, and Selinkegny in Mali.-References:* -External links:...
(France) -
BramscheBramsche is a town in the district of Osnabrück, Lower Saxony, Germany. It is about 20 km north of Osnabrück, at . Population is 30858 .In 1971/72 12 previously independent municipalities were included into the town.*Achmer*Balkum...
(Germany)
Geography
Other villages and towns in the
Upper Calder ValleyThe Upper Calder Valley lies in West Yorkshire in northern England, and covers the towns of Todmorden, Hebden Bridge, Mytholmroyd, Luddendenfoot, and Sowerby Bridge, as well as a number of smaller settlements such as Portsmouth, Cornholme, Walsden and Eastwood. The valley is named after the River...
include
Hebden BridgeHebden Bridge is a market town within the Metropolitan Borough of Calderdale, in West Yorkshire, England. It forms part of the Upper Calder Valley and lies 8 miles west of Halifax and 14 miles north east of Rochdale, at the confluence of the River Calder and the River Hebden .A 2004 profile of...
and
MytholmroydMytholmroyd is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Calderdale, in West Yorkshire, England. It lies east of Hebden Bridge and west of Halifax....
. The territory of the civil parish of Todmorden also extends to cover
EastwoodEastwood is a place within the civil parish of Todmorden and Metropolitan Borough of Calderdale, in West Yorkshire, England. It lies west from Halifax, roughly equidistant from Todmorden's town centre, which is to the southwest, and Hebden Bridge, which is 2 miles to the northeast, along the...
,
WalsdenWalsden is a large village in the town of Todmorden in the Metropolitan Borough of Calderdale, West Yorkshire, England, close to the Greater Manchester border...
,
CornholmeCornholme is a village within the Metropolitan Borough of Calderdale, in West Yorkshire, England. It lies at the edge of Calderdale, on the boundary with Lancashire, and in the narrow Calder Valley about northwest of Todmorden....
,
MankinholesMankinholes is a hamlet in the Metropolitan Borough of Calderdale, in West Yorkshire, England. It is part of the Pennines, and its nearest town is Todmorden in Yorkshire. It has a YHA hostel, managed by the larger hostel at nearby Haworth. Mankinholes is the starting point for the popular trek up...
, Lumbutts, Portsmouth and Cross Stone.
Medieval Todmorden had consisted of the
townshipsIn England, a township is a local division or district of a large parish containing a village or small town usually having its own church...
of Langfield and Stansfield in Yorkshire, and Todmorden/Walsden section of the greater township of Hundersfeld in the Ancient Parish of Rochdale, Lancashire. The township of Todmorden and Walsden was created in 1801 by the union of the older villages of Todmorden and Walsden.
Economy
Heavy industry is now part of Todmorden's history, not its present. The industrial chimneys have largely gone and the remaining
millsA grinding mill is a unit operation designed to break a solid material into smaller pieces. There are many different types of grinding mills and many types of materials processed in them. Historically mills were powered by hand , working animal , wind or water...
have mostly been converted for other purposes. The town's industrial base is much reduced (at one time Todmorden had the largest weaving shed in the world). There has been a great deal of regeneration activity and Todmorden is now increasingly a
commuter townA commuter town is an urban community that is primarily residential, from which most of the workforce commutes out to earn their livelihood. Many commuter towns act as suburbs of a nearby metropolis that workers travel to daily, and many suburbs are commuter towns...
for people working in
ManchesterManchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
,
LeedsLeeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...
,
BradfordBradford lies at the heart of the City of Bradford, a metropolitan borough of West Yorkshire, in Northern England. It is situated in the foothills of the Pennines, west of Leeds, and northwest of Wakefield. Bradford became a municipal borough in 1847, and received its charter as a city in 1897...
,
Huddersfield Huddersfield is a large market town within the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees, in West Yorkshire, England, situated halfway between Leeds and Manchester. It lies north of London, and south of Bradford, the nearest city....
and smaller towns. Todmorden also services the local rural area and attracts visitors through its
marketTodmorden Markets consist of an indoor market held in the Public Market Hall and an outdoor open air market held to the front of the Public Market Hall in central Todmorden adjacent to the Town Hall. The indoor market has over 40 market traders stalls selling fresh produce, meat, dairy produce,...
(indoor and outdoor), various events, heritage and the local Pennine countryside. Changing work patterns may have influenced the fact that the town was the first rural telephone exchange in Britain to be broadband-enabled through public demand. Rising house prices over recent years are a particular problem as there is limited land available in the valley for building
affordable housingAffordable housing is a term used to describe dwelling units whose total housing costs are deemed "affordable" to those that have a median income. Although the term is often applied to rental housing that is within the financial means of those in the lower income ranges of a geographical area, the...
.
Nightlife
Todmorden has a very busy nightlife, for a small town. The nightlife includes many pubs and a club, each offering their own unique part to a nightlife. Pubs in the town centre includes The Duke of York, The Wellington, The Royal George, The Golden Lion, The White Heart (Wetherspoons) and The Polished Knob, known for live bands and music. There is also CP's Bar open till 2am, and the Venue nightclub open till 5am on a Friday and Saturday.
Landmarks
Todmorden has several attractions, the foremost being a large town hall that dominates the centre of the town. Todmoren is situated alongside the
Pennine WayThe Pennine Way is a National Trail in England. The trail runs from Edale, in the northern Derbyshire Peak District, north through the Yorkshire Dales and the Northumberland National Park and ends at Kirk Yetholm, just inside the Scottish border. The path runs along the Pennine hills, sometimes...
,
Pennine BridlewayThe Pennine Bridleway is a new National Trail under designation in Northern England.It runs roughly parallel with the Pennine Way but provides access for horseback riders and cyclists as well as walkers. The trail is around long; through Derbyshire to the South Pennines, the Mary Towneley Loop...
,
Mary Towneley LoopThe Mary Towneley Loop is a circular route that forms part of the Pennine Bridleway National Trail, along the borders of Lancashire and Yorkshire....
and
Calderdale WayThe Calderdale Way is a long-distance footpath of about fifty miles in West Yorkshire. It was devised in the 1970s to draw attention to some of the attractions in the district of Calderdale, which was being established at that time....
and is popular for outdoor activities such as
walkingWalking is one of the main gaits of locomotion among legged animals, and is typically slower than running and other gaits. Walking is defined by an 'inverted pendulum' gait in which the body vaults over the stiff limb or limbs with each step...
,
fell runningFell running, also known as mountain running and hill running, is the sport of running and racing, off road, over upland country where the gradient climbed is a significant component of the difficulty...
,
mountain bikingMountain biking is a sport which consists of riding bicycles off-road, often over rough terrain, using specially adapted mountain bikes. Mountain bikes share similarities with other bikes, but incorporate features designed to enhance durability and performance in rough terrain.Mountain biking can...
and
boulderingBouldering is a style of rock climbing undertaken without a rope and normally limited to very short climbs over a crash pad so that a fall will not result in serious injury. It is typically practiced on large natural boulders or artificial boulders in gyms and outdoor urban areas...
. Its attractions include many canal and locks, a park containing a sports centre, an outdoor skateboard park, tennis courts, a golf course, an aquarium/reptile house and a cricket ground. There are also many wooded areas around the town and a variety of cafés and restaurants.
Its indoor and outdoor markets sell a wide range of locally produced food. The Hippodrome Theatre shows films as well as putting on live performances. The town also contains a small toy and model museum, a library and a tourist information centre, along with many independent retailers. Annual events include a carnival, agricultural show, beer festival, music festival and the traditional Easter Pace Egg plays.
Todmorden has the look of a
VictorianThe term Victorian architecture refers collectively to several architectural styles employed predominantly during the middle and late 19th century. The period that it indicates may slightly overlap the actual reign, 20 June 1837 – 22 January 1901, of Queen Victoria. This represents the British and...
mill town and has some notable buildings including
Dobroyd CastleDobroyd Castle is an important historic building above the town of Todmorden, West Yorkshire, England. It was built for John Fielden, local mill owner and son of Honest John Fielden the Social Reformer and MP.The building has had a varied past...
(completed in 1869), now used as a residential activity centre for schoolchildren; the Edwardian Hippodrome Theatre; an imposing Greek Revival town hall (built 1866–1875) that dominates the centre of town; the Grade I listed
Todmorden Unitarian ChurchTodmorden Unitarian Church is a formerly redundant Unitarian church standing in Honey Hole Road, Todmorden, West Yorkshire, England , now holding services again. It occupies an elevated position overlooking the town...
(built 1865–1869); and the 120 ft
Stoodley PikeStoodley Pike is a hill in the south Pennines, noted for the 121 foot Stoodley Pike Monument at its summit, which dominates the moors above Todmorden in West Yorkshire...
monument (built 1814 and rebuilt in 1854) atop the hill of the same name.
Dobroyd Castle, the Town Hall and the
Unitarian churchTodmorden Unitarian Church is a formerly redundant Unitarian church standing in Honey Hole Road, Todmorden, West Yorkshire, England , now holding services again. It occupies an elevated position overlooking the town...
were all built at the behest of
John FieldenJohn Fielden , also known as Honest John Fielden, was a British social reformer and benefactor. He was the third son of Joshua Fielden, and began working in his father's mill at the age of 9. With his brothers, he expanded the family cotton business at Todmorden to become a wealthy businessman...
and his sons and designed by
John GibsonJohn Gibson was an English architect born in Warwickshire.Gibson was an assistant to Sir Charles Barry and assisted him in the drawings of the Houses of Parliament....
, who had been a member of
Charles BarrySir Charles Barry FRS was an English architect, best known for his role in the rebuilding of the Palace of Westminster in London during the mid-19th century, but also responsible for numerous other buildings and gardens.- Background and training :Born on 23 May 1795 in Bridge Street, Westminster...
's team at the
Houses of ParliamentThe Palace of Westminster, also known as the Houses of Parliament or Westminster Palace, is the meeting place of the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom—the House of Lords and the House of Commons...
.
The town hall in Todmorden straddles the Walsden Water, a tributary of the River Calder, and was situated in both Lancashire and Yorkshire until the administrative county boundary was moved on 1 January 1888. Designed by John Gibson of Westminster, this imposing building has a northern end which is semi-circular. One interesting external feature of the town hall is the pediment. The fine carved stonework has two central female figures on a pedestal. The left-hand one represents Lancashire (cotton spinning and weaving industries) and the right-hand one Yorkshire (engineering and agriculture).
Centre Vale Park in Todmorden is the setting for several pieces of local art, including tree carvings by the sculptor John Adamson. Also in the park are the reconstructed remains of Centre Vale Mansion, next to
Todmorden War MemorialTodmorden War Memorial is a war memorial located in Todmorden, West Yorkshire, England.The memorial is in the garden of remembrance in Centre Vale Park, Burnley Road with sculptural work by Gilbert Bayes. The War Memorial was unveiled on 9 October 1921....
in the Garden of Remembrance, and nearby there is a sculpture of a dog. This was sculpted by local sculptor David Wynne in 2005, and was cast in steel at the local Todmorden foundry Weir Minerals. It was donated to the park by the sculptor and the foundry, but installation was delayed for several years due to the extensive flood alleviation works. In 2011 it gained a reputation for bringing luck to anyone that touched it, and was featured in a Channel 4 television program.
Older buildings include two 18th-century pubs; Todmorden Old Hall, a Grade II* listed manor house (Elizabethan) in the centre of town and currently in use as a restaurant; and St. Mary's Church which dates from 1476.
Stoodley Pike Monument—a 121 ft-high tower standing at the summit of 1,300 ft
Stoodley PikeStoodley Pike is a hill in the south Pennines, noted for the 121 foot Stoodley Pike Monument at its summit, which dominates the moors above Todmorden in West Yorkshire...
—dominates Todmorden's moors, and is a well-known landmark on the
Pennine WayThe Pennine Way is a National Trail in England. The trail runs from Edale, in the northern Derbyshire Peak District, north through the Yorkshire Dales and the Northumberland National Park and ends at Kirk Yetholm, just inside the Scottish border. The path runs along the Pennine hills, sometimes...
.
Media
Todmorden has been used as a filming location for the 1980s BBC TV police drama
Juliet BravoJuliet Bravo is a British television series, which ran on BBC1 between 1980 and 1985. The theme of the series concerned a female police inspector who took over control of a police station in the fictional town of Hartley in Lancashire.-Programme name:...
, Territorial Army series
All Quiet on the Preston FrontAll Quiet on the Preston Front was a BBC comedy drama about a group of friends in the fictional Lancashire town of Roker Bridge, and their links to the local Territorial Army infantry platoon. It was created by Tim Firth.-Episodes:Three series were made...
, parts of
The League of GentlemenThe League of Gentlemen are a group of British comedians formed in 1995, best known for their radio and television series.The League of Gentlemen may also refer to:* The League of Gentlemen ,...
, BBC TV miniseries
Oranges Are Not the Only FruitOranges Are Not the Only Fruit was a critically acclaimed 1990 BBC television drama, directed by Beeban Kidron. Jeanette Winterson wrote the screenplay, adapting her semi-autobiographical first novel of the same name . The BBC produced and screened three episodes, running to a total of 2 hours and...
, the award-winning BBC1 series
Life on MarsLife on Mars is a British television series broadcast on BBC One between January 2006 and April 2007. The series combines elements of science fiction and police procedural....
and a
film adaptationMy Summer of Love is a 2004 British drama film directed by Pawel Pawlikowski and co-written by Pawel Pawlikowski and Michael Wynne. Based on the novel of the same name by Helen Cross, the film explores the relationship between two young women from different classes and backgrounds...
of the novel
My Summer of LoveMy Summer Of Love is a novel by Helen Cross, first published in Great Britain in 2001, winning a Betty Trask Award in the subsequent year.Set in the fictional Yorkshire market town of Whitehorse, and the surrounding area, it tells the story of the intense relationship that develops between Tamsin...
.
Todmorden featured in a TV show about haunted buildings. The programme included a closed surgery in which
Harold ShipmanHarold Fredrick Shipman was an English doctor and one of the most prolific serial killers in recorded history with 218 murders being positively ascribed to him....
worked for a number of years, as well as the town hall (haunted by a grey lady), and Odd Fellows Hall (known as Baxters bar), which is haunted by a builder who died in the construction of the building in 1811.
Before May 2009, the links to Lancashire and the North West were also seen in the media with Todmorden receiving an analogue TV signal from
BBC North WestBBC North West is the BBC English Region serving Lancashire, Greater Manchester, Merseyside, Cheshire, Walsden in West Yorkshire, the Isle of Man , north-west Derbyshire, the Yorkshire Dales including Settle and Ribblesdale, and southern Cumbria.BBC North West television output is also broadcast in...
. Todmorden and the nearby towns and villages then received
BBC YorkshireBBC Yorkshire is one of the English regions of the BBC. It was formed from the division of the former BBC North region into BBC Yorkshire and BBC Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, based in Hull.-Television:...
analogue television from
LeedsLeeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...
, whilst
ITVITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
regionalisation was from
Yorkshire TelevisionYorkshire Television, now officially known as ITV Yorkshire and sometimes unofficially abbreviated to YTV, is a British television broadcaster and the contractor for the Yorkshire franchise area on the ITV network...
at
LeedsLeeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...
and not
Granada TelevisionGranada Television is the ITV contractor for North West England. Based in Manchester since its inception, it is the only surviving original ITA franchisee from 1954 and is ITV's most successful....
from
ManchesterManchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
. However, both transmissions were freely available in some areas of Walsden.
In February 2010, Todmorden featured in the
BBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
Radio 4 programme "Costing the Earth: The New Diggers". Members of a guerrilla gardening group spoke about reclaiming unused land for growing vegetables, how this helps the local community and how it can be a driver for change.
In November 2011, Todmorden featured in the
Channel 4Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
programme
The Secret of Luck, in which
Derren BrownDerren Victor Brown is a British illusionist, mentalist, painter, writer and sceptic. He is known for his appearances in television specials, stage productions and British television series such as Trick of the Mind and Trick or Treat...
sought to convince the town that the dog statue in Centre Vale Park brought good luck.
Todmorden received a visit from Prince Charles who came to support Mary Clear's "Incredible Edible Todmorden" project. This featured on
BBC YorkshireBBC Yorkshire is one of the English regions of the BBC. It was formed from the division of the former BBC North region into BBC Yorkshire and BBC Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, based in Hull.-Television:...
.
Todmorden received a grant for the support of Bee's and Bee keeping in summer of 2011.
Todmorden's local
newspaperA newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...
is the
Todmorden News owned by
Johnston PressJohnston Press plc is a newspaper publishing company headquartered in Edinburgh, Scotland. Its flagship titles are The Scotsman and the Yorkshire Post; it also operates many other newspapers around the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and the Isle of Man. It is the second-largest publisher...
.
Singletrack MagazineSingletrack is a UK based mountain biking magazine and web site. The magazine is aimed at more mature mountain bikers and intended to provided a counterpoint to magazines such as MBUK which are aimed at a younger audience....
, a national
mountain bikingMountain biking is a sport which consists of riding bicycles off-road, often over rough terrain, using specially adapted mountain bikes. Mountain bikes share similarities with other bikes, but incorporate features designed to enhance durability and performance in rough terrain.Mountain biking can...
magazine, is based in Todmorden.
Notable people
Nobel Prize winners
Todmorden has two
Nobel PrizeThe Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...
winners: Prof.
Sir John CockroftSir John Douglas Cockcroft OM KCB CBE FRS was a British physicist. He shared the Nobel Prize in Physics for splitting the atomic nucleus with Ernest Walton, and was instrumental in the development of nuclear power....
(Physics) and Prof.
Sir Geoffrey WilkinsonSir Geoffrey Wilkinson FRS was a Nobel laureate English chemist who pioneered inorganic chemistry and homogeneous transition metal catalysis.-Biography:...
(Chemistry). Despite 24 years' difference in their birth dates, both attended Todmorden Grammar School (now
Todmorden High SchoolTodmorden High School is a comprehensive school in the West Yorkshire town of Todmorden, in the Calderdale LEA. The school has specialist Arts College status.-Todmorden High School:...
with the prior grammar school building now home to Ferney Lee Primary School) and both had the same science master, Luke Sutcliffe.
Science and Engineering
As well as Cockcroft and Wilkinson,
John Mitchell NuttallJohn Mitchell Nuttall was an English physicist, born in Todmorden. He is best remembered for his work with the physicist Hans Geiger, which resulted in the Geiger-Nuttall law of radioactive decay....
(1890–1958) was a Todmorden-born physicist remembered for the Geiger-Nuttall law.
John Ramsbottom (engineer)John Ramsbottom was an English mechanical engineer who created many inventions for railways, including the piston ring, the Ramsbottom safety valve, the displacement lubricator, and the water trough.- Biography :...
(1814–1897) was a mechanical and railway engineer and inventor from the town.
Politics
John FieldenJohn Fielden , also known as Honest John Fielden, was a British social reformer and benefactor. He was the third son of Joshua Fielden, and began working in his father's mill at the age of 9. With his brothers, he expanded the family cotton business at Todmorden to become a wealthy businessman...
(1784–1849), land and factory owner in Todmorden and scion of the town's Fielden family, was a Member of Parliament and national leader of the Ten Hours Campaign for factory reform.
Arts and culture
Fred LawlessFred Lawless is a British writer from Liverpool who has written for television, radio and theatre.-Biography:Fred Lawless was born in Dingle Liverpool. He attended St Patrick's School in Toxteth before his family moved to Halewood. He later attended the Wade Deacon Grammar School in Widnes...
,
LiverpoolLiverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
born theatre playwright has a house in Todmorden; he was also a writer for the BBC 1 TV series
EastendersEastEnders is a British television soap opera, first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 19 February 1985 and continuing to today. EastEnders storylines examine the domestic and professional lives of the people who live and work in the fictional London Borough of Walford in the East End...
, as well as several other TV and radio programmes.
Todmorden actress Claire Benedict has appeared in UK TV shows
Waking The Dead,
Prime Suspect,
Unforgiven,
Holby City,
Casualty,
Doctors,
Grange Hill,
The Bill, and the
Lenny Henry Show. She featured in the films
Felicia's Journey,
Sea Sick and
Mersinias, and has had numerous theatre roles, including work for the National Theatre and Royal Shakespeare Company. On BBC radio she is the voice of Precious Ramotswe in
The No.1 Ladies Detective Agency.
Todmorden-born actor
Dicken AshworthDicken Ashworth is an English actor who has made several appearances in film and television.His film credits include: Force 10 from Navarone, Tess, Krull, and Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit.On television, can be a regular cast member in several soap operas - playing Alan Partridge...
appeared in
Coronation Street and
Brookside.
Manchester-born
Becky SimpsonBecky Simpson is a Manchester-born actress, writer and musician who now lives in the Calderdale area of West Yorkshire. In 1997, Simpson won the BBC Talkie of the Year award for her role in Spoonface Steinberg.- Personal life :...
is an award-winning actress. As a 10-year-old child she starred as
Spoonface SteinbergSpoonface Steinberg is a play by British playwright Lee Hall, first broadcast as a dramatic monologue on 27 January 1997.It began life as the fourth and final play in the God's Country series of linked radio dramas broadcast in 1997 on BBC Radio 4...
in the BBC production by that name written by writer
Lee HallLee Hall is an English playwright and screenwriter. He is best known for the 2000 film Billy Elliot.-Early life:...
, famous for writing
Billy ElliotBilly Elliot is a 2000 British drama film written by Lee Hall and directed by Stephen Daldry. Set in the fictional town of "Everington" in the real County Durham, UK, it stars Jamie Bell as 11-year-old Billy, an aspiring dancer, Gary Lewis as his coal miner father, Jamie Draven as Billy's older...
. Becky is married to
Wes PaulWester Paul Gerrard is an English guitarist and singer.Wes Paul grew up in Lodge Lane, Liverpool. Between 13 November 2005 and 2 September 2007 he was the stage manager and compère of Sounds of the Sixties Cavern Showcase which ran every Sunday at The Cavern Club, Liverpool...
notable
Rock and RollRock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
lead singer with The Wes Paul Band; they are tenants of the Grade-1-listed lodge inside the gates of
Todmorden Unitarian ChurchTodmorden Unitarian Church is a formerly redundant Unitarian church standing in Honey Hole Road, Todmorden, West Yorkshire, England , now holding services again. It occupies an elevated position overlooking the town...
and are both members of the local management committee.
The Bayes family of artists were prominent in the 19th and 20th centuries. They were: Alfred Bayes (1832–1909), painter; Walter Bayes (1869–1856), painter; Gilbert Bayes (1872–1952), sculptor; and Jessie Bayes (1876–1970), painter (some of her work can be see at Lumbutts Methodist Church, Lumbutts, Todmorden).
William Holt (1897–1977) was a writer, painter, political activist, journalist and traveller.
Pianist
Keith EmersonKeith Noel Emerson is an English keyboard player and composer. Formerly a member of the Keith Emerson Trio, John Brown's Bodies, The T-Bones, V.I.P.s, P.P. Arnold's backing band, and The Nice , he was a founder of Emerson, Lake & Palmer , one of the early supergroups, in 1970...
(born 1944) was founder/member of
The NiceThe Nice were an English progressive rock band from the 1960s, known for their blend of rock, jazz and classical music. Their debut album, The Thoughts of Emerlist Davjack was released in 1967 to immediate acclaim. It is often considered the first progressive rock album...
and
Emerson, Lake & PalmerEmerson, Lake & Palmer, also known as ELP, are an English progressive rock supergroup. They found success in the 1970s and sold over forty million albums and headlined large stadium concerts. The band consists of Keith Emerson , Greg Lake and Carl Palmer...
.
John HelliwellJohn Helliwell is an English musician and the saxophonist and occasional keyboardist and woodwind player for the rock band Supertramp...
, another Todmorden-born musician, was saxophonist in the band
SupertrampSupertramp are a British rock band formed in 1969 under the name Daddy before renaming to Supertramp in early 1970. Though their music was initially categorised as progressive rock, they have since incorporated a combination of traditional rock and art rock into their music...
.
Geoff LoveGeoff Love was a British easy-listening, and disco orchestra leader. He was born in the industrial town of Todmorden in the West Riding of Yorkshire. His father was a mixed race American-born guitarist and dancer, and his mother an actress. As a child, Love began to learn to play the violin but...
(1917–1991), the big band leader, was born in Todmorden.
John KettleyJohn Graham Kettley is a British freelance weatherman.-Biography:Brought up on Commercial Street and educated at Todmorden Grammar School on Ferney Lee Road in Todmorden, he played cricket for Burnley and Todmorden. A geography teacher at his school sparked his interest in weather forecasting...
(born 1952), the former BBC weatherman, grew up in Todmorden.
Sport
England Test cricketers
Peter LeverPeter Lever is a former English cricketer, who played in seventeen Tests and ten ODIs for England from 1970 to 1975. He was a successful wicket taker, taking 41 victims from those seventeen Tests, and a handy batsman with a top score of 88 not out...
(born 1940) and
Derek ShackletonDerek Shackleton was a Hampshire and England bowler. He took over 100 wickets in 20 consecutive seasons of first-class cricket, but only played in seven Tests for England. As of 2007, he has the seventh-highest tally of first-class wickets, and the most first-class wickets of any player who...
(1924–2007) are from Todmorden.
Other
Harold ShipmanHarold Fredrick Shipman was an English doctor and one of the most prolific serial killers in recorded history with 218 murders being positively ascribed to him....
, the
G.P.A general practitioner is a medical practitioner who treats acute and chronic illnesses and provides preventive care and health education for all ages and both sexes. They have particular skills in treating people with multiple health issues and comorbidities...
who is believed to have killed over 200 patients in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, claimed at least one of his victims while working as a doctor at the Abraham Ormerod Medical Centre between March 1974 and September 1975. His first known victim, 70-year-old Eva Lyons, lived at Keswick Close in the town. Shipman had initially been charged with 15 murders committed around
HydeHyde is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Tameside, Greater Manchester, England. As of the 2001 census, the town had a population of 31,253. Historically part of Cheshire, it is northeast of Stockport, west of Glossop and east of Manchester....
,
Greater ManchesterGreater Manchester is a metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 2.6 million. It encompasses one of the largest metropolitan areas in the United Kingdom and comprises ten metropolitan boroughs: Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford, Wigan, and the...
, between 1995 and 1998 when he went on trial in late 1999, but Ms Lyons was only identified as a victim of Shipman when the inquiry into his crimes was completed in July 2002 by Dame Janet Smith.
On 29 November 1980 police officer
Alan GodfreyAlan Godfrey is a retired police constable who served with the West Yorkshire Metropolitan Police Force. His life and career are notable for having been entangled in some of Britain's most unusual mysteries, including the Zigmund Adamski case, allegedly connected with the UFO phenomenon...
allegedly experienced an alien abduction and was the subject of Jenny Randles' book
The Pennine UFO Mystery.
Further reading
- Birch, R. A Way of Life, E.J.Morton Publishers, 1972. ISBN 0-901598-58-5
- Birch, R. Todmorden Album 4, The Woodlands Press, 2006.
- Cass, E. The Pace-Egg Plays of the Calder Valley, London: FLS Books, 2004.
- Heywood, M., Heywood, F. and Jennings, B. A History of Todmorden, Smith Settle Ltd, 1996.
- Holden, J. A Short History of Todmorden, Manchester University Press, 1912.
- Jennings, B. Pennine Valley: History of Upper Calderdale Dalesman Publishing Co Ltd, 1992.
- Law, B. The Fieldens of Todmorden: A Nineteenth Century Business Dynasty, Littleborough: George Kelsall, I995.
- MacDonald, M. The World From Rough Stones, Random House, 1975. (A novel set during the building of the Summit Tunnel).
- Malcolm, F., and Heywood, F. Cloth Caps and Cricket Crazy, Upper Calder Valley Publications, 2004.
- Paull, J., "Incredible Edible Todmorden: Eating the Street", Farming Matters, 2011, 27(3):28-29
- Wilkinson, R. Todmorden Buses: A Century of Service, Nostalgia Road Publications, 2006 ISBN 1-903016-68-1
External links