Christ Church Todmorden

Marys in Todmorden, the Reverend Joseph Cowell, proposed that the church should be either rebuilt or enlarged at its present site. A new church was the accepted proposal and was to be built on the site of the new vicarage and cemetery, which had already been erected on land given by Samuel Greenwood of Stones. Lewis Vulliamy from London was the architect. The corner stone was laid at Whitsuntide o

n 29th June 1830 amidst great celebrations. A procession was led from the old churchyard to the new and many crowds of people had gathered to hear the speeches by the various dignitaries and watch the stone being laid. The money for the building costs of the new church came from the Million Pound Act. This was an act which had been passed in 1820 after a survey had shown that no new churches had been built since the reign of Queen Anne £1 million was allocated for new churches to be built in industrial areas for the middle and lower classes and the money was found from the indemnity money paid by the French after the Napoleonic Wars. They were built to rigid budgets and were very plain. Building progressed rapidly and the new church which came to be known as Christ Church, was opened on 15th April 1832. Joseph Cowell was the vicar and had been the main instigator and driving force for the new church, a fact that he later came to regret. There was a great division amongst the population of Todmorden and many thought that the new church had been built for the benefit of the rich and the clergy. One family in particular, great church goers, when asked why they didn't attend the new church, replied:

"You have built yon church for Todmorden and Walsden folk, but for the rich and those who live up in Harley-Wood"

Maybe they were thinking of the terms of the Million Pound Act. Pews had been taken from the old church to put in the new and the last thing to go was the organ. It was acts like this that so annoyed and upset the people and they looked upon them as a desecration of the church. When the organ was removed from the old church it had to be renovated before it was thought suitable to grace a brand new church. The cost was £85 and the re-opening concert and the singers were Miss Sykes, Mr. Tom Parker, tenor, and Mr. Womersley, bass. They paid one guinea each, whilst the organist, Mr. William Greenwood, was paid 2 quineas. This was Miss Sykes first public appearance and she was later to go on to great fame as Mrs. Sunderland the "Yorkshire Queen of Song". Queen Victoria and Prince Albert once personally complimented her on her success and outstanding ability as a singer. In 1835 the rents from the seats were estimated to fetch the vicar £41.7.6d a year. In 1836 a three-day bazaar was held in a marquee in front of the vicarage to raise funds for the installation of a new clock and bell in the tower. It raised in total over £474, which was £115 more than was needed. By 1884 this sum had made £44 in interest and this was paid to the treasure of the National School Fund. The clock cost £99 and was made by Mr. Taylor and the bell cost £130 and was made by Mears of London. Rev. Cowell, on hearing and seeing how the new church had split the townsfolk, was heard to comment that he acknowledged that it was the greatest mistake of his life, and that he wouldn't rest until he had restored the old church and had it reopened for worship again. In 1840 he was the head of a petition delivered to the vicar of St. Chads, Rochdale, to try and make Christ Church into the parish church of Todmorden and to reopen St, Marys. This would make them separate from St. Chads, which would no longer be the parish church. It was argued that Todmorden had grown to a population of 10,000 and they could pay for the upkeep of both of the churches. Todmorden also paid dues to St. Chads and thought it was time this stopped. The signatures of the men present at this petition were:
Joseph Cowell, Incumbent
John Crossley, Scaltcliffe
James Taylor, Todmorden Hall
William Greenwood, Watty Place
James Greenwood, Hare-hill
John Buckley, Ridge-Foot
James Fielden, Dobroyd
H.G. Mitchell
W. Scholfield
James Fielden
Henry Buckley
John Ratcliffe
William Sagar
H. Heyworth
Thomas Thomas

The Reverend Cowell did not see his dream come to fruition as he died in 1846, but he was the first to plant the seeds of an idea, which would come to be a reality twenty years hence. In 1846 Rev John Edwards took over the post as vicar. He was a senior curate at St. Chads, Rochdale and a bachelor. This been so, his mother looked after him when he took the living at Todmorden and saw to his domestic arrangements until his marriage later in 1846 to Lousia, the daughter of Dr. Molesworth, his previous employer. It was unfortunate that Rev Edwards had a speech impediment, as it was possibly one of the causes of the dwindling congregation that took place during his incumbency. It was a very unhappy state of affairs and to try and remedy this he appointed two or three curates and things improved a little. He served Todmorden until 1864 when ill health forced him to retire. He died on the 16th April 1864 at Ashburton House, Bedford, at the early age of 47. His son, Walter Molesworth Edwards, was involved in a disaster at sea which he was lucky enough to survive. On 11th January 1866 the steamship "London", which was sailing from London to Melbourne, sank, claiming the lives of about 270, Sixteen of the crew were saved, Walter being amongst them. Louisa Edwards, the widow of the Rev. Edwards, later wrote a dairy of a visit she made to India in 1883. At the time of the visit, her sons, Lionel Edwards and Guilford, Lindsy Edwards, were engineers engaged on railway construction at and near Habrah and Dum Dum in Bengal, and at Gauri Bazar, Gorakhpur, respectively, Her brother, Guilford Lindsey Molesworth (K.C.I.E. 1888), was consulting Engineer to the Government of India for State Railways. The diaries are illustrated with water-colour and other sketches, maps, plans, and photographs. The dairy is held at the British Library, details of which can be seen HERE. (Information supplied by Alan Longbottom)

An account by John Travis written in the 1860s tells the story of the pulpits and other items in the church. "There was once a tier of three handsome pulpits, with a grand sounding board over the highest of the; those had been removed and something commoner than oak substituted, being placed in somewhat different positions. The oak handrail and handsome cast iron banisters had been removed, which formerly went round the communion space, and new deal rails were put in their places. The parson wanted things more open and common, he having various movements to go through in those places, which had to be witnessed in order to have the desired effect upon the worshippers. The old sacred iron-work was sent to the factory to be melted down and cast into profane machinery or other things: and the late Mr. John Horsfall of Roomfield Lane purchased an oak ecclesiastical pulpit, which he presented for use in the New Methodist Chapel." The next vicar for the Todmorden churches was Rev. Plow, who on Sunday 12th August 1866, preached his first service. Little was he to know of the tragic events that were to take place in 1868 and continue to be remembered to this day. During the Rev Plow's time as vicar it was discovered that Christ Church had never had the legal rights passed over from St. Marys for marriages and baptisms. So possibly this was another cause for the rift between the two sets of supporters of the two churches. Finding out that they were not legally married must have been quite a shock. The Rochdale Vicarage Bill resolved it in 1866, and it also made Todmorden a parish in its own right with Christ Church as the parish church, St. Marys was reported as a chapel of ease. The wish of the Reverend Cowell was realised. The basic facts are that MILES WEATHERILL was courting a servant at the vicarage called Sarah Bell. Sarah had gone home to York and Miles had followed her, where he learned that another housemaid in the name of Jane Smith had been causing mischief between the sweethearts. He returned to the vicarage, Killed Jane and also injured the vicar, Rev. Plow and his wife. The vicar died from his injuries and Miles was sentenced to death and hanged. The congregations of both St. Marys and Christ Church held a meeting in August of 1868 and decided that a stained glass window should be placed in the East end of Christ Church in memory of Rev. Plow. After this terrible event it fell to the Rev. Molesworth of Bedford to try and bring the church back to a more normal situation. He was the son of Dr. Molesworth, vicar of Rochdale and he was appointed on the 4th April 1868. He tried very hard to patch up the differences between the old and new churches, but he was insistent that Christ Church should be the recognised parish church. St. Marys wasn't working as a chapel of ease and various solutions, including one of making two new parishes, were thought of to help the situation. None of them proved satisfactory and the Reverend Molesworth resigned in September of 1875 to take the post at the rectory of Washington in Durham, leaving Todmorden once again in need of a new vicar. In November 1875 the church was reopened after being closed 2 months for painting and repair. A new organ had also been installed, built by Messrs. Gray & Davison of London and it was used for the first time on this occasion. The new incumbent was the Rev William Augustus Conway. He was a native of West Derby and the vicar of St. James, Haywood, and had been recommended by Rev. Molesworth. He took the post in January of 1876 and took his first service on March 4th and Rev. Canon Raines, the vicar of Milnrow, led the service. On the 12th September 1877 Rev. Conway had the pleasure of taking the service when his daughter, Miss Marian Augusta Salisbury Conway, married Mr T Howarth Ormerod of Ridgefoot House. He died in Blackpool on 23rd September 1883 aged 62 and was and was buried at Christ Church, Todmorden on 27th September. By all accounts he was a large powerful man, but for some reason, was known locally as "Little Billy". His daughter Marie Louise died in 1882 and there is a memorial plaque inside the church to her memory. HIs wife, Anna Marie, lived on to the age of 85 and died in 1902 being buried alongside her husband. The next vicar of Todmorden was EDWARD RUSSELL. Edward Russell was born in Dorking, Surrey, in 1843, the third child and eldest son of Edward James Richard Russell and his wife Eliza Browne. He married Mary Georgiana Baron at Haywood in 1875 and they had 9 children, 6 of them born in Todmorden. He studied at St Mary Hall Oxford, gaining a B.A. (1st. class Theol.Sch.) in 1870 and M.A. in 1870 and ordained Priest in 1871. He was appointed as vicar of Todmorden in 1883, and served that community for the next 27 years. He was forced to resign his duties due to falling health in 1910. In March of the following year Canon Russell died. He is buried at St. Annes-on-Sea in Lancashire. The congregation of St. Marys and Christ Church erected a tablet in Christ Church to his memory. One or the more enjoyable times of his incumbency must have been the arrival of the peal of bells at Christ Church, a gift from Hannah Howarth in memory of her siblings. His name is engraved on the number 7 bell for posterity. The Bells of Christ Church. Hannah Howarth was born in the Royal George Inn, Todmorden, along with her siblings George, James, Sarah and Mary. The family was associated with this Inn and the Golden Lion for many years. They were thoroughly ordinary people and no-one went away from the Golden Lion discontented or dissatisfied. On the 1st May 1884 they retired and went to live at Vale House where they lived as a happy filial family. George died in 1885, brother James in 1888 and sister Mary King in 1888. Hannah decided to donate a peal of 8 bells to Christ Church in memory of her deceased siblings. EXTRACTS FROM THE TODMORDEN AND HEBDEN BRIDGE, ALMANAC FOR 1898

On Saturday, June 19th 1897, there was a dedication service on account of these handsome gifts, and as the Sunday School Whitsuntide treat was first fixed for the same day, the events were combined, the scholars attending the dedication service before repairing to the field at Dobroyd Castle, (which Mrs. John Fielden once more kindly placed at their disposal), for their games. Soon after 2 o,clock a procession was formed at the Parish Church, headed by the school banner and the Todmorden Brass Band, which marched as far as Bridge End, Shade, and then back to the church; at Shade, the scholars attending the Branch School joined, making a procession which was watched with interest. There was a good congregation in the church to witness the dedication service........at the close of the service the ringers from St. Peters Church Wallsden (conducted by Mr. C.W.Lord) rung the first peal; subsequently the Unitarian Church ringers (conductor Mr. J.W.Greenwood) rang a peal, the ringing being conducted for about two hours, and the bells proved very sweet-toned.....

Miss Howarth,s eleven sweet-sounding bells were founded by Messers. Taylor of Loughborough, and are supplementary to the old bell, which has done duty for 61 years. In the ringing room there is an arrangement whereby tunes can be played on the bells, and Todmorden will often hear there grand music tinkling and booming in the air. Generous Miss Howarth completed her day's work by standing a nice supper to several and sundry (122 in all) at the restaurant of Mr Alfred King, Gandy Bridge, Todmorden. There was a vicar in his humours vein showing that a happy Christian can laugh better then an unhappy un-Christian! The Archdeacon was quite poetic, and compared the sound of bells to the song of birds. And there were other toasts and responses, and God Save the Queen! and all the rest of it, and Todmorden entered into its annals another lists of generous friends, and one more important and never-to-be-forgotten day. DESCRIPTION OF THE BELLS

Around the rim of them are the words:

1. To God the Father
2. To God the Son
3. To God the Spirit
4. Three in One
5. Be honour, praise
6. And Glory given
7. By all in Earth
8. And all in Heaven

The other three bear Latin inscriptions. Bell number 8 also sets forth:

"this peal of eleven bells was presented to Todmorden Parish Church by Miss Hannah Howarth, of Brocklyn House, in memory of her brothers and sisters deceased, in the year of our Lord 1897, being the sixtieth year of the reign of Her Majesty Queen Victoria." Bell number seven bears the name of Edward J. Russell, MA., vicar; Arthur S. Roberts, MA., assistant priest; Samuel Fielden JP., and W.A. Sutcliffe, wardens, Caleb Hoyle, first Mayor of Todmorden. The following were the bell ringers:
Treble....Mr. Chas. Barker
No.2......Mr. John Baumforth
No.3......Mr. James Richards
No.4......Mr. Heyworth Barker
No.5......Mr. John Kay
No.6......Mr. Thomas Greenwood
No.7......Mr. Willie Greenwood
Tenor....Mr. John Crowther

THE DAY THE ROPE BROKE! Extract from "Concerning Todmorden Parish" by C.G. Ramshaw

"... the ringers, along with Canon Russell, who had just looked in, had an alarming experience a couple of years after the introduction of the bells. One of the best rings they had thus far accomplished was almost at an end, when the rope of the big Tenor bell broke. The ringers immediately stopped, but the big bell went on, the rope cracking up and down with a report like a pistol. It was naturally feared someone might be caught in it; no corner of the belfry seemed safe. Then the long iron gas pendant was caught . It was only a short struggle, the rope was victorious, and in the darkness which prevailed, rope and pipe together swung dangerously. Those present trembled for the window, for of course they could see nothing. Fortunately, however, the sweep of the bell wheel soon subsided, and the incident closed without more serious mischief..." "...In the bell chamber are some interesting commemorative tablets. The first to be placed was that of the change ringers who visited Todmorden for the purpose of ringing a peal on the new bells a while after dedication. It is as follows:

Lancashire Association Rossendale Branch. On Saturday, January 22nd 1898 in three hours and four minutes, at the Parish Church, Cox,s six-part peal of grandsire triples N the first peal upon the bells, which were founded and placed in the tower in 1897 to commemorate the sixtieth year of Her Majesty Queen Victoria. Howarth J. Shepherd
J.H. Brown W. Law
H. Whitworth W. Ashworth
J.E. Standring J. Jackson

Changes, 540; conducted by John Shepherd. Edward J, Russell. Vicar. William Albert Sutcliffe and Samuel Fielden, Churchwardens. The other, a marble tablet with letters inlaid with lead, is as will be perceived from the following copy, still more interesting:

On Saturday March 21st, 1903, a peal of grandsire triples of 5,040 changes, John Holts ten-part was rung in this tower in three hours fourteen minutes, being the first peal completed by the ringers of the church

Treble, Charles Barker
No.2, James Richards
No.3, James Whitehead
No.4, Heyworth Barker
No.5, John Edward Rowland
No.6, Luke Suthers
No.7, William Crabtree
Tenor, John Crowther
Conductor, James Richards
Steeple-keeper, William Greenwood
Peoples Warden, John Barker
Vicars Warden, William Albert Sutcliffe
Vicar, Canon Russell, MA
Erected by W. Crowther, clerk
November 1903

When Christ Church closed in 1992 the peal of 8 bells was transferred to Towcester in Northamptonshire and made up their peal to twelve. These eight bells are historical significant as they are one of Taylors early true-harmonic peals. The story of their life after leaving Todmorden for Towcester can be read here. So part of Christ Church lives on in another county and its bells continue to be herd over the town of Towcester on a Sunday morning still calling parishioners to worship. In 1886 a new chancel and pews on the nave were installed. The total cost was £1,800. In July 1892, burglars stole cloths, which were used for communion service, and they were valued at more than £40. It seems that stealing from the church isn't such a new phenomenon as we think. Sadly, vandals gained entry during its empty years and cut off the head on the frieze depicting the Last Supper that graced the wall behind the alter. The Burial Ground
Much of the graveyard is kept mown, but with some gravestones in a dangerous condition, it is difficult to maintain any sort of order. Parts are very difficult to access, although valiant attempts are made to keep it under control, and some of the graves are neat and tidy. The Sextons book containing detail of occupants of most of the graves (but not all) has been transcribed, often with more details then the memorial inscription. Some missing graves have recently come to light which do not appear in the Sextons book. All the gravestones have been transcribed, thanks to the Todmorden Antiquarians. Many of the gravestones have photos. MEMORIAL TO THOSE MEMBERS OF THE CONGREGATION OF CHRIST CHURCH WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES IN THE GREAT WAR 1914-1918. Harry Allister John W Firth John Phillips
William C Allister Alick Gaukroger John W Phillips
Robert Barker Harold Greenwood Leonard Pilling
John Albert Barker Fred Greenwood Joseph Potts
Will Barnes Walter Greenwood Walter Parkinson
John Blackwell Henry Greenwood George W Roberts
James W Crowther Harry Helliwell Frank Simpson
William Claxton James Holdroyd George D Stansfield
John W Crossley Walter Jackson J W Sunderland
Willie Cockcroft James Laycock Norman Sutcliffe
Albert Dean William Mitchell Percy Smallwood
Fred Dawson James Mitchell Thomas Skelton
John W Eastwood Robert Newell Fred Smith
Harold Ellison Tom Close Naylor Fred Taylor
John W Ellison William Ormerod William Walton
John H Wadsworth

ETERNAL REST GIVE TO THEM O LORD AND THY ETERNAL LIGHT SHINE UPON THEM. In 2004, a private buyer bought the church saving it for either demolition or development. It was acquired by Stephen and Deborah Barraclough in November 2013. It is being lovingly converted in to a family home. The body of the church will remain void, with the lovely stained glass windows and mosaic's left in tact. Some of the works involved is to strip the full roof replace the timbers, and re-tile using the existing blue slate. 76 stained glass windows are undergoing repairs due to the vandalism in the 90,s. Then the construction can start inside, and the refurbishment of the clock tower, and hopefully the clock itself back to working order. In Search Of Sybil ;- Todmorden witch ? I first came across the legend of lady Sybil, the witch of Bearnshaw Tower, in A Short History of Todmorden, by Joshua Holden (Manchester Univ. Press, 1912, p.116). Following this up in other publications, there seemed to be so many specific details given dates, names, places - that I wondered whether there might be some grains of truth within the story. Briefly, in 1632 the heiress of Bearnshaw Tower was inspired by her favourite walk to Eagle's Crag to sell her soul in exchange for supernatural powers. Lord William of Hapton Tower, a member of the Towneley family, wanted to marry her, but she repeatedly refused him, and he sought the aid of another local witch, Mother Helston, who told him to hunt in Cliviger Gorge on All Hallow's Eve. On doing so, he saw and followed a milk-white doe which eluded him until Mother Helston joined the chase in the shape of a hound, whereupon William was able to capture the doe with a silken noose. At Hapton Tower the next morning, the doe had regained the form of Sybil, who agreed to marry William, renouncing witchcraft; she kept her word for a year but then while in the shape of a white cat and with several other transformed witches, she was attacked by Robin, the servant of the miller, Giles Dickisson, who cut off her paw. In the morning, Sybil was lacking the hand bearing her costly signet ring: when the hand was taken to William, he seems , to have been more.concerned about the ring - but in spite of this off-putting reaction, Sybil was reconciled with her husband and was able to restore her hand magically. This took all her strength, however, and she died and was buried at the foot of Eagle Crag. Geographically there are no problems with any of this. Eagle's Crag is near Cornholme above the A646 Burnley Todmorden road (SD 916 256). It does have an unmistakable resemblance to an eagle about to take flight and, to me, a powerful atmosphere. Bearnshaw Tower is on the should of the hillside above Cornholme, about half a mile's walk from the Crag, and in the seventeenth century was situated on a pack horse route to Todmorden and Rochdale which avoided the gorge below. The tower itself was situated at the end of the present farmhouse. but fell down in 1860 when digging took place beneath it for a legendary pot of gold. The site of Hapton Tower is on the lower slopes of Hameldon Hill, SW of Burnley, near Tower Brook (SD 808 298) and within sight of Pendle Hill. Whitaker states that it had already been demolished in 1725 but had been a large square building with three cylindrical towers on one side. The site is visible from almost a mile away after leaving the A679 once you know where to look - as a gap in a distant field wall, containing a single fence post and below the Hambledon Hill masts. Routes from the A679 go through the Enviro skip distribution site at Old Barn, which is very muddy; the path to the east, leaving the A646 by the side of the cemetery, may be better but I haven't tried it. Cliviger Mill was situated near Cliviger Mill Bridge (SD 864 305), again off the A646, between Walk Mill and the Towneley Hall estate and was in existence for about six hundred years from at least 1270, with a mill pond and water wheel and later a smithy and five cottages. It can be found by taking the turn after the one signed Walk Mill, going towards Burnley, and then almost immediately going left down Park Road. The drained and overgrown mill pond is still visible, but the mill site has made way for modern houses and gardens. Titus Thornber6 points out that there was a well defined system of green lanes in the area, the focus being the mill and mill bridge "to enable everyone in the township to carry produce to and from the corn mill". Thus an extension of Jack Hey Lane led from the mill to Bearnshaw Tower and another trade route ran through Hapton to Accrington, so the mill was nearly at the hub of the places mentioned in the Sybil story. A minor point is that cats are quite capable of travelling vast distances in a night - entire toms have been known to cover twenty miles, while from Hapton Tower to Cliviger Mill was less than five miles. Unfortunately, at this point everything ceases to gel together. The Towneley family tree contains no William before 1714 (and he married a Cecilia Standish). Also, although one or two of the Towneleys were knighted, they were never ennobled, so 'Lord' William has to be a fiction even if he belonged to an obscure and minor branch. Bearnshaw Tower was occupied by one Richard Lomax in 16267. The Lomaxes were not a noble family either and held the Tower as tenants. There are no entries for Lomax in the surviving early fragment of the Todmorden Parish registers 1617-1641, which was published with the Rochdale Parish Registers, although an unnamed wife of a Hugh Lomax died in 1625 and is entered under Rochdale. Winnie Marshall states that Bearnshaw Tower "will not date back beyond the middle of the seventeenth century" and that a stone on the farmhouse inscribed AL IL refers to the Lomax family, before the Tower was sold to the Towneleys. So it would seem that although there may be no clear evidence either way of a solitary heiress named Sybil living in the Tower, it seems unlikely. Also, the name Sybil itself gives rise to suspicion, being just too convenient for a witch or prophetess. Sibyl and Sibylla were common in England, however, from the twelfth century onwards, according to the Oxford Dictionary of Christian Names. I have not been able to find any record of who was living in Cliviger Mill at the time and Hapton Tower was inhabited by a Jane Assheton in 1632, the widow of Richard Towneley. The earliest written source of the legend appears to be by John Roby. He had a fulsome style, embroidering his narrative with lengthy conversations and a vast amount of detail. However, he seems to have regarded himself as a genuine collector, weaving his 'glimmerings of truth' into tales of 'romantic interest' and using a mass of local tradition from the memories of the inhabitants. He does himself point out one of the anomalies in the tale, that of Jane Assheton living in Hapton, and is careful to state that Lord William is a 'connection' of the Towneley family8. However, he does make one glaring error in stating that Cliviger Mill is at the east side of Cliviger Gorge and Harland and Wilkinson are highly critical of his accuracy in another of his tales, that of Father Arrowsmith's Dead Man's Hand9. Wilkinson however did include the Sybil story in his own Ancient Mansions near Burnley, Their History and Owners

The legend itself is oddly structured in that it is two tales in one - the capture of the doe/woman with the silken noose and the injury to the cat occurring in the witch herself. The latter is a constantly recurring theme in legend and there are two other similar local versions - that of Betty of Halifax and the farmer's wife of Weir, near Bacup . Interestingly, there are are also several similarities with the actual Lancashire witch trials of 1633-412, when seventeen women were arrested and tried on the flimsy evidence of a boy named Edmund Robinson. Four of the woman were even sent to London to be examined by Charles I and his physician; the case was eventually dismissed through lack of evidence. The boy's tale, seemingly invented to explain his failure to find his father's cattle, involved being abducted to join a witches' feast, and he then gained some notoriety as a local witch-finder, being displayed at church services by his father and uncle, where he sat on a stool looking for witches. He caused 'some disturbance' among the congregations in so doing, as might well be imagined! Later, he admitted that he had been suborned to give false evidence. The date attributed to the Sybil legend is the most obvious similarity, but also one of the women arrested was called Frances Dickonson - a possible connection with the miller in Roby's tale, whose wife Goody turned to witchcraft through her desire for a child. There may even be a parallel between the name Robinson and Robin the miller's servant. Jessica Lofthouse points out that the name Robinson seems to crop up in witch trials - also at Pendle in 1612 and at Fewston in 1621. But the only character who has crossed neatly from fact into legend would seem to be Loynd wife, one of Edmund Robinson's major suspects, who frightened him by sitting astride his father's roof and sticking thorns into pictures, and who is also now credited with watching for her victims from Eagle's Crag

So - grains and glimmerings of truth, yes. But Sybil herself? Apparently not. Perhaps the Sybil legend grew from the fear and hysteria generated by the witch trials of the time, growing like a modern urban myth, Perhaps a legend becomes valid if it captures the imagination sufficiently to be retold, so that lady Sybil, documented or not, has created her own validity. The Story of a Serial Killer
Dr Harold Shipman : The killer doctor of Todmorden

His patients – mainly elderly women – were living alone and vulnerable.

55-year-old Shipman died by his own hand whilst serving 15 consecutive life sentences in Frankland Prison, County Durham. He was also given four years for forging the will of his last victim, Kathleen Grundy. Shipman learned his endearing bedside manner whilst a young man, watching his ill mother slowly die from cancer. He watched the family doctor inject her with morphine to ease her pain . Etched upon the 17-year-old's mind, was a scene he would re-create hundreds of times in the future. While at college he met Primrose 3 years his junior. Shipman married her when she was 17 and 5 months pregnant. By 1974 he had joined a medical practice in the Yorkshire town of Todmorden. He became confrontational and combative with many staff in the medical offices, to the point where he belittled and embarrassed them. But his senior partners saw him as a Godsend. His career in Todmorden came to a sudden halt when he began having blackouts. His partners were devastated when he told them he was suffering with epilepsy. However some disturbing entries in a druggist's controlled narcotics ledger showed how Shipman had been prescribing large and frequent amounts of pethidine in the names of several patients. Ultimately he was forced out of the practice and into a drug re-hab center in 1975. Within two years, he was back in business as a general practitioner. He was accepted into the Donneybrook Medical Center in Hyde in the north of England. Where he played the role of a dedicated, hardworking and community-minded doctor. Professor Richard Baker of the University of Leicester, examined the number and pattern of deaths in Harold Shipman's practice. When he compared Shipman’s patient list with those of doctors with similar lists, Professor Baker concluded that Shipman had 236 more in-home patient deaths than would normally be expected. Most of these deaths involved women over 75. However he also killed men too. It is stated that he murdered these women with an overdose of Morphine, in order to gain money from inheritances. His final death toll was estimated at 260. ALSO IN TODMORDEN

1980/11/28 ENGLAND, TODMORDEN, WEST YORKSHIRE
Source: UFO Abduction
Police officer Alan Godfrey was coming off duty when he found an oval-shaped object hovering over the road ahead. He sketched it into his report pad and found himself down the road further than he should have been. He went back to the spot and found the road dry in a swirled pattern. Later it was revealed that he was abducted and given a medical exam by little beings. EFFECTS: Abduction
Medical examination
Time loss

150 Facts About Todmorden

1. The Lancashire-Yorkshire boundary used to run through Todmorden and it was once possible to stand with one foot in each county. This “at the edge” feeling has contributed greatly to Todmorden’s independent nature.

2. Although Todmorden’s postmark is Oldham and telephone code Rochdale, both in Lancashire, it is a Yorkshire town.

3. Todmorden was granted Borough status in 1896 and accordingly has its own coat of arms, enrolled in the Herald’s Office.

4. The town is almost certainly unique for a town of its size in boasting two Nobel prizewinners, two Todmordians gaining this worldwide recognition.

5. Our first Nobel prizewinner is Sir John Cockcroft, who gained the prize for Physics in 1951. He was the first man to split the atom artificially and his role was crucial in the development of nuclear power.

6. Then Sir Geoffrey Wilkinson received the prize for Chemistry in 1973, in recognition of his work on the chemistry of organometallic sandwich compounds. He received the award jointly with
Professor Ernst Otto Fiocher. Sir Geoffrey and Sir John were both taught by the same teacher at Todmorden Grammar School.

7. In 1978 the Grammar School and Todmorden Secondary School were united as the comprehensive Todmorden High School. This year the Government’s granted the High School arts college status.

8. Artistic achievement has always played its part in Todmorden life, be it through the work of sculptor and former Todmorden News editor Sam Tonkiss, the paintings of Bohuslav Barlow and a host of skilled musicians.

9. Among those reaching the top of the musical tree were conductor Dr Ben Horsfall, rock stars Keith Emerson and John Helliwell and bandleader Geoff Love.

10. Ben Horsfall’s skills shone at the very top of his profession - the accomplished violinist was a member of, among others, the famous Halle Orchestra.

11. Leader of first the Nice and then the world famous Emerson, Lake and Palmer, Keith Emerson was born in Todmorden but it is likely his family moved away in boyhood.

12. By contrast Supertramp’s John Helliwell has often returned home over the years and the saxophonist was resident here again in the 1990s. Last year the group - perhaps best known for their
“Breakfast In America” album - reformed, playing the world’s biggest arenas.

13. Geoff Love was a fixture on television screens through the 1970s and an edition of the famous TV show “This Is Your Life”, presented by Eamonn Andrews, was devoted to him.

14. Todmorden has provided location shooting for several television series’ over the years. The BBC’s 80s police show “Juliet Bravo” and 90s series “Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit,” plus ITV’s
“Life And Times of Henry Pratt” were all filmed here.

15. A common joke in town over the years is “I’ll bet you I’ve walked down every street in Tod”. Every Street in the Kilnhurst area is where some of “Life and Times...” was filmed.

16. Mention Kilnhurst and it won’t be long before someone mentions it was the home of author, journalist, traveller and artist William Holt. A true eccentric, Holt’s book “I Haven’t Unpacked” was a best seller.

17. “Striding out” makes Todmorden a popular destination for walkers. It has its own Centenery Way series of walks and forms part of the Calderdale Way, with the Pennine Way passing close by.

18. At the heart of the Pennines, modern Todmorden was founded on cotton and its red rose leanings come because, although in the white rose county, it is often referred to as “the last Lancashire cotton town”.

19. One cotton dynasty, the Fielden family, played a pivotal role in Todmorden’s history, the famous Waterside works being the major employer in the 19th century town.

20. John Fielden was MP for Oldham and he helped steer the Ten Hours Act through Parliament in the 1830s. The Act limited the number of hours children could be forced to work.

21. Fielden’s involvement in radical politics also manifested itself in his support for Chartism, Todmorden’s opposition to the Poor Law (Stansfield View workhouse was not built for decades)
and his backing for extending the vote.

22. When the Great Reform Act of 1832 was passed by Parliament, a major step along the road to Britain becoming a full democracy, Fielden presided over a celebration banquet in the town.

23. John’s sons - Sam, Joshua and John Jnr - also played a prominent role in the town’s affairs, giving the town its Unitarian Church, Town Hall, Fielden School and Dobroyd Castle.

24. The Unitarian Church and Dobroyd Castle are both architectural gems. The castle in particular has had an amazing history. Built as John Jnr’s stately home, it has also been an approved school and is now the Losang Dragpa Centre, home to a community of Buddhists.

25. Joshua’s estate in town was Stansfield Hall while Sam’s home was at Centre Vale.The eldest of the brothers, Sam was a passionate cricket fan and allowed part of the estate to be used by Todmorden Cricket Club.

26. Centre Vale is still Todmorden CC’s ground. The club has a proud history in the Lancashire League, winning league and cup honours. Two future England players began their careers at Todmorden.

27. Derek Shackleton and Peter Lever both bowled for England as well as playing lengthy county cricket careers. Other players who began their careers at Todmorden who played at county level include
Richard Horsfall, Peter Greenwood, Kenneth Fiddling and Harold Dawson. Ewart Clayton, father of last season’s first eleven captain Mark, also played some county cricket.

28. Of course, Todmorden is not the only cricket club playing at that high level in Todmorden.Walsden Cricket Club, whose home is at Scott Street, have achieved a great deal of success in the Central Lancashire League.

29. Winners of the CLL league title and cup competitions, Walsden also had a player Sydney Starkie, who played for the club before the second world war, who went on to a county career.

30. In December history was made when Walsden’s Allan Stuttard became president of the CLL. Todmorden’s Malcolm Heywood was already in situ as LL president, meaning that, perhaps uniquely,
both Red Rose leagues had presidents from Yorkshire clubs!

31. Todmorden’s position as a border town crossing point led to important transport links, including the building of Summit Tunnel, a tremendous effort on the part of 19th century engineers.

32. This was put to the test in December, 1984, when a goods train derailed and the crash caused an inferno. Summit’s engineers had been up to the task and although repairs were lengthy, the structure withstood the heat.

33. By the 20th century road transport levels increased at a rapid pace and in 1907 Todmorden pioneered a motor bus service, well ahead of the rest of the country. The first bus travelled along the Walsden valley.

34. Until local government reorganisation in 1974 the “Todmorden Corporation” had a hand in running the town’s bus services.

35. The re-organisation in 1974 meant Todmorden Borough Council, which had virtually run the town bar for education matters, ceased to be and the area became part of the new Calderdale Metropolitan Borough Council.

36. When given charter - borough - status back in 1896, Todmorden’s new Corporation (later borough council) was very much a go-ahead authority with a remit to improve the town as a new century approached.

37. One early move, which has had a lasting effect, was the purchase of Centre Vale Park from the Fielden family. It is renowned as one of the most beautiful in the area and plays host to events such as the town’s carnival and agricultural show.

38. Both these events were cancelled two years ago at the height of the foot and mouth scare. It meant a delay of a year for Todmorden Agricultural Society’s 75th show. The show is often dubbed one of the best one-day shows in the north.

39. A similar reputation is held by Todmorden Market, which dates back for more than 200 years and has been subject to regeneration refurbishment costing around £500,000 this year.

40. Last year its 200th birthday was marked by a series of special events. Stallholders stepped back in time, dressing as their forbears may have done. A special ceremony re-enacting the opening of the orginal market hall in the 19th century was included in the festivities.

41. Once again there was major Fielden family input into building the market hall, just yards away from the Town Hall site. The current town hall was not the first one planned - previous efforts had failed.

42. A design for a public hall by James Green, chosen by the Local Board, which would have incorporated a market hall, was actually begun in the 1850s with foundations dug and construction work started, but it fell by the wayside amid legal wrangling over land ownership.

43. Eventually the Town Hall was the third of the major projects architect John Gibson undertook for the Fieldens and it was opened in 1987 by the then postmaster general Lord John Manners.It was presented to the people of Todmorden by the Fielden family in 1891.

44. For many years the Town Hall wasn’t just home to the borough or town councils - it was also a permanent courtroom and has holding cells underneath.

45. Todmorden Magistrates Court was the epitome of justice being done and being seen to be done as members of the public often attended court sessions to watch court business being carried out.

46. The court finally closed in January 1993 when all the district’s criminal courts were amalgamated in Halifax, becoming part of the Calderdale Magistrates Court. It brought to an end centuries of certain levels of justice being carried out in Todmorden.

47. In earlier periods the stocks, whipping post and ducking stool had all been in use, but only the stocks continued in use as far as the 18th century!

48. Prior to the town hall, courts had been held in various places around town, including the White Hart Inn and the Queen Hotel.

49. The latter is where the commital proceedings for Todmorden’s most notorious murder case took place, that of Miles Weatherill.

50. On March 2, 1868, Weatherhill, who had been forbidden by the Vicar, the Rev Anthony John Plow, from seeing his sweetheart, maid Sarah Bell, armed himself with an axe and a pistol and headed for the vicarage.

51. He attacked the Rev Plow, another housemaid, Jane Smith, and Mrs Plow. He killed Jane Smith and Mr Plow later died of his injuries.

52. Committed from Todmorden to stand trial at Manchester Assizes for the murder of Jane Smith, he was, with another man, Timothy Faherty, the last to be publicly hanged at Manchester.

53. The case is notorious and has endured down the years. A broadsheet ballad telling Miles’ story was sold to onlookers at the execution, on April 4, 1868; over a century later nationally known folk singer
Nic Jones penned his own ballad, “Miles Weatherill”, and recorded it on his “Noah’s Ark Trap” album.

54. In those days the parish church of Todmorden was Christ Church, opened in 1832. Historically the oldest church had been St Mary’s, in the town centre, and by the early 1990s St Mary’s, dating back to
1476, was rededicated as the parish church and Christ Church closed.

55. Over the years followers of many religions have found a home in the town, from Quakers to Unitarians and Methodists to Catholics. In 2003 the town also has a Mosque, a Buddhist centre and a Jehovah’s Witness Kingdom Hall.

56. In addition to being centres of religious worship, many of these churches, particularly the Methodist chapels, were social centres, each boasting cricket and football teams to play in local leagues.

57. Todmorden has produced several footballers of note, including England schoolboy international David Wilson in the 1980s, who began his professional career at one of the world’s most famous clubs, Manchester United.

58. Playing professionally for Stockport County with his heyday in the 1950s, Jack Connor, a member of one of Todmorden’s best known sporting families, was voted the club’s best player of all time by its fans and Connor’s Bar at the club’s Edgeley Park ground is named in his memory.

59. Todmorden boasts a League Championship and FA Cup winner. Billy Nesbitt’s achievements were all the greater because he was reputedly deaf from birth. Playing for Burnley he won an FA Cup winner’s medal in 1914 and a first division championship medal in 1921.

60. In another link with that great Burnley side, defender George Halley’s family settled in Todmorden. His grandsons Jim and George were part of one of the best recalled local football sides.

61. In 1968 Lydgate United carried off a terrific treble, including Halifax league and cup double. Locally the strikeforce of Tony Lyons and Barry Shackleton was as well known as any in the league.

62. Lydgate, with a history dating back to the beginning of the 20th century, became part of a new era at the start of the 21st century, becoming part of the new Todmorden Borough Football Club, who play in the West Lancashire League, part of football’s “pyramid”.

63. The club’s home ground is Bellholme at Walsden. Eventually pushed through to fruition by the Bellholme Sports Association, the ground boasts a clubhouse and can be hired out.

64. There aren’t many sports not available to Todmordians, which boasts clubs and societies ranging from angling to archery and from swimming to snooker.

65. Some of these take place in the new Todmorden Sports Centre at
Ewood Lane, which incorporates a new swimming pool. It opened in June 2000.

66. Todmorden Golf Club, at Rive Rocks overlooking the town, boasts a record breaker. Helen Gray has won the club’s ladies’ championship 38 times, a feat which has given her a place in the “Guinness Book of Records”.

67. One sportsman deserves to be singled out for mention as in professional terms he is the most successfully of them all. Neil Cowie played for Wigan Rugby League Club in its most successful side of the modern era in the 1980s and 1990s.

68. Neil crowned his career with a string of performances for Wales and Great Britain . He began playing as an amateur with Todmorden Rugby League Club, who sadly folded in the summer after more than a quarter of a century.

69. The rugby club’s Centre Vale Park pitch was on the area in front of the bandstand which is due to play a major role in increasing Todmorden’s flood defences.

70. Work costing millions of pounds will re-sculpt that section of the park to create a massive holding tank to deal with floodwater to a “one in 25 year” level. Throughout Todmorden’s history nature has waged battle against attempts to channel it away.

71. There are two floods in recent memory which caused millions of pounds worth of damage to homes and businesses, in 1982 and 2000.

72. The 1982 flood particularly devastated the Cornholme valley, where a block culvert was unable to cope with flash flooding and ripped up part of the main Burnley road on what had begun as a sunny August day.

73. In June 2000, torrential downpour into an already saturated river system saw river walls break their banks at Shade and at Industrial Street in the worst flooding Todmorden has seen. It made national headlines and the Environment Agency began formulating plans to minimise the risk of something so devastating happening again.

74. One of the places badly flooded in Halifax Road
was the Hippodrome Theatre, which dates back to Edwardian times and is now owned by Todmorden Amateur Operatic and Dramatic Society.

75. As well as being the town’s theatre for a century, it was also one of Todmorden’s three cinemas.

76. The Olympia , on Burnley Road, was later a bingo hall and is now Kwik Save supermarket, but one glance at the building gives away its origins. Its art deco exterior reminds people that once it was a state-of-the-art venue for public entertainment.

76. The other cinema was the Gem, in Cornholme, whose name lives on the electrical goods store which is in the village not far from where the cinema once stood, in those pre-television days.

77. One of the town’s biggest gems, and its most obvious landmark, is Stoodley Pike - but the existing monument, visible for miles around, is not the original...

78. According to “History of Todmorden”, by Malcolm and Freda Heywood and Bernard Jennings, an earlier Pike was built to commemorate the surrender of Paris to the allies towards the end of Napoleonic War in 1814, although there was some evidence even then of earlier structures.

79. It collpased and eventually rebuilt in 1854, on a design by the aforementioned James Green. “History of Todmorden” says its obelisk shape may reflect the freemasonary of Samuel Fielden, who not only subscribed £50 towards the project but also cleared the final debt of £212.

80. Local history has long been keenly followed in Todmorden, and the town boasts a thriving Antiquarian Society, whose Millennium publication “Todmorden Cameos” details biographies of several dozen notable Todmorden folk.

81. For example, did you know that a black sheep of the Fielden family, Simeon Lord, was transported to Australia after stealing some cloth, but made a real success of his life after landing at Botany Bay - he settled in the Sydney area and had a hand in naming various parts of the city. Sydney ’s Dobroyd is named after his birthplace.

82. “Cameos” brought recognition to the achievement of many Todmordians including one who has since been properly honoured in the town - railway engineer John Ramsbottom.

83. In July this year a plaque was unveiled to Ramsbottom’s memory at Todmorden Railway Station. John Ramsbottom was one of the 19th century’s leading railway engineers and one of his inventions, the split piston ring, is still in use on petrol and diesel engines 150 years later!

84. The “Cameos” book was beautifully illustrated by Dennis O’Neill, who along with Coun Albert Marshall also produced a special book, “Todmorden Centenary”, to mark a hundred years of borough status in 1996.

85. That year saw Todmorden in high profile across the county. To tie in with its centenary it was an honour for the town when Yorkshire Day was held here, including a parade of red-robed Mayors from all over the county.

86. It was a proud day for Coun Albert Marshall MBE, who as Mayor of Todmorden led the parade. Albert served the town with distinction and is the only person to have been Mayor of both Todmorden’s borough and town councils.

87. The first Mayor of the Borough of Todmorden was Abraham Greenwood Eastwood, from June 2, 1896, to November 9, 1896, but his position was only provisional. the first elected Mayor, in office from November 9, 1896, to November 9, 1899.

88. The first Mayor of Todmorden Town Council, in office from May 11, 1974, to May 3, 1975, was Peter Cockcroft.

89. There are other Todmordens, including a Todmorden Mills in Canada and a Todmorden sheep station in Australia .

90. The town may also have links further afield, if the experiences of former policeman Alan Godfrey are anything to go by - under hypnosis (consciously Alan can remember nothing of this incident) and with a senior officer present he was taken aboard a UFO in 1980.

91. As sightings of strange phenomena were reported the same night by police officers from two forces, it has become one of the most documented cases of its kind and was only months after the disapperance of a Polish man, Zygmunt Adamski.

92. Alan’s story and the Adamski case were linked together in a national newspaper and since the incidents have been made into a television film in America , by filmaker Michael Grais, who worked on the “Poltergeist” films.

93. It also means Alan is likely to be the only Todmordian to appear on the biggest chat show in America - the “Johnny Carson Show”. In the UK he is constantly in demand by television companies making programmes about the paranormal, including prime time shows like Michael Aspel’s “Strange, But True”.

94. Locally Alan has honed his television and media experiences to good effect, raising money for a number of charitable causes, including the Walsden Community Fund.

95. The Walsden Community fund is one example of the townspeople’s ability to lend a helping hand. Good contacts can put the icing on the cake - when the fund presented a special electronic wheelchair to youngster Jonathan Knowles in the mid 90s, local comedian Tony Jo was able to get friend and colleague Jeremy Beadle to present it to him.

96. Tony’s own career has gone from strength to strength and to most folk outside Todmorden he is now better known as a key member of the famous comedy group, The Grumbleweeds.

97. Another example of local folk prepared to go the extra mile to raise money for charity came in the form of Todmorden Cancer Research UK’s own Calendar Girls, who bared (almost) all for a special 2003 fundraising calendar.

98. In the past few months the charity has also received television and newspaper headlines thanks to a marathon walker who chalked up many hundreds of miles walking from Land’s End to John O’Groats.

99. But Stephen Perry’s trek was a little out of the ordinary and believed to be unique - Stephen climbed more than 300 mountains, and walked every major path along his route, to get there. It took more than seven months and some appalling weather conditions.

100. Some of these were probably predicted by John Kettley. John, who grew up in the Kilnhurst area, has been a television and radio weatherman for 20 years. A pop song, “John Kettley Is A Weatherman”, paid homage to him in the 80s!

101. On one return visit home, John opened Todmorden Tourist Information Centre, on Burnley Road, in 1988.

102. Since then the centre has offered advice and help to more than 400,000 visitors to Todmorden. Unlike most TICs, it is run by a trust. It’s a real success story.

103. Tourism is one area the town should surely make a success of and the complete re-opening last year of the Rochdale Canal , which links Yorkshire with Manchester , should mean more visitors arriving by barge.

104. In Todmorden’s industrial heyday the canal was crucial link to get raw materials to the mill manufacturers and then onto the markets. These days Todmorden’s population numbers around 13,500 - about half it was in its heyday, when cotton was king.

105. The First World War marked a watershed. Todmorden not only lost many of its sons in the trenches - it never totally recovered its economic strength afterwards.

106. Centre Vale Park in Todmorden is home to Todmorden’s war memorial, which also includes tributes to the town’s fallen in subsequent conflicts, including the second world war.

107. Another integral part of the park is its bandstand, rebuilt according to the original design after it was destroyed by fire in the late 1990s.

108. The bandstand is no white elephant, forming a focal point for many events over the years, including the town’s Greenpeace support group’s Day on the Green events, which ran for the best part of 20 years until 2002.

109. And some things stay the same - it is used for its original purpose through the series of Brassworks concerts, held throughout the summer and culminating with a major brass band in the spotlight. This year the famous Brighouse and Rastrick band played to the firework finale.

110. Todmorden’s brass band musical tradition continues in the form of the Todmorden Community Brass Band, following disputes which saw Todmorden Old Brass Band drift away from its roots in the town and eventually fold.

111. These cirumstances were a controversial end to a band which had its roots in the 19th century and which had competed at the highest levels.

112. The community brass band offers the chance to play at a number of levels and offers beginners’ and learners’ sections. Other musical groups which form part of the town’s culture include Todmorden Orchestra and Todmorden Choral Society.

113. It has become a pre-Christmas tradition for the Choral Society and Orchestra to link up for a usually sell-out and rousing performance of Handel’s “Messiah”.

114. The big switch-on of Todmorden’s Christmas tree lights by the Mayor fires the starting gun for Christmas...

115. ...And last year the council linked up with local traders and Calderdale to vastly increase the amount of festive lighting, meaning Todmorden had one of its brightest Christmases ever!

116. These days firework displays have become all the rage at New Year too, something which seemed to start on Millennium Eve.

117. Among events to mark the Millennium in Todmorden was a specially-commissioned Millennium Textile, which now hangs in Todmorden Town Hall .

118. Carefully and pain-stakingly designed and hand stitched by a team of volunteers, in addition to symbolising people, places and achievements it also replicated Todmorden’s geography, building up the land’s contours with layers of fabric.

119. Place names can reveal much about Todmorden’s early history, as the “History of Todmorden” book shows. The River Calder has a British name, meaning “violent stream” - something flood victims through the ages will testify to.

120. The English (Anglo-Saxons) conquered the British kingdom of Elmet in the AD630s, it says, and helnce Walsden is an English name describing British neighbours, in this case “the valley of the Walhs”.

121. Todmorden itself derives from Tott-mer-den - “the valley of Totta ’s marsh”.

122. The Danish conquest of Yorkshire in 867 does now however seem to have much impact on Todmorden, with the one distinctive Scandanavia name being Mankinholes - “Mancun’s hollow”.

123. Mankinholes Youth Hostel is a long-established rest place for weary travellers and many of them keep coming back. The hostel was hard hit by the foot-and-mouth scare of 2001 but the following year saw it bounce back with bookings up 21 per cent.

124. The nearby Lumbutts area is also host to two prominent Todmorden “landmarks”, one of them physical and the other a tradition - Gaddings Dam and the Lee Dam Swim.

125. The Gaddings Dam Group have recently bought the dam with the aim of keeping it open for people to enjoy. It’s known as the “highest beach in England ”.

126. The swim, on the other hand, used to be on New Year’s Day but although the date now varies a little it’s still near the start of January - and it’s always very cold!

127. One of the best ways to get around the tops in Todmorden is to tackle the Todmorden Boundary Walk, organised annually by Todmorden Rotary Club with help from Todmorden Inner Wheel Club.

128. It is approximately 22 miles long and although the route or direction can change a little, the hard work of walking the distance is rewarded with some of the most breathtaking views of the town.

129. Having mentioned Gaddings and the Pike, mention should perhaps be made of Whirlaw rocks above the Burnley valley, which lent their title to William Holt’s novel, “The Wizards of Whirlaw”.

130. One of the ways William Holt sold his books was by loading up the saddlebags of his equally famous white horse, Trigger, who outlived Billy by a year and is buried in a field at Kilnhurst.

131. This is just over the hill from the Folly Dam, one of Todmorden Angling Society’s most popular waters.

132. With a membership reaching outside of Todmorden, the society controls waters on the Lancashire-Yorkshire border and a decade ago the Cliviger Fishponds project won a major environmental award.

133. Todmorden’s environment began to change at the end of the 1960s, when an extensive renewal scheme began, involving the clearance of many homes and the occasional business premises, such as the Grapes pub.

134. Barbrara Rudman’s book “The Old Pub Trail” took readers through pen portraits of every pub or beer house that Todmorden had had to that date. The landlady of the Grapes landlady from the 20s to the 50s, Mrs Crowther, was renowned for her firmness and dignity - she often told customers, politely, when she felt they had drunk enough!

135. Following the clearances many properties, including the famous Town Hall, lost the sooty covering they had had for years and the beautiful honey-coloured natural stone beneath was revealed.

136. A host of “general improvement areas” followed, performing similar stone cleaning duties and road tarmacing schemes along the way - a precursor to the carefully tragetted regeneration projects of the last three years.

137. These have seen a number of gateway sites created for the town, a major project to renovate Todmorden Market, the bringing back into use of historic buildings such as the Fielden Sunday School and building a garden area next to St Mary’s Church.

138. The same period of time has seen Todmorden gain a growing reputation in the Yorkshire in Bloom competitions, held several times each year.

139. Steered by the Todmorden In Bloom group, in addition to encouraging the town to generally keep itself neat and tidy, it also hosts a competition of its own with a good selection of categories.

140. Regeneration moves have brought major funding to the town and Todmorden became a pilot scheme in the country for the Government’s Market Town Initiative programme.

141. This autumn has seen regeneration links forged with Spain and America , proof that in developing and bringing improvements to towns, communities across the world can help each ohter.

142. Over the past quarter of a century Todmnorden has already formed cultural links and has always had a thriving Town Twinning Association.

143. Todmorden has two direct twins, first twinning with Bramsche, in West Hermany a quarter of a century ago. Bramsche Square
was named in recognition of this.

144. Roncq, in France , was twinned with Todmorden in the early 1980s and, as with Bramsche, twice-yearly exchange trips give an insight into each other’s culture.

145. As part of Calderdale, Todmorden has a twin area of the Czech Republic called Strakonice. A few years ago the practical help and understanding organisations like this can bring was demonstrated after the Todmorden flood of 2000.

146. Strakonice residents gave a sum of money to help with the extensive claning up operations needed for many householders. Todmorden was then able to reciprocate when Strakonice fell victim to even more severe flooding a short time afterwards.

147. Sometimes a little can make a difference - for some years now Todmorden Rotary Club, sometimes in conjunction with other organisations in the town, have packed emergency boxes which have been sent to disaster areas worldwide by Rotary International.

148. It shows an international dimension to Todmorden which showed itself as far back as the 19th century, when the famous Fielden family’s business interests included shipping lines and running a power company in South America.

149. In those far off says, before television or radio, newspapers were the only way to widely disseminate news from far afield. Realising the opportunity, Richard Chambers first published the “Todmorden Advertiser” on November 5, 1853.

150. It was one of several newspapers eventually amalgamated under the Waddington family ownership as the “Todmorden News And Advertiser” which, 150 years on, brings its readers the best in local news and sport each week as the “Todmorden News”. They celebrate our 150th birthday next week! THE WEATHERILL FAMILY ;- TODMORDEN

The story of a dysfunctional Todmorden family that
ends in murder most foul

Our story begins in the beautiful Yorkshire Dales area of Bainbridge, takes us to the mill town of Todmorden and ends on the gallows at the New Bailey Prison, Salford, with a public hanging. James Weatherill was born in Bainbridge, Yorkshire, in 1784, the son of Miles Weatherill. He had brothers Miles born in 1787 and Richard born in 1789. He also had two sisters, Ann and Peggy, born in 1777 and 1778 respectively. All were baptised at St. Oswald's in Askrigg, as there is no Anglican church in Bainbridge. The village is only served by a chapel and a Friends Meeting House. Askrigg is a fair way to walk to church, so the family more than likely attended the chapel in Bainbridge, which is possibly where James picked up his Wesleyan leanings. He became a stonemason and what prompted him to move to Todmorden is unknown, but whatever the reason was, it was a decision that sparked off a chain of events that would culminate in an act so horrific that it is still talked about today, and at the time even reached the ears of Queen Victoria herself. By 1811, James had married a local Walsden girl, Nelly Newell, who was the sister of Thomas Newell of Strines in Walsden. James and Nelly settled down to family life and the children came along as they do, and were all duly baptised at Doghouse Wesleyan Chapel in Todmorden, the first being born in 1811. James was a steady sort of chap, a good and honest worker, who liked a glass or two with his pals in the beer house after work, having a joke and a gossip and no doubt washing away the dust from his throat, the accumulation of the day's work. He knew when to stop, and was never known to be the worse for drink. Richard, their son, was born in the year 1818 and from the moment he arrived a curse seemed to descend on the Weatherill family. Richard was a wayward lad and always into mischief of some sort or another. Most lads are when they are young and full of high spirits, but with Richard, it was as if he had been born full of devilment. He must have been a sore trial to his upright chapel going parents. James got work on the building of the York Street Chapel in 1827 and life revolved around attending chapel, having a bit of a social life where they could, and trying to make enough money to give their children a decent education, which James and Nelly somehow managed to do. Richard, or Dick as he became known, was sent to learn hand weaving at Priestwell. He was always in the thick of any fun that was going on and more likely than not, he would be the ring-leader. His mother got to hear of the goings on an threatened to give him a good thrashing and send him to bed without any supper on many occasions. Dick, being the apple of her eye, knew exactly how to get round her, and on going upstairs he would say “Mother, let's pray!” She would be completely taken in as always, and Dick would be let off the thrashing, but would have to forego his supper. A small price to pay. He later became a stonemason like his father and was a good worker, a trait inherited from his father. There the likeness ended, as Dick liked his ale and was usually to be found in company of the town's less respectable inhabitants. In the severe winters that sometimes come to this part of the north, when the masons and their labourers were “frozen out”, he was always on the look out for ways to make an easy penny. One of his tricks was to cut up a newspaper in the form of a ballad and he would stroll down the street, singing and selling the sheets at a halfpenny each. As it was winter, the streets were dark and the customers couldn't see exactly what they were buying until they got home. Most of them couldn't help but have a good laugh at his audacity and ingenuity. One of his more audacious antics took place just after the new clock and bell had been installed at Christ Church about 1837, and it could have had a more serious outcome than a thrashing and bed without supper!! Travis the historian records it thus:

“The bell ringer at the time was John Midgley, who was also the “dog whipper” for the town. The bell weighed one ton and John had trouble with this. He wasn't a very adept ringer and had overturned the bell a couple of times, when the rope had drawn him up to a platform in the steeple and then dropped him to the floor with a wollop. A few young lads heard about this and decided to have a go. They would creep up into the belfry, but when the service began would join the congregation, having had their fun. Richard Weatherill, was a wayward sort of boy, up to all sorts and always on the look out for any mischief to be found. He, and a couple of friends decided to stay in the belfry and they spied an archway, way up in the tower, which led over the flat part of the church roof. They foolishly decided to investigate and went forward, with only couple of narrow planks of wood for support. Richard, being his usual adventurous self, found himself over the communion space and at that moment, he dislodged a plaster ornament which fell from the ceiling, heading directly for the head of the vicar, Rev. Cowell, who was preaching the sermon, oblivious to what was about to descend on his head. The congregation watched in open-mouthed horror as the ornament continued on its downward path. Luckily, it smashed onto the sounding board above the vicar's head and was fragmented into pieces, which flew in every direction. It was miracle that no one was hurt and that Richard himself didn't fall from his precarious perch. He and his associates hot- footed it, but a couple of wardens chased them and identified who they were. Richard was identified as the main culprit, no doubt shopped by his “friends” to save themselves from any repercussions. The Reverend Cowell and the wardens were all for prosecuting the lad, but with entreaties from his distraught parents, being respectable and staunch Wesleyans, that he wouldn't do it again, and would be kept away from the church tower, it was agreed not to take any further action.”

It is not recorded if his mother gave him the thrashing he had long avoided. In 1838, at the time of the Todmorden Riots there were dragoon soldiers billeted at the inns where there was enough stabling for their horses and one company of foot soldiers were stationed at Salford. That particular winter was a harsh one and the canal, which went by the soldier's quarters, had been frozen over for 14 weeks. The ice was very thick and the work people had to cross over it on their way to work every day, using it just like a road. Soon, the ice-boat was able to get through and break up the ice. Dick was watching, along with some soldiers and a few other people. He couldn't resist showing off and proceeded to run back and forth across the canal on the broken bits of ice, using them like stepping-stones. He continued his antics, even though the ice pieces were drifting away, no doubt encouraged and urged on by the crowd, who may have been secretly hoping that he would fall in. Later on, in about 1843, when Dick was married, he was working with his father at Knowlwood Bottom for Mr. Robertshaw, putting new chimneys on the houses, when his mother arrived with their dinners. It started to rain and she noticed that James was working without his coat, so she told Dick to tell him it was raining. Dick replied, in a joking manner, that if he couldn't tell for himself then he would get wet!! He was never known to refuse a dare and became a well known figure, often to be seen on the rooftops of Todmorden, demanding money from his family and threatening to throw himself off if they didn't comply. It isn't known if he ever got any money from them, but he never threw himself off. Richard married Alice Horner, a farmer's daughter from Coverdale in Yorkshire, in 1839, and they set up home in Union Street in Todmorden. It is possible that Alice's family knew the Weatherills, as Coverdale is only 10 miles away from Bainbridge, and it seems strange that a girl from so far away would be in Todmorden unless she knew someone who lived there. She had been baptised at St. Botolph's at Horsehouse in Coverdale in 1815. The children came along and their first son John was born in 1841 followed by Miles in 1845 and then a daughter Sarah Ann in 1850. Married life didn't change Richard's ways and he continued to carry on as before. His behaviour became more and more eccentric and at one point he locked baby Miles in a drawer and told his wife that a tramp had taken him away. Alice must have been distraught at the thought of her baby in a tramp's hands. Anything could happen to him; he could be sold, killed, left to die or something worse. How relieved she must have been when he was found and how she must have wondered how she came to have married such a man as Richard. His lifestyle caught up with him before long and he developed phthisis, which led to his death on the 13th September 1850 at York Street, Todmorden. He was 32 years old. At his side when he died was his married sister Sarah Lawson of Union Street. An early grave for a man who had lived life as he wanted, without regard for others. His brothers and sisters did a little better for themselves. William became a tailor and his sister Sarah became a dressmaker, married John Lawson, a tea dealer from Bradford, and ran a business in Union Street. In 1851, all the families are living near to each other in York Steet, Union Street and Back Brook Street. Old James Weatherill was 75 when he died, accidentally killed in July 1859 when the joiner's shop on Union Street belonging to John Holden collapsed, killing himself and Abraham Crossley (Old Tickler) who were working there at the time. Even at 75 James was working, evidence of his diligent and hard working nature. His wife, Nelly, suffered such a shock when she the news of this accident that she never recovered from it and died two months later. They are buried together in the graveyard at Christ Church. In Memory of James and Nelly Weatherill (the grave stone reads)

Who after living together in each others affections for 54 years, departed this life as follows
James was killed July 5th 1859 Aged 75 years
Nelly died September 18th 1859 Aged 77 years


Their bodies shall slumber in Jesus awhile
Till the trumpet resounds thro the sky
Then bursting the fetters of death with a smile They shall enter the mansions on high

More tragedy was to come. ;-

When Richard died, leaving Alice a widow, she moved to Back Brook Street and made her living as a charwoman. With children to feed and school, she also took in lodgers to supplement her income. This was not a particularly nice area of the town at that time and there were lodging houses in every street, full with characters from all walks of life, much as in any other mill town of that period. Miles grew up in these streets, with only a vague recollection of his father, as he was only five when he died. He would have been spoiled by his grandparents, much as his father had been before him and he had been named after his great grandfather, so would have no doubt have had a special place in his grandfather's affections. His mother, being a charwoman and running a lodging house, would have left Miles and his siblings plenty of time to get into all sorts of mischief and no doubt they did. It wasn't the best start in life for a child, but many others would be in the same predicament and all would grow up very “street wise.” Many thought that he was going to grow up with his father's inclination for trouble and watched with interest as the young Miles grew into manhood. He became a weaver and maybe the turning point in his life came with the death of his grandparents when he was 14. It is an impressionable age and no doubt left a feeling of great loss in his life. He now had his mother and sister Sarah, to look after. Both were said to be a little backward, so as not to be able to do the simplest of work. He started to discover that there was more to life than playing around and Miles wanted to better himself. He taught himself to read and write, which in the days when education was not compulsory, was no mean feat. Once he got the taste for learning, he would haunt the reading rooms, keeping himself up to date with news of the day and he attended Sunday school and church regularly. He became a Sunday School teacher and was very well thought of by the vicar. He was a smart, well groomed and not bad looking man, who obviously looked after himself. Then in 1867, he fell in love. The object of his affections was Sarah Elizabeth Bell, a sixteen year old cook at the vicarage. Her home was in York, about 60 miles away, and the vicar, Mr. Plow, had assured her family that he would look after and take responsibility for her whilst she was in his service. Miles, wanting to do things in the proper manner, asked the vicar's permission to court Sarah, but the vicar refused him his request. He also refused to let Sarah have her usual Sundays out, when they could have met away from the vicarage, and the Reverend's eyes. Love found a way, as it does, and Miles and Sarah continued to meet clandestinely. Sarah, being only 16, and unable to keep their meetings a secret, told Jane Smith, another maid at the vicarage. The outcome was that Jane told Mrs. Plow, who in turn told Mr. The vicar immediately sent Sarah back to her home in York, saying that she had disobeyed his orders and was not to be trusted. This was on November 1st. 1867. Sarah was later to deny this and say that she left of her own accord. She and Miles kept in touch by letters, which didn't satisfy him at all, and he urged Sarah to come back to Todmorden and get another job there, then they could show the Plows that they couldn't be separated. However, Sarah was happy where she was in the new post that she had acquired, so Miles had to be content with that. At the end of February 1868, Miles paid a weekend visit to York to see Sarah and to try and get to the bottom of her leaving Todmorden in the first place. She told him of the part that Jane Smith had played, with her telling tales to the vicar about their secret meetings. What frame of mind Miles left York in we can only guess at, but in all probability he would have been very angry, and the journey home by train would only serve to give him time to brood more on the awful injustices dealt to them by the Plow family and Jane Smith in particular. He left York and caught the 7-50 Todmorden train on Monday 2nd March, and by the time he reached home he had formed his plan for the revenge of his doomed love affair. Between his arrival at Todmorden and 10pm that evening, his friends said he was his usual self. He met up with them and they had their usual evening out and Miles left them at 10pm saying he was going home, but instead he went to the Black Swan for a whisky, with his plan ready to be carried out. He had 4 pistols and a hatchet, carried in a leather belt specially cut so as to hold them. They were concealed by his overcoat. He had earlier bought some caps and shot from Houldsworth's ironmongers. He made his way to the vicarage and proceeded to tie the scullery door and the back door together with strong twine, so that nobody from inside could get out that way. Jane Smith heard the noises and informed Mr. Plow, who went out of the front door to see what was going on. He encountered Miles and a scuffle ensued in which the Reverend Plow was shot at, but as the pistol didn't fire Miles set about him with the hatchet. Elizabeth Spink, a servant living at the vicarage at the time, grappled with Miles and grabbed hold of his hair to pull him away from Mr. She entreated him to “be quiet, do”, to no avail. They struggled between themselves until they reached the dining room, which is where things got a little confused, but what likely took place is that Jane Smith came to help and on seeing her, Miles was confronted with the object of all his anger and hatred. He lunged at her in a fury of blows with the hatchet to the head, and she was bleeding profusely as she managed to stagger back into the dining room and shut the door. Miles had dropped the hatchet and another servant, Mary Hodgson, had picked it up. Mr. Plow had also managed to wrench the pistol from him, so no doubt they would feel that they were safe. How wrong they were. At this point Miles produced a second pistol and aimed a shot at the Reverend Plow who managed to wrench the pistol from him. He staggered out of the house and arrived at the home of William Greenwood, the church organist, in Well Lane. What a shock he must have had when he opened the door to find the vicar standing there, covered in blood, with no hat or shoes on. Back at the vicarage, Elizabeth Spink was trying her best to make Miles see reason, but he was too enraged. He picked up a pistol that he had dropped, flung her to one side, threw open the dining room door and shot Jane Smith. Jane screamed and Elizabeth ran out of the vicarage to Dr. Cockroft, who lived about 250 yards away, for help. Jane was dead. Miles then ran up the stairs to find Mrs. She was in bed with her month old daughter, Hilda Catherine. The monthly nurse she had employed, Margaret Ball, was with them. They had heard the noises and Margaret had gone part way down the stairs to see what was happening. Having seen the commotion and the fighting, Margaret ran back to Mrs. Plow and the baby and they then heard the shot which had killed Jane Smith. From the landing, Margaret Ball saw Miles cleaning and reloading his pistol, and start up the stairs with a poker in one hand and a pistol in the other. She tried to stop Miles getting into the bedroom, standing with her back against the door, but she was no match for his strength, heightened by his now insane rage. He pushed open the door and Margaret ran out and down the stairs to open the front door to the people who were now banging on it. Miles removed the baby in it's cradle from the bed and shot Mrs. Plow twice through the bedclothes. She tried desperately to get away from him and pleaded with him not to harm the baby. She got trapped between the wall and the bed in her efforts to escape him and he set upon her with the poker. He inflicted terrible injuries on her before she had the presence of mind to feign death. By this time the house was full of police and helpers, summoned by Mr. Plow and Elizabeth Spink. George Stansfield, the Parish Clerk, was first on the scene and took hold of Miles by the arm and led him downstairs where he gave him into the custody of the Constable, Mr. Binks. Miles was a spent force, the anger and hate had gone to be replaced by a sense of the inevitability of the outcome. Dr. Cockroft, who was also on the scene, attended to Mrs. Plow and her husband. Mrs. Plow was back in her bed and when he examined her he found that she was bleeding from severe wounds on her forehead and nose. She was in great pain and was breathing through the wound in her nose, caused by the attack. The baby had to be taken from Mrs. Plow as she was in no fit state to look after her and she was taken to the house of Mr. Molesworth, the Deputy Coroner. Miles was kept overnight in the lock up at the bottom of Ferney Lee and brought before the magistrates the following day, Tuesday March the 3rd at 5pm. He was in the charge of Superintendent Pickering of Rochdale, attended by Sergeant Riding of the local police force. The examination was opened at 5-30pm. by the magistrates, Abraham Ormerod, John Fielden and Joshua Fielden. It was adjourned until Friday March 6th . Jane Smith was buried on Tuesday March 3rd at Christ Church. They brought the body from the vicarage to the church, and walked in procession as the choir sang a hymn. First came the boys, then the men, then the surgeon, followed by the corpse carried by four men. The mourners came next, then the teachers and the elder scholars. The coffin was made of elm and a cross was carved in relief over the length and breadth of it. The inscription read “Jane Smith, she fell asleep in Jesus, March 2nd. 1868

The examination held on Friday 6th March at the Black Swan was attended by Mr. Plow, Margaret Ball, Sarah Elizabeth Bell, George Houldsworth (ironmonger) and Dr. Cockroft. Miles was brought to the courthouse in a cab and there was such a large crowd gathered to see him, that the magistrates, the officials of the court, and the reporters couldn't get in. Evidence was given by all the witnesses called and Miles was committed to trial at Manchester Assizes on the charge of murder. A week later, on Friday the 13th March, Mr. Plow died from the results of his injuries. He had seemed to be rallying and had appeared to be much better when he gave evidence at the court. It would seem that he suffered an inflammation of the brain and became delirious. Many said that he should never have been called to give evidence, but being the sort of man that he was, he was adamant that he should. It would have been a neglect of duty on his part, not to do so. On the same day, baby Hilda Catherine also died, though whether from any effects of the murders or from other causes is not known. However, it seems another innocent victim was added to the list of deaths. An inquest had to be held on the death of Rev. Plow and again it was held at the Black Swan, where a jury brought in the verdict of murder by Miles Weatherill. The news of this murder reached far and wide and even the Queen got to hear of it. She gave Lady Augusta Stanley leave to express Her Majesty's sympathy to the widow of the late Reverend Plow. The funeral of the Rev. Plow was the grandest that Todmorden could give. He had a lying in state on Saturday March 14th and the body was covered in a silk cassock and covered in flowers from head to foot, the flowers having been provided by the neighbouring gentry. The body was watched night and day by visiting clergy, (requested by Mr. Plow before he died), and two lights were kept burning all the while. The baby was at his side, covered in pure white flowers. On the Saturday evening, all the senior members of the choir, the scholars of the Sunday School and Wadsworth Mill Mission paid there respects to the body and on the Sunday, about one hundred of the congregation were allowed to view it. He was buried on Monday March 16th., a day which was bitterly cold, with occasional showers of hail. The church opened it's doors at 9am and was filled almost immediately. There were also 26 clergymen, 2 choirs, Sunday School pupils, the general public and 6 chief mourners. The coffins of Mr. Plow and his baby daughter were of elm and Mr. Plow's was draped with a violet pall worked with a cross of red and yellow. The baby's was covered with a white pall with a red cross on it. After the service over a thousand people viewed the grave. To show respect, all the shops in Todmorden drew their blinds between 10 and 12 o'clock. They were buried in a grave near to Jane Smith. Miles was held in the prison at the New Bailey in Salford until his trial at the Manchester Assizes on March 20th 1868. Sarah Elizabeth Bell was the main interest on the part of the crowd in the court. All were wanting to see this innocent cause of the murders. They were to be disappointed as she was dressed in black with a veil over her face and her face looking downwards all the time. She never looked at Miles. She seemed older than her 17 years, no doubt the events had taken their toll on her. Another of the witnesses was Elizabeth Spink, who along with Mary Hodgson had fought bravely to try and protect their master and mistress from the frantic blows that Miles was delivering. The judge awarded Elizabeth £5 and Mary £2.10s.0d for their bravery. After summing up, the jury returned a verdict of guilty and the judge sentenced Miles to death by hanging. There were various comments in the newspapers about Miles and the outcome of the trial. One, a phrenologist, said that he would be dangerous if thwarted and another report stated that it was thought he must have been either mad or drunk to have committed such crimes, bur no evidence of either was found. Some likened him to a Jekyll and Hyde character, quiet and thoughtful, a regular attendant at church, school and reading room one minute and transformed into a raging fiend the next. One letter to the press, written on Monday March 30th 1868 and published in the Manchester Examiner and Times was later reprinted in the Todmorden Advertiser on April 4th by an unnamed “Todmordian” who had employed Miles for three years, and who clearly thought that Miles had a taint of insanity and that the facts of this had not been made known to his counsel. He was sure that if they had been fully known, then the jury would have been instructed to recommend mercy. He says that he had written the letter in the hope that the matter would be looked into and a petition sent to the Home Secretary in the means of obtaining a commutation of the death sentence. He was basing his insanity theory on the outrageous behaviour of Miles' father Richard, and also said that Miles' mother was “weak in intellect.” It was also common knowledge that his sister was regarded as nearly “idiotic.” None of this appeared to have any effect on the verdict, and it stood. Miles was kept in the New Bailey Prison until the day of his execution, April 4th 1868. He was allowed visitors, but only certain ones were allowed to see him. Joseph Firth snr., who had known Miles a long time was not allowed in, but John Dawson, a local preacher and magistrate, was, and he remarked that Miles had gloated, “I will open Jane's secrets before all Todmorden.” However, he said nothing about the reason for his attack on her and the Plow family. The secret Miles knew about Jane was that she had an illegitimate child. Her parents, George and Elizabeth, had five children one of whom was Jane born 1843. George died in 1848 leaving Elizabeth, his wife to raise the young family. She opened a dame school. Jane had an illegitimate daughter, who she left in the care of her mother whilst she went out to work. This was the secret that Miles knew but never revealed. Miles wrote letters whilst in jail and two are worth the reading. The first one to his mother and sister and the second to a friend. ;-

My dear mother and sister,

It must be very painful to you to know I am in prison and what is worse, condemned to die. Well, you must bear it as well as you can. You will be allowed to see me once or twice more in my cell, then you must bid me farewell for ever…. You will be very sorry when you hear I have not repented of my sins, but I will try my best to meet both you and Sarah in heaven. You must not think it hard of me because I write to Sarah more than you. You know I look upon that good girl as my wife, though she is not, but I think she would be if I was only free. I think that you will have found it out before now that she is a good girl. Ah! She is too good for me…..I will draw to a close, and hope we may all meet in heaven. From yours, dear mother and sister, affectionately. Miles Weatherill



Dear Friend,

I thought I would write a few lines to you as you have been so kind. I suppose you know I have been found guilty, and that I shall have to be hung. It is an awful and shameful death to die, but I have deserved it and there is no chance left. I was very sorry when I heard that Mr. Plow and the babe were dead. Oh! I hope there will be no more to die, it is so terrible to think of. I wish he had given me the privilege of keeping company with Sarah. I would not have cared for going into the house if he had only let her have her Sunday outs, but he would not, and oh, what has it come to. If he had given me the chance, what a different man I should have been. I should have been a teacher in the Sunday School, a communicant in the Church, and if I had once more taken of that Holy feast, it would have been a heavenly feast to my soul, for I would not have taken that Holy Communion in mockery as a cloak to make people think I was good. No, I should have taken an interest in doing what good I could for the school and church, and in the long run he would have found me a useful man. And what a comfort I should have been to my poor mother and sister and how happy my Sarah would have been. We did not want to get married just then, but I would have married her before she left Todmorden had she been willing. No, I wanted to get a better trade and make a little more money than I had. Then I would have married her and been happy with her, but when she left Todmorden, there was a turning point in me. Yes, I turned wild, I cared little what I did. I spent all my money, I saw nothing but poverty and despair and now I am condemned to die. Ah I was a changed man when she left, ah, I am sorry to say, changed for the worse. I shall soon be parted from her for ever in this world but I will try to meet her in heaven, but there is only poor signs yet of me, for my heart is yet hardened, but I will try to die a true penitent. See you live for another and better world for Christ has died to save us all, and may we all meet in heaven. From yours sincerely

Miles Weatherill

PS. You can do as you like with this letter, I will find no fault with you if you publish it. I am not ashamed. So it seems that Miles admitted that he had turned a bit wild when Sarah left Todmorden. Maybe the balance of his mind was affected by this and the crime was indeed committed whilst he was in a state of insanity. Whatever the reason, the fact remained that he was to be hung on Saturday, April 4th. 1868 outside the New Bailey Prison. As the day of the execution drew near, crowds started gathering, anxious to get good places from which to view the grisly scene. Shop keepers in New Bailey Street were letting out their windows for large sums of money and on the Friday afternoon, people from the country districts started to arrive. Many people from Todmorden had walked to Manchester overnight to see the hanging, one being Willie Crowther, the Church sexton. The scaffold had been erected on the Thursday outside the New Bailey and all that was left was for it to be draped in black. Barriers were erected to stop the traffic and Stanley Street, where the entrance to the prison was situated, was closed by a 12 foot high barricade. A lot of people drifted off after 11 o'clock on Friday night, leaving a few groups of rough and ready scoundrels assembled near to the scaffold, about 200 in all, most of them straggling along the street and sleeping in the doorways. One newspaper report paints a clear picture of the scene and gives an insight into the crowd at a public hanging:

“ A good staff of police was in attendance, and the arrangements were such as to suppress any disturbance that might arise, but no interference was necessary. To have attempted to stop the ribald and disgusting behaviour, such as is customarily exhibited at public executions would have led to consequences of a by no means pleasant character, and the populace were allowed to indulge in the full flow of their spirits, coarse and vulgar as they were. Some of the popular songs of the day, mingled with jokes and attempted witticisms were the prevailing source of amusement”

Some enterprising folk were selling hot drinks from stalls, but the crowd became so dense that they had to leave for their own safety. From midnight, 200 police were in attendance and by 7 o'clock in the morning the crowd had grown to 10,000. Between 7 and 8 o'clock this had increased to 20,000, filling everywhere as far as the eye could see and jamming into the shop windows, all jostling for a good view. Popular songs were still being sung to relieve the waiting, a scripture reader was lecturing near the railway bridge and in other parts people were shouting “Rule Britannia” It was a ribald crowd and the very lowest of society was there, their behaviour becoming more and more disgusting and the only saving grace was the general absence of women. Miles, hearing all the commotion outside, couldn't sleep, but after about one in the morning, when it had abated somewhat, he managed an hour or so. He was awakened about 2, by the crowd, and slept no more. The prison chaplain, Rev. W. Caine and Mr. Thomas Wright were with him, and reported that Miles was in a better frame of mind than he had ever been, but it was deemed proper not to administer the Holy Sacrament. He expressed his sadness at the plight of the Plow family and was sorry for the ruin he had brought on them. He then spent the time in prayer and was praying when the executioner, William Calcraft, arrived to proceed with the operation of pinioning his arms. He won the admiration of the hangman with his attitude and dignity and Calcraft remarked that he had never met such nerve and resolution. Calcraft was the Chief Public Executioner, a post he had held for many years. Miles kept up a conversation with the Rev. Wright during this process and seemed most cheerful. This was at a quarter to eight and at 8 o'clock precisely, when the prison bell tolled the hour, the procession came into view of the scaffold. Timothy Faherty, a man who had murdered a Droylsden girl, was being executed along with Miles and he was the first to ascend the steps to the gallows, looking upwards all the time. He was wearing a cross on his breast and was attended by the Catholic Father Gadd. Miles climbed the steps without the least hesitation, and seemed almost glad that the time had come. He prayed as he climbed, with a prayer book in his hand. He then had to wait until Calcraft, the hangman, had prepared Faherty for death by placing a white cap over his head and adjusting the noose around his neck. Miles seemed undaunted by this and watched intently as the hangman performed his awful task. He was heard to say, as one of the guards took him by the arm, “You need not hold me. I can stand by myself.”

Calcraft then called Miles to the drop, an act which was the signal for an outburst of cries from the mob watching. He underwent the same preparations as Faherty, praying all the while. Calcraft shook hands with both men, then stepping from the platform, he withdrew the bolt. Miles died immediately but Faherty struggled slightly. Miles last words were “God have Mercy upon my soul.”

The bodies were left to hang for an hour and then cut down and taken into the prison where they would be buried later that afternoon. This was the last public hanging in Manchester. The New Bailey Prison closed, Strangeways was opened, and executions took place behind closed doors. Plow didn't live long after the ordeal she had been through. She died at Wantage in Berkshire on the 19th March 1869, just 12 months and two days after seeing her husband and baby daughter buried. Four sad deaths and a hanging, all victims of circumstance and fate. Miles' father no doubt contributed by passing on some of his wilder traits to his son, but only Miles would know why he had perpetrated such evil deeds on innocent people, and those he took to the grave. Miles' mother would have had to endure the snide remarks, the sideways glances and the shame that always accompanies these tragic affairs. Her innocence would count for nothing once the town gossips got to work, and she was another innocent victim of the affair. His sister, Sarah Ann, would also suffer at the hands and tongues of the same gossips. Sarah Ann was married in 1877 to William Beagle, a carpenter from Lincolnshire, and she, along with her mother, went to live in a small village called Whaplode Drove in Lincolnshire, in between Spalding and Wisbech, where William carried on the trade of carpenter and wheelwright. Alice returned to Todmorden sometime before June in 1881, which is when she passed away on the 18th. of that month at Baker Street, Harley Bank, aged 65. She lived long enough to see two grandsons born, Robert in 1879 and Wilford in 1880, which may have brought a little comfort to her. Miles' grandparents had passed away before these events took place, which was a blessing, the shame would have been unbearable for two decent upright people who had tried in vain to keep Miles' father in check, but even his antics paled beside the enormity of what Miles had done and it would have broken their hearts. There would be no “thrashing and upstairs with no supper” for Miles. A post script to this story is a strange coincidence. A descendent of William Calcroft, the executioner, married a descendent of Canon Russell, who was vicar of Todmorden from 1883-1910. At the time, it was normal to issue broadsheets commenting on current affairs and this is one that was being sold in the streets in 1868. ;-


MILES WEATHERILL

The Young Weaver

And his Sweetheart, Sarah Bell. The prisoner, Weatherill, was executed at Manchester, on Saturday April 4th for the murder of Jane Smith, at Todmorden, a fellow servant of Sarah Bell. Oh give attention, you pretty maidens,

A tale of love I will here unfold,

And you will say, when the same is mentioned,

‘Tis as sad a story as ever yet was told:

Miles Weatherill was a brisk young weaver,

And at Todmorden did happy dwell,

He fell in love with a pretty maiden,

The parson's servant named Sarah Bell. It was at Todmorden where these true lovers,

At the parson's house, tales of love did tell,

And none on earth could be more constant,

Than Miles the weaver and young Sarah Bell. Deep in each heart was true love engrafted,

They had sworn for ever to happy be,

No power on earth could those lovers sever,

They met in joy and felicity;

But they parted, and broken hearted,

Separated was those true lovers far,

Those constant lovers adorned each other,

And love will penetrate through iron bars. Miles Weatherill was but three and twenty,

His mind was noble, he good did mean,

And Sarah Bell was fair and virtuous,

Young blooming, aged seventeen;

They would have married, but tales were carried,

Which caused displeasure, as you shall hear,

Miles was refused to meet his lover,

And she left Todmorden, in Lancashire. She left her true-love quite broken hearted,

And to her mother at York did go,

And when such a distance from each other parted,

Caused them sorrow, grief, pain, and woe;

In a fit of sadness, overcome with madness,

He made a deep and solemn vow,

If separated from his own tru lover,

He would be revenged on Parson Plow. With loaded pistols, in a fit of frenzy,

Miles to the Vicarage did haste forethwith,

And with a weapon wounded the master,

And shot the maiden, named Jane Smith;

To the lady's bedchamber, in rage and anger,

Bent on destruction, with intent to kill,

He did ill treat her, with a poker and beat her,

And her crimson blood on the floor did spill. Oh, God, in mercy guide evil passions,

Thou seest all things from heaven above,

Three innocent lives has been sacrificed,

And one serious injured all through true love,

If they'd not been parted, made broken hearted,

Those in the grave would be living now,

And Miles would not have died on the gallows,

For slaying the maiden and Parson Plow. Young men and maidens, you constant lovers,

If true and honourable you make a vow,

Be just and upright, and oh, remember,

Todmorden Vicarage and Parson Plow;

And all good people, oh, pray consider,

Where true love is planted, there let it dwell,

And recollect the Todmorden murder,

Young Miles the weaver, and Sarah Bell. Miles and the true love by death is parted,

In health and bloom, he the world did leave,

And his true love, quite broken hearted,

For Miles the weaver, in paid do grieve;

At the early age of three and twenty,

In the shades below, with the worms do dwell,

On the fatal drop, he cried, broken hearted,

May we meet in heaven, my sweet Sarah Bell. Todmorden and Walsden set up a workhouse alongside the canal at Gauxholme in 1801 in a house rented from John Sutcliffe and John Shackleton for 18 guineas a year. The parish overseers purchased 10 cast iron beds each with a straw mattress, 2 blankets, one sheet, one bolster and one woollen quilt. Todmorden former Gauxholme workhouse, 2006. Heptonstall historian, the late Colin Spencer, researched the Heptonstall workhouse which opened in 1754 on a rented farm on Edge Lane. Heptonstall Edge Lane workhouse site



Heptonstall Edge Lane workhouse from the north-west, 2006. The township overseers treated the farm as a working farm. At about 1100 feet above sea level, the only grain crop that could be grown there was oats. According to local records, the ground was prepared for sowing the following spring:
"March 1st Pd. John Pickles and Thomas Whitley for Graveing 5 Daywork: £2-0-0"
"Graving" was a two man operation of turning over the soil by hand, one man cutting the turf and the other turning it over; a "daywork" was an area of 3136 square yards, about two thirds of an acre, and the wages at the time were about eight shillings a week, so it took these two men about two and a half weeks to turn over the five daywork of land. John Pickles was also paid "for Gaten out muck to the Corne". Finally, the seed corn was bought:

29 April Pd. Jas. Walton for 18 strikes of Seed Corn 0-17-0
Pd. Will Sutcliffe for 2 Load of Seed Corn 1-10-0

(Later references are to "Holland Oats". A "strike" or "stroke" was a measure equal to four gallons or half a bushel.) The overseers also fitted out the interior for the expected inmates, for example with "One duzan of spoons" together with 15 basins and 13 mess pots, suggesting a household of about a dozen inmates. They were well looked after and were probably better off than most of the families in the village, with meal and coal arriving regularly, and luxuries such as tobacco being bought not infrequently. The shopping list for Christmas 1755 was:

For a Cows Head for Workhouse 1 2
A Barrel for the Workhouse 1 8
3 Loads of Coal for the Workhouse 2 6
For 3 Treacle lb 6½
For 3 pecks of Malt and Hops 3 - 0

The list for 1762 included:

Apples, treacle, sugar, Currans, etc, etc 2 6
Clove, pepr, seeds, etc 8½
Matts and Bacco for Workhouse 3 0½
24 lb Sope and Hops 3 0
12 lb Treacle 2 - 4

Thomas Sunderland was appointed Workhouse Master at £20 a year and supervised the farming and harvesting. The Heptonstall corn was taken down to the mill in Hebden Bridge for drying and grinding. The workhouse had only two spinning wheels and some spindles, suggesting that very little indoor work was expected from the inmates. It was intended to be a self-supporting institution but the income, chiefly from spinning and farm produce, was always well below the expenses which included the heavy burdens of the farm rent and the master's wage. In 1780-81 the total income was just over £16 to set against expenses of nearly £75. In 1781 82 the deficit was £48, and when the cost of the workhouse reached £105 in 1783-84 the principal inhabitants decided that enough was enough. After a town meeting, it was decided that the township's paupers should be "farmed" by a contractor. Ambrose Gill, a weaver, undertook to be responsible for the feeding and clothing of the workhouse inhabitants "at the sum of eight Shillings a Piece each Person for a Calendar Month". By 1800 the total cost of the workhouse was only £6-13-7½ with a few short stays only. After 1810, the Heptonstall workhouse moved to Popples Bottom, Slack. After 1834
The Todmorden Poor Law Union was officially formed on 15th February 1837. Its operation was overseen by an elected Board of Guardians, 18 in number, representing its 6 constituent parishes and townships as listed below (figures in brackets indicate numbers of Guardians if more than one):

County of Lancaster: Todmorden and Walsden (4). County of York - West Riding: Erringden (2), Heptonstall (3), Langfield (2), Stansfield (4), Wadsworth (3). Later Additions (all from 1894): Blackshaw, Hebden Bridge, Mytholmroyd. The population falling within the Union at the 1831 census had been 23,397 with parishes and townships ranging in size from Erringden (population 1,933) to Todmorden (6,054). Todmorden Poor Law Union was the one of the most vehement in its opposition to the 1834 Poor Law Amendment Act. Its member parishes had resisted forming a Poor Law Union but eventually gave way. However, opposition to the building of a new workhouse, led by John Fielden, held firm with a refusal to pay the poor rates. A riot took place with the Chairman of the Board of Guardians being attacked. In 1844 the Union was, exceptionally, given leave to abandon the requirement to provide a workhouse. An 1847 local directory records the union as using three small buildings at Gauxholme, Stansfield and Wadsworth as workhouse accommodation. Finally, in 1877, under threat of the union being dissolved, Todmorden became the last union in England to provide a workhouse when it erected one at Lee Bottom near Mankinholes. Ironically, the site on which it was built was on an estate known as Beggarington. The initial capacity of the workhouse was 100 but in 1890 the buildings were expanded to accommodate 250. Todmorden workhouse site, 1905




Todmorden workhouse from the west, c.1902. In 1930, the workhouse became a Public Assistance Institution serving the new Calder "Guardian's Area". At that time, it had 293 mostly elderly inmates, with sixty more in the infirmary. The institution later became Stansfield View Hospital and after 1948 provided care for the mentally handicapped. The vagrants' wards were closed in 1950. The buildings were demolished in 1996 and the site cleared. Todmorden workhouse from the west, c.1906. The union also operated a children's home in Todmorden

November 24th 1838

THE NEW POOR LAW – RIOTING AT TODMORDEN – THE MILITARY CALLED OUT


The attempts to enforce the introduction of the new Poor Law Bill into the manufacturing districts of Yorkshire continue to keep these districts in a state of excitement the most alarming….

.…On Friday the hitherto peaceful town of Todmorden was plunged into a scene of riot and disturbance of the most serious description, in consequence of the inhabitants, through their overseers, refusing to contribute their share towards the newly formed Poor Law Union. From the accounts we have received from the latter place, it appears that some time since the overseers of Langfield, Todmorden, Walsden and Lee, were fined by the bench of Magistrates for refusing to pay a certain sum of money, which was proved to have been regularly demanded, in support of the Union of that district. The overseers would not pay, on the plea that they were utterly unable to collect one farthing, so strenuously opposed were the inhabitants to the new law. The Guardians of the Union, however, were determined to extract the money from the overseers, leaving it to the latter to seek their own remedy, and on Friday last warrants were issued by the Magistrates and placed in the hands of proper officers to distrain upon the goods and chattels of the said overseers. William Ingham's house in Mankinholes

The first place chosen by the constables to levy was the house of Mr. William Ingham, the overseer of the township of Langfield near Todmorden, into which they entered, having brought with them a horse and cart to convey away the goods. No sooner did the people of Todmorden and neighbourhood hear of what was going on, than they congregated in great numbers in front of Mr. Ingham's house, threatening vengeance upon the two unfortunate limbs of the law engaged in the distraint. They threatened to burn down the house of Mr. Ingham unless he turned out the two bailiffs and handed them over to the tender mercies of the mob. The cart which the unfortunate men had brought with them was broken to atoms, piled in a heap, and set fire to, and the harness cut to ribands. Ingham from his house attempted to address the mob, begging them to spare the men’s lives, which, after considerable tumult, they consented to, providing that Mr. Ingham instantly turned them out

Upon an assurance that the bailiffs should receive no bodily injury, Mr. Ingham turned them out. The mob immediately proceeded to strip them naked, and in that state they were suffered to depart, followed by the mob with hootings and horrid imprecations. At this moment, the Board of Guardians of the Union was holding a meeting at the Crown Inn at Woodmill. To this place the mob repaired and broke every window in the inn, the Guardians having to make their escape from the back of the premises in the best way they could. A meeting of Magistrates was immediately summoned when it was resolved to send for the military from Blackburn and Manchester. Detachments of infantry were soon upon the spot, but on their arrival the mob dispersed. The military are still in the town, but no further attempts at riot have been made. A Whig paper (The Manchester Guardian of Wednesday) gives the following account of the disturbances:

On the afternoon of Friday last the township of Langfield near Todmorden became the scene of a very gross outrage on the persons of two officers, sent from Halifax, to carry into effect a precept of the law on the property of an overseer. About 3 o’clock in the afternoon of the above day, two stout and respectably dressed persons were observed proceeding in a one-horse cart, with reins, in the direction from Halifax and towards Woodmill, about a mile and a quarter from Todmorden. On arriving at a turning in the road, they took the direction of Mankinholes, the residence of Mr. Ingham, assistant overseer for the township of Langfield, whose house they entered, leaving the horse and cart in the front yard. They soon made known to Mr. Ingham that their business was to seize his household furniture, by authority of a distraint warrant for the penalty of £5 awarded by the Magistrates of Halifax, for neglecting to comply with an order of the Board of Guardians. Ingham still being unable or unwilling to pay, they proceeded to levy on his goods, when a handbell was heard to ring outside of the house. A number of people were very soon upon the spot, and their numbers quickly increased; the alarm spreading in every part of the valley and upon the hills where a number of men were at work for the Manchester and Leeds Railway Company; they flew from their employ, as well as the hands of four or five cotton mills and in a short time the house was surrounded by a multitude of many hundreds of persons of both sexes. Meantime some person had turned the horse towards the main road and set it off; and one of the constables ventured out of the house to bring it back, which he succeeded in, after following it the greater part of a mile towards Todmorden. On approaching the house, which he seemed to have summoned a desperate resolution to effect, the cart was seized and thrown over in a minute, the horse falling between the shafts and the man beside it. He still retained his hold, when one person took up a stone and dashed it with force upon his breast. He recovered his feet, and fortunately made his escape to the house without receiving any serious injury. The gearing of the horse was then cut and it was turned into a field, whilst the cart was smashed and broken by picks, and afterwards it was set on fire and entirely consumed. It had now become almost dark, and the situation of the two constables in the house assumed every moment an appearance of greater peril; they begged to be allowed to go away without personal harm. They represented to those with whom they could occasionally interchange expressions that it was an unpleasant duty forced upon them, and tendered their promise not to be again so employed, if suffered to return without harm in this instance. The mob would listen no parley: they at length demanded that the men should be turned out of the house; and, their request not being promptly complied with, stones were thrown, several windows were broken, and further violence was threatened, when at length the door was opened, and the unfortunate men walked into the crowd, which seemed ready to tear them to pieces. They proceeded towards Woodmill, at which place, at the Crown Inn, the Guardians were sitting; but had not gone far, ere every vestige of apparel contributing to decency was torn from their backs, and they literally ran the gauntlet naked, except their stockings, through a continuous crowd, which hooted, pelted, and inflicted on them indignities which are not fit for description. The mob now collected in front of the Public House, and one of the Guardians, Mr. Royston Oliver, endeavoured to address and reason with them, but his efforts were in vain, and it was not without difficulty that the crowd were prevented from laying hold of him, and dragging him out. The windows were, however, smashed, after which the mob slowly dispersed, and, on the arrival of the 8 o’clock coach for Halifax, the two constables (who had to a degree re-clothed) returned by it to that town. Nothing further had occurred on Monday. The constables, being strangers, could not name individual offenders, many of whom also are supposed to be strangers working on the railway. THE LONDON TIMES 26TH NOVEMBER 1838

MORE RIOTING AT TODMORDEN

Thursday evening November 22nd. A further demonstration of the feeling with which the Poor Law is received in the village of Todmorden and its neighbourhood was manifested yesterday. A report had got into circulation that a posse of constables, supported by military, would in the afternoon seize the goods of Mr. Ingham, the overseer of Langfield, in execution of the process referred to in our report of that transaction on the Friday previous. A number of persons consequently assembled at the spot, and on the eminences commanding views of the scene of expected operations. The report proved to be incorrect, for neither constables nor military came in site. The crowd being, however, collected, and probably disappointed in not having something to do, turned their attention to other employment, and wheeled round to the premises of Messrs. Samuel and Royston Oliver at Wood Mills, the latter being a Guardian for the township of Langfield. These houses they broke into and sacked, breaking all the windows and doors, and making a wreck of the greater part of the furniture. The mob then proceeded rapidly through Todmorden and up to Dules, or Devil’s Gate (as the pass to Bacup is called), to Friths Mill, where they ransacked the house of Mr. William Helliwell, another of the Guardians, and broke his windows, doors and furniture in a similar manner. Helliwell was entertaining a party of friends, all of whom fled precipitately, and the house was entered and furniture broken as at the other places. Helliwell begged them to spare a clock because it was her mother’s, but her entreaties were of no avail. This might be about half past five in the evening. William Helliwell's house and mill at Friths. (Reconstruction drawing )


Abraham Ormerod's house at Stoneswood

From Mr. Helliwell’s they went to Stoneswood and enacted similar outrages at the residence of Mr. Abraham Ormerod, who has also the misfortune to be a Guardian. They found instruments of destruction here in the iron palisades, with which they smashed in the panels of the doors. The dwellings of Messrs. Greenwood and Bros. at Water-place (Watty) was next visited with similar results. The mob then went to the shop of one Ann Holt, a provisions dealer, who had rendered herself obnoxious, it would seem, by her frequent and warm advocacy of the new Poor Law. All the windows of her shop were broken, and a quantity of her goods was injured and destroyed. Oliver, a surgeon, the Registrar of Births and Deaths, and brother to Mr. Royston Oliver, next received their attentions. His house and shop were broken in to and sacked as the others had been; his bottles and vials were smashed, and his medicines thrown into the street. A more important object was then visited, for passing along the street the rioters fell upon the residence of Mr. James Taylor, which is known as Todmorden Hall. This is a venerable stone mansion, situate in a shrubbery on the left of the road from Rochdale. Taylor, who is a grandson of the celebrated Whitworth doctor, is a Magistrate and of course a Guardian ex officio. This place the mob completely surrounded, smashed nearly every one of the numerous windows, and hewed the door with sharp instruments, apparently shovels, which they found in the garden house. Todmorden Hall

Entering the dining room by the window, every article of costly and splendid furniture it contained was shivered; all the numerous family portraits, except one, were cut with knives and irrevocably destroyed, and the fragments of furniture being piled in a heap were set fire to, and the mob then retired. The servants fortunately entered the room as the mob left it, and a few buckets of water being applied the fire was extinguished without doing serious damage. Taylor was at Liverpool, and the elder Mrs. Taylor, the children and the servants only were at home. The instruments of destruction, as is evident from those left in the house, were large clubs, stems, roots, and gnarled branches of trees with great pieces of rock, apparently walling stones. A garden shovel was thrown through the laundry window; the handle was broken, probably with hewing at the back door. Another shovel, with the handle bloody, was hurled through the window of the library on the second floor. A large stone was deposited on one of the shelves beside the books, and several large clubs were left on the floor. A more humble individual next experienced the vengeance of the lawless multitude. James Suthers of Toad Lane, a beer shop keeper and collector of rates under the Guardians was served as his neighbours had been. Hence they went to Hare Hill, the residence of Mr. James Greenwood, where they broke every thing, making a complete wreck of the splendid furniture; they threw some of the silver plate into the brook, and finished by setting fire to the house, which would have been certainly destroyed had not the neighbours flocked in when the mob left and vigorously applied water to the flames; this was not effected, however, without difficulty, and not until the principal staircase had been destroyed. Hare Hill House

Henry Atkinson, a shoemaker in the village of Todmorden, was next assailed. His shutters and windows were dealt with as others had been. Here they were addressed by Mr. Robinson of The Stones, one of the overseers who had resisted the Poor Law Commissioners and Guardians. He represented to them the folly of destroying property, which the country would have to make good, and requested them to desist and go to their houses. They said as it was he who gave the advice, he should be obeyed, and they immediately broke up and dispersed. In a very short time afterwards, a troop of the 5th Light Dragoons from Burnley entered the village at a smart trot; there was then no enemy to encounter. This was about half past seven o’clock. The Dragoons were followed by two companies of the 86th Foot, also from Burnley, and on the arrival of the latter the cavalry returned. On Thursday a Bench of six Magistrates assembled at the Buck Inn and swore in about 110 special constables. At that time all was quiet in the village and neighbourhood. TODMORDEN FRIDAY NOV. 23RD. A party of the 5th Light Dragoons from Burnley under the command of Captain Bolton took up quarters in the town this morning. A troop of the 3rd Dragoon Guards from Manchester occupied the village of Littleborough on Thursday night, and last night additional cavalry, with two pieces of artillery, marched into Rochdale. At Todmorden the working population were perfectly peaceable. The Magistrates, seven in number, met at the Buck and took depositions. The mob on Wednesday was composed apparently of factory hands; no stonemasons or excavators were noticed amongst them. About a couple of hundred boys preceded the main body, and as usual commenced the mischief. The mob of the previous Friday was differently composed, of which more will probably be said next week. In no instance, so far as has come to our knowledge, did they attempt to inflict personal injury; in no instance did they consume liquors, nor is anything said as to their having stolen articles of value as plate etc. At several places they made free with eatables, and at Hare Hill, the residence of Mr. James Greenwood, they took a quantity of preserves, with beef, cheese, and other substantial articles of food. At this place the configuration was most perilous; they set fire to a closet under the stairs in the servants’ hall, and the whole of the smashed furniture was ignited in the middle of the floor, so that the room was in a strong blaze, and a few more minutes would have been sufficient to render the building irrecoverable. Miss Greenwood acted with great spirit and presence of mind, and the bearing of Mr. Greenwood was courageous, but too rash. Hare Hill House

A man made a blow at some valuable furniture with a heavy bludgeon; he missed his aim, and Mr. Greenwood struck him with an iron rake on the back of his head, and afterwards on the shoulder. The mob called to turn him out, but he maintained his position at the foot of the stairs, after having placed his sister and the servants in the cellar, and his mother and another lady in one of the bedrooms. At Mr. William Greenwood’s of Water-place, (Watty) the rioters called out “Halt!” and the boys, who went in front, deliberately armed themselves with bludgeons from some timber near at hand. They then attacked the house, and demolished every window about the place, and most of the furniture. Watty House


THE TIMES NOVEMBER 29TH 1838

TODMORDEN SATURDAY

About 150 special constables, who had been sworn in on Thursday, assembled at the White Hart and shortly afterwards, supported by parties of the military, infantry and cavalry, with several Magistrates, they proceeded to Lumbutts near Mankinholes, where the outrage on the two Halifax constables was perpetrated, and there surrounded the High Mill of Messrs. Fielden and Brothers. Some of the Halifax police and special constables entered the mill and took prisoners, near 40 men and youths whom they found at work, and against whom information had been laid for the riots of 16th and 21st inst. The prisoners were escorted back to Todmorden, where two of the men were identified as having been concerned in the attack on Todmorden Hall, and 14 in the riot at Mankinholes on the Friday previous. The former were sent off immediately, under escort of cavalry, to the New Bailey at Manchester, preparatory to their transmission to Kirkdale; the latter 14 were similarly despatched to York for trial at the next assizes. The Magistrates were Messrs. Ralph, Waterhouse and Briggs of Halifax, Royds of Rochdale, and Crossley and Taylor of Todmorden. On the evidence against the prisoners being concluded, Mr. John Fielden, who had some time before entered the room, offered bail for the whole of his workmen. He asked by what authority the constables and military had entered his mill? Royds said: “for the purpose of apprehending rioters, Mr. Fielden.” Mr. Fielden then said he tendered bail for the whole of his men. Royds said that would depend on whether the Magistrates chose to accept it. Eventually, they declined, and the men were committed. On Saturday it was remarked that but few men were to be seen in the streets of Todmorden, the spectators were chiefly women and girls. On Sunday a great number of strangers visited the place to view the devastation the rioters had made. It was rumoured, and not without authority, that the Guardians intend now to resign, but nothing decisive had at that time taken place. (The names of the arrested men are not recorded in The Times. However, the two men sent to the New Bailey in Manchester were George Turner and William Lord. Details of their trial are below. The 14 men taken to York were as follows:)


William Crabtree (aged 17)

John Crabtree (19)

Abraham Crabtree (25)

John Fielden (22)

Joseph Gaukroger (27)

Thomas Greenwood (22)

James Kershaw (25)
James Kershaw (52)

Gibson Lord (17)

Jeremiah Sutcliffe - 18

Joseph Taylor (25)

Enoch Thomas (32)

John Uttley (24)

John Walton - 28


THE LONDON TIMES 8TH APRIL 1839

NORTHERN CIRCUIT LIVERPOOL ASSIZES

FRIDAY APRIL 5TH 1839

CROWN COURT

George Turner and William Lord were indicted for having, on 21st November last, at Todmorden, with divers other persons riotously assembled and begun to pull down the house of William Helliwell, and also a certain mill of the said William Helliwell. Serjeant Atcherley and Mr. Brandt conducted the prosecution: Mr. Adolphus, Mr. Bliss and Mr. Blair defended Lord, and Mr. Dundas and Mr. Cobbett defended Turner. It appeared from the evidence of Mr. Helliwell that the neighbourhood had been formed into a Poor Law Union, which was very unpopular there. On the 21st November a large mob of persons assembled, but after a time dispersed. About 30 persons assembled a second time, who smashed his windows, broke the iron rails in front of his house, and the panels out of the front door. There was a great deal of shouting; stones and sticks flew about in all directions, and his wife and children were in great alarm. James Greenwood deposed that after the mob left Helliwell’s they went to a Mr. Bacup’s, whose house they treated as they had done Helliwell’s. They then proceeded to witness’s brother’s, where they broke the rails down and windows, and injured the mill. Witness then went to his house at Harehill and ordered the house to be secured. He put the family in the cellar for safety. They demolished the doors and windows, broke in, and set the kitchen, breakfast room and staircase on fire. Some cried “Bring him out; bring him out! Kill him; he’s a Bastille chap!”

Eli Crossley: He was bringing his children home from school. Hearing the mob he hastened to get them in the house. He saw Lord and Turner in the mob. He had known Turner a long time; they went to school together. Lord he had known about 6 months. He was called “Silly Billy”, he could not tell why. Richard Chambers: Is a stationer in Todmorden. Saw the mob. 500 people went to Helliwell’s. He observed Turner in the middle of the crowd carrying a large stick. Lord was walking on the causeway, but not in the crowd. The mob went on to Mr. Fielden’s house. Several other witnesses spoke to the violence of the mob, and to the presence of the prisoners, particularly of Turner. Adolphus addressed the jury for Lord, and called some witnesses who spoke to his being quietly at home as soon as he could get there, and that his presence with the mob was involuntary, he not concurring in their transactions. Dundas addressed the jury for Turner. Lord was acquitted and Turner found Guilty. Sentence deferred.


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Meanwhile, the 14 men sent to York for trial were joined by a further 3 alleged insurgents; William Barrett, John Helliwell and Arthur Lowden. John Fielden's offer to bail these men was initially refused, although they were eventually granted bail in January 1839. The men were tried at York on 21st March 1839 and all 17 were bound over. Following the riots, the government sent a group to investigate whether John Fielden had incited, encouraged or supported the rioters. They failed to find anyone willing to testify against him and his case was dropped. In the end, only one man was imprisoned and the Magistrate commented that he felt others were more responsible for the riots than those in the dock. This was a veiled reference to John Fielden's role in the affair. The Board of Guardians could not operate successfully without representation from Todmorden & Walsden and Langfield. This fact, together with the fear aroused by the violence of the riots and the intimidation of the supporters of the law, led them to go along with the rebels. They agreed to continue with the old system of poor relief and abandon any idea of building a Union Workhouse. The Overseers continued to collect their own Poor Levy and to distribute it as "out relief" as before. No-one was sent to any workhouse if they had somewhere to live, and life continued as before. The townships made use of 3 small Poorhouses at Gauxholme, Stansfield and Wadsworth for those who had no-where else to live. On 31 March 1843, the two townships appointed their first Guardians as Relieving Officers and Collectors. Thomas Heyworth aged 49 of Woodhouse and John Sutcliffe aged 45 of Underbank were elected as Relieving Officers, and Richard Ingham aged 54 of Haugh, Langfield, was elected as Poor Rate Collector for Langfield. Todmorden and Langfield townships were so vehement in their opposition to the 1834 Poor Law Amendment Act that in 1844 the Todmorden Union was allowed to abandon the requirement to provide a workhouse. However, the two townships still refused to join the Union and only after 40 years did this opposition cease

TODMORDEN UNION WORKHOUSE



Under the 1834 Poor Law Amendment Act, the Government required the township to join a Union comprising the townships of Todmorden & Walsden, Heptonstall, Erringden, Langfield, Stansfield and Wadsworth; and for this Union, known as the Todmorden Union, to build a large workhouse to accommodate all the paupers of the 6 townships and discontinue the much preferred system of "out-relief". The previous article on the poor Laws from 1834 details the local reaction to the 1834 Act, the Township's refusal to comply with the new laws, and the consequences. John Fielden, local mill owner and MP for Oldham (1832-1847) was the mainstay behind the revolt, and he had a band of supporters in the locality prepared to face imprisonment rather than comply with the requirement to discontinue the existing methods of helping the poor of Todmorden & Walsden and Langfield and remove them all to the workhouse. The idea of a workhouse was unthinkable to John Fielden. He had resisted the implementation of the new poor law fiercely . His pamphlet 'The Curse of the Factory System" makes clear his view that many workers were not responsible for their own poverty. Consequently, the Todmorden Union Workhouse was not built until long after his death. After almost 40 years of resistance the local Board of Guardians were forced into agreeing to build a workhouse when the Poor Law Board threatened to disband the Union altogether and re-allocate the 6 townships between the Halifax and Rochdale Unions. The local guardians finally agreed to do so and built the new workhouse. Todmorden Union became the last Union in the country to provide one. The money to build the workhouse was raised by a loan from the Public Works Loan Commissioners. Ironically, the site on which it was built was on an estate known as Beggarington at Lea Bottom, Langfield. It opened in 1879 and at first, there was accommodation for 100 inmates and further accommodation for vagrants. The total cost was £21,000. The building, designed in the style of a prison, aroused great hostility amongst the locals, who dreaded the prospect of entering its walls. The Government's Poor Law Board had drawn up a set of guidelines to be followed in all Union Workhouses. These included categorising the inmates into one of seven groups:

Men infirm through age or illness

Women infirm through age or illness

Able-bodied men over 15 years

Able-bodied women over 15 years

Boys between 7 and 15 years

Girls between 7 and 15 years

Children under the age of 7 years

The seven groups were to be kept totally separated at all times, even during what little leisure time there may have been. Married couples, even the elderly, were to be kept apart at all costs so that they could not 'breed'. Each of the seven classes was supposed to have its own exercise yard. There was no segregation of inmates after the seven classes had been separated. This meant that the old, ill, insane, slightly unbalanced and fit were kept together both day and night with no form of diversion. Inmates simply sat and did nothing if they were not working. It was accepted that the inmates slept in dormitories

Mr. and Mrs Gent from Huddersfield were the Master and Matron until they left in July 1882. The Guardians then appointed a married couple who had been the porter and porteress at the Chorley Union Workhouse, Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Townley, and a Miss Willman from Southport as nurse. This was an unfortunate period in the history of the Union Workhouse, culminating in the the arrest of Mr. Townley. On 23rd December 1886 he was taken into police custody for having been apprehended the previous day under a warrant charging him with unlawfully and indecently assaulting 2 vagrant inmates, namely; Walter Pearce and Richard Hartley. Townley failed to surrender himself for trial at the Leeds Quarter Sessions. Clearly, the couple were dismissed and replaced by Mr. and Mrs Pilling. The building was extended in 1890 to accommodate a further 150 inmates and a vagrants' ward. The extension consisted of two pavilions for the inmates plus an extension to the Infirmary. The formal opening ceremony took place on 14th. November 1890 in the presence of the Guardians and a number of invited guests. The Todmorden Handbell Ringers gave some light entertainment to the inmates that evening. The Todmorden Union Guardians appeared to have tried to alleviate some of the distress to the inmates by arranging special events for them from time to time. On each Christmas Day there was a special dinner with the occasional presents and entertainment such as in December 1890 when the children of Roomfield Board School infants class went to sing for them. It was noted in the Todmorden and Hebden Bridge Almanac for January 5th. 1890:



"Through the generosity of Mr T. Russell, of the Pavilion Theatre , as many of the inmates of the Union Workhouse as were able to walk to town and back were admitted free to an afternoon performance of the Christmas Pantomime "Little Bo-Peep," and afterwards entertained to a substantial tea in the club-room of the York Hotel." It is worthy of note that the recorded special events were concentrated round Christmas time.