Todmorden - Landmarks

Landmarks

Todmorden has several attractions, the foremost being a large town hall that dominates the centre of the town. Todmorden is situated alongside the Pennine Way, Pennine Bridleway, Mary Towneley Loop and Calderdale Way and is popular for outdoor activities such as walking, fell running, mountain biking and bouldering. Its attractions include many canal and locks, a park containing a sports centre, an outdoor skateboard park, tennis courts, a golf course, an aquarium/reptile house and a cricket ground. There are also many wooded areas around the town and a variety of cafés and restaurants.

Its indoor and outdoor markets sell a wide range of locally produced food. The Hippodrome Theatre shows films as well as putting on live performances. The town also contains a small toy and model museum, a library and a tourist information centre, along with many independent retailers. Annual events include a carnival, agricultural show, beer festival, music festival and the traditional Easter Pace Egg plays.

Todmorden has the look of a Victorian mill town and has some notable buildings including Dobroyd Castle (completed in 1869), now used as a residential activity centre for schoolchildren; the Edwardian Hippodrome Theatre; an imposing Greek Revival town hall (built 1866–1875) that dominates the centre of town; the Grade I listed Todmorden Unitarian Church (built 1865–1869); and the 120 ft Stoodley Pike monument (built 1814 and rebuilt in 1854) atop the hill of the same name.

Dobroyd Castle, the Town Hall and the Unitarian church were all built at the behest of John Fielden and his sons and designed by John Gibson, who had been a member of Charles Barry's team at the Houses of Parliament.

The town hall in Todmorden straddles the Walsden Water, a tributary of the River Calder, and was situated in both Lancashire and Yorkshire until the administrative county boundary was moved on 1 January 1888. Designed by John Gibson of Westminster, this imposing building has a northern end which is semi-circular. One interesting external feature of the town hall is the pediment. The fine carved stonework has two central female figures on a pedestal. The left-hand one represents Lancashire (cotton spinning and weaving industries) and the right-hand one Yorkshire (engineering and agriculture).

Centre Vale Park in Todmorden is the setting for several pieces of local art, including tree carvings by the sculptor John Adamson. Also in the park are the reconstructed remains of Centre Vale Mansion, next to Todmorden War Memorial in the Garden of Remembrance, and nearby there is a sculpture of a dog. This was sculpted by local sculptor David Wynne in 2005, and was cast in steel at the local Todmorden foundry Weir Minerals. It was donated to the park by the sculptor and the foundry, but installation was delayed for several years due to the extensive flood alleviation works. In 2011, the dog was featured on an episode of Derren Brown's The Experiments. Brown spread a rumor that the dog was lucky; it then gained a reputation for bringing luck to anyone that touched it.

Older buildings include two 18th-century pubs; Todmorden Old Hall, a Grade II* listed manor house (Elizabethan) in the centre of town and currently in use as a restaurant; and St. Mary's Church which dates from 1476.

Stoodley Pike Monument—a 121 ft-high tower standing at the summit of 1,300 ft Stoodley Pike—dominates Todmorden's moors, and is a well-known landmark on the Pennine Way.