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121. Todmorden itself derives from Tott-mer-den - “the
122. The Danish conquest of
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
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
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
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
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
144. Roncq, in
twice-yearly exchange trips give an insight into each other’s culture.
145. As part of Calderdale, Todmorden has a twin area of the
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”. We celebrate our 150th birthday next week!