HISTORICAL COUNTY DATA
May 2023
Todmorden Christ Church Baptisms 1839-1878. More years to come.
The three townships of Todmorden, split between the parish of Rochdale and the parish of Halifax
Todmorden Town Hall
The town of Todmorden was originally composed of three parts, called townships. One township, Todmorden and Walsden, was in the parish of Rochdale, Lancashire. The other two townships, Stansfield and Langfield, were in the parish of Halifax, Yorkshire West Riding.
Townships were former local government divisions of a parish when the parish was too large to be administered as a single unit. Halifax parish contained twenty-three townships; Rochdale parish contained eight townships, one of which, Saddleworth, was in Yorkshire West Riding.
Through various reforms of local government, many of the townships survive as civil parishes, whose boundaries are still to be found on the larger scale Ordnance Survey maps.
Walsden, with the spire of St Peter's Church visible among the trees
Some of the data available here are the parish records of Walsden, a village about 1½ miles SSW of Todmorden.
The parish of Walsden was formed in 1845 by division of the Parish of Todmorden, which had earlier been divided from the Ancient Parish of Rochdale. In 1888, Walsden and the part of Todmorden originally in Lancashire, was transferred to Yorkshire West Riding for administrative purposes.
The Lancashire Online Parish Clerk has records for Todmorden St Mary 1625 to 1832, and Todmorden Patmos Chapel for a small range of years. Todmorden and Walsden is a website with a great deal of useful and interesting information about the area.