Former Cross Stones church, west end

Image: © Stephen Craven Taken: 28 Jul 2018

There had been a chapel of ease to Heptonstall parish at Cross Stone since about 1536, but burials here only started in 1697, and it only became a separate parish in 1810. It served the eastern end of Todmorden that lay in the West Riding (the rest of the town at that time was in Lancashire). The present building dedicated to St Paul was erected 1832-35 by Pickersgill and Matthew Oates replacing the earlier chapel. It was a "Commissioners" church with a large tower, said to be a copy of St James Hebden Bridge by Oates Snr. There was a Sunday School building on Broadstone Street lower down the hill (now a funeral directors). The church was closed for worship due to subsidence damage in the 1970s and sold in 1988 for residential conversion. Allegedly most of the contents, including the Kempe stained glass and possibly the church bells, were lost in transit when a ship sank on its way to the USA. The building is listed grade II (list entry 1133762). References: Historic England listing; "Churches: A question of conversion", K Powell & C de la Hay, SAVE, 1987, pp 42-49; http://www.todmordenstmarys.org/html/church_history.html (now only available via archive.org).

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