1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Todmorden

TODMORDEN, a market town and municipal borough in the Sowerby parliamentary division of the West Riding of Yorkshire, England, extending into the Middleton parliamentary division of Lancashire; 19 m. N.N.E. of Manchester, on the Lancashire & Yorkshire railway. Pop. (1901), 25,418. It lies on both sides of the river Calder, and the scenery of the valley is beautiful in spite of the numerous factories. Todmorden Hall, a picturesque old mansion of various dates, was the seat of the Radcliffes, but they sold the manorial rights about the close of the 17th century. The town hall is a handsome classical building erected in 1875; it bridges the county boundary, the Calder, enabling the magistrates to exercise jurisdiction in both counties. There is a bronze statue to John Fielden (1784–1849), to whose energy in developing the cotton manufacture the town owes much of its prosperity. The staple industry is the spinning and weaving of cotton, and there are also foundries and machine-works. The municipal borough, incorporated in 1896, is under a mayor, 6 aldermen and 18 councillors. Area, 12,773 acres.