Dobroyd Castle, Todmorden

Joshua Fielden’s brother John, born in 1822, fell in love with one of his mill workers, Ruth Stansfield. The story goes that she replied to his proposal of marriage by jokingly saying that she would accept on the condition that he built her a castle on top of the hill. John took her at her word, commissioned Gibson to build Dobroyd Castle and she duly married him. Completed in 1869, Dobroyd is an enormous two-storey building which dominates the skyline above Todmorden.