St Paul’s Church,Cross Stone, Todmorden

There has been a church here since about 1450 high up on the hills above the Todmorden valley and it was built as a Chapel of Ease for Heptonstall Parochial Chapelry to serve the townships of Stansfield and Langfield. The old medieval church was replaced in 1717 which in turn was replaced by this building in 1833. It is a so-called Million Pound or Commissioner’s Church. After a survey had shown that no new churches had been built since the time of Queen Anne, the Church Building Act was passed in 1820 to build churches in developing towns. This allocated £1 million to build churches in industrial areas. The money came from the indemnity money which was paid by the French after the Napoleonic Wars. The church is now a private house.