St Paul's Church, Cross Stone is on Cross Stone Road, Stansfield.
It stands on the hillside at Cross Stone about 300 ft above Todmorden, that is, 750 ft above sea level.
Built about 1450 as a chapel of ease to Heptonstall Parish Church and served Middle Stansfield and Langfield. It is said that it was built by the Stansfield family of Stansfield Hall.
From 1536, it served the Yorkshire part of Todmorden, while St Mary's Parish Church served the Lancashire part.
There is a lintel from the Church, dated 1619 Dove Deo, which was moved and reused in a row of outhouses when the Church was rebuilt in 1833.
Permission was given to rebuild the Church in 1717.
That Church was demolished in 1833. Some of the material was used to build Swan Grove, Millwood.
There are Royal Arms decorating the Church.
The present building is a Commissioners' Church designed by Pickersgill and Oates and was built in 1835.
The foundation stone was laid on 31st May 1832 by the Vicar of Halifax, Rev Charles Musgrave.
The Church stands on a prominent site on a hill to the north of the road into Todmorden from the east.
Elizabeth – widow of Richard Ingham – gave furniture [1867] and plate [1878] to the Church.
In 1888, a number of Mission Rooms were listed as associated with the Church: Beeton Mission Room and Lumbutts Mission Room.
In 1889, extensive alterations were carried out. In 1894, further work was carried out to tackle dry rot.
On 8th July 1900, a stained glass window was dedicated to the memory of William Sagar. The window by Charles Eamer Kempe [1837-1907] depicted The Healing of the Cripple at Lystra.
On 29th September 1907, it reopened after a complete restoration, including a new roof. A new font was presented by Mr and Mrs John Sager, in memory of their son John Donald.
On 19th March 1911, the Church received gifts of £2,500.
In 1994, Cross Stone and Todmorden parishes merged.
A set of stocks are built into the east side of the Church wall.
After a landslip, the building became unsafe and was closed.
The Church was declared redundant & derelict for a time, but is now a private house.
The records for the Church are held at the West Yorkshire Archive Service office in Wakefield (Collection WDP41): Baptisms [1678-1931], Marriages [1837-1949] and Burials [1678-1970].
A list of some of the Vicars of Cross Stone is given in a separate Foldout
See Baptisms at the Chapels of Heptonstall & Cross Stone, Burials at the Chapels of Heptonstall & Cross Stone, John Craweshaye, Cross Stone School, Cross Stone Parsonage, Cross Stone stocks, Mrs Sally Walton, Marriages at the Chapels of Heptonstall & Cross Stone, Peter Ormerod, St Paul's Church, Cross Stone: Memorial, St Paul's Church, Cross Stone: Graveyard, Thomas Stansfeld, The Stephenson Family, John Sutcliffe and Water Trough, Cross Stone
©
Malcolm Bull 2017 /
[email protected]
Revised 11:44 on 28th October 2017 / zz_3 / 8
