Todmorden is a market town and civil parish in the Upper Calder Valley in Calderdale, West Yorkshire, England.
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28 Facts About Todmorden
2.
Todmorden is at the confluence of three steep-sided Pennine valleys and is surrounded by moorlands with outcrops of sandblasted gritstone.
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3.
In 1898 Blackheath Barrow—a ring cairn monument situated above Cross Stone in Todmorden—was excavated and proved to be a site of "surpassing archaeological interest", according to J Lawton Russell, one of the men who carried out the excavation.
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4.
Settlement in medieval Todmorden was dispersed, most people living in scattered farms or in isolated hilltop agricultural settlements.
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5.
Todmorden grew to relative prosperity by combining farming with the production of woollen textiles.
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6.
On 1 January 1907, Todmorden Corporation became only the second municipality in the British Isles to operate a motor bus service.
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7.
In 1980, Todmorden found itself at the centre of a celebrated murder enquiry.
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8.
Since the local government reforms of 1974, Todmorden has been administered as part of the Metropolitan Borough of Calderdale, within the metropolitan county of West Yorkshire.
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9.
The territory of the civil parish of Todmorden extends to cover Eastwood, Walsden, Cornholme, Mankinholes, Lumbutts, Robinwood, Lydgate, Portsmouth, Shade, Stansfield, Dobroyd, Ferney Lee, Gauxholme and Cross Stone.
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10.
Todmorden is situated alongside the Pennine Way, Pennine Bridleway, Mary Towneley Loop and Calderdale Way and is popular for outdoor activities such as walking, fell running, mountain biking and bouldering.
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11.
Centre Vale Park in Todmorden is the setting for several pieces of local art, including tree carvings by the sculptor John Adamson, and an iconic bandstand.
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12.
Also in the park are the reconstructed remains of Centre Vale Mansion, next to Todmorden War Memorial in the Garden of Remembrance, and nearby there is a sculpture of a dog.
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13.
Todmorden has been used as a location for the 1980s BBC TV police drama Juliet Bravo, Territorial Army series All Quiet on the Preston Front, parts of The League of Gentlemen, BBC TV miniseries Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, the BBC1 series Life on Mars, a town in the book Spooks Blood and a film adaptation of the novel My Summer of Love.
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14.
Todmorden featured in the ITV paranormal show "Strange But True" which in their pilot episode from May 1993 investigated the UFO claims in the Todmorden area.
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15.
In February 2010, Todmorden featured in the BBC Radio 4 programme "Costing the Earth: The New Diggers".
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16.
In November 2011, Todmorden featured in the Channel 4 programme The Secret of Luck, in which Derren Brown sought to convince the town that the dog statue in Centre Vale Park brought good luck.
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17.
In September 2010 Todmorden received a visit from then-Prince Charles who came to support Mary Clear's Incredible Edible Todmorden project.
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18.
John Mitchell Nuttall was a Todmorden-born physicist remembered for the Geiger–Nuttall law.
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19.
John Fielden, land and factory owner in Todmorden and scion of the town's Fielden family, was a Member of Parliament and national leader of the Ten Hours Campaign for factory reform.
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20.
Todmorden was sentenced to death along with six other defendants, but after writing to the Illinois Governor asking for clemency his sentence was commuted to life imprisonment in November 1887.
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21.
Todmorden spent six years in prison before being pardoned, along with two other co-defendants, in 1893.
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23.
Todmorden wrote the first editions of Africa on a Shoestring, South America on a Shoestring and contributed to the first edition of the India on a Shoestring.
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24.
Todmorden died in Northern New South Wales, Australia on 13 April 2021.
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25.
Todmorden featured in the films Felicia's Journey, Sea Sick and Mersinias, and has had numerous theatre roles, including work for the National Theatre and Royal Shakespeare Company.
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26.
Todmorden-born actor Dicken Ashworth appeared in Coronation Street and Brookside.
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27.
John Helliwell, another Todmorden-born musician, was saxophonist in the band Supertramp.
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28.
Todmorden's first known victim, 70-year-old Eva Lyons, lived at Keswick Close in the town.
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