Welcome to the Friends Of Christ Church Todmorden website. This is where you can find research into the people buried in this graveyard, as well as an updated monumental inscriptions transcript of the public and private areas. This is a living document, continuously updated and improved.
We are an unincorporated community group (a non-charitable non-profit, in other words) whose aims include preserving the graveyard, improving accessibility, utilising the graveyard to educate all ages about the history of Todmorden and encourage emotional investment in the town’s past and future, and promoting groups such as ours in the hopes that others will take up the challenge of helping to maintain other graveyards in the Todmorden area.
We run a unique “adopt-a-grave” scheme, because many hands make light work. Adopters are asked to devote a few hours every few months to weeding, tidying, and beautifying the space around their chosen graves. We also encourage them to do research into those buried there, as this forms part of our long-term goal of illuminating the lives of those buried here. You shouldn’t need to be “famous” or “important” to be remembered – everyone here will be remembered on this website.
To navigate this site: the menu tabs are self-explanatory. You can find research on individual graves in the “Stories” section of our site. Posts are tagged to help you find specific categories – for example, war graves, business owners, officials, suicides. Tags also allow you to avoid upsetting or mature content. “MI Transcript” is where you can download our transcripts and view maps of the different sections of the graveyard.
You can also follow along in real time with our Facebook group – that’s where we have fun.
We are funded entirely by donations and grants which allow us to invest in the graveyard and promote our research without needing to charge for tours or other services. We firmly believe that, in the words of our Chair’s great-grandmother, “Todmorden is your town and my town” – the history of Todmorden belongs to everyone who lives here. We could not in good conscience charge you for what is already yours. You can find our GoFundMe page here if you’re minded and able to help us out, but if not, get in touch with us at friendsofchristchurchtod@outlook.com if helping by adopting a grave or tending the yard is more up your street.
We’re glad to be working with and supported by various organisations and businesses such as St. Mary’s Parish Church, Calderdale Council, Incredible Edible Todmorden, and Fielden Factors. We are also members of the National Federation of Cemetery Friends.
Our main researchers are, in alphabetical order: Kara Bayley, Sarah Browning, Holly Burgoyne, Paul Butterworth, Alex Greenwood, Jonathan Greenwood, Antony Michael Law, Matt Parker, and Sally Holt. The “Stories From The Yard” you read here were all researched and compiled by them. Additional details are regularly supplied by other group and family members of the subject and where possible those are credited. Many of our researchers make good use of the free family and local history research resources held at Todmorden Library, either the Library’s own collection or that of the Todmorden Antiquarian Society – and so should you.