The name Stoodley is first mentioned in 1238.
There is mention of Stoodley Pike in registers dated 1737, and a map of 1795 depicts a cylindrical obelisk on the site. Mention is made of a building on the site before 1814.
There are stories – but little evidence – of a cairn and human bones being found when work began on the monument. It is a prominent site and it may be that there was once a large cairn and burial mound there.
Stone Age flints have been found here, and there is evidence of a beacon in the chain between Pendle Hill, in Lancashire, and Beacon Hill.
The peace monument was erected in 1815 on Langfield Common to the east of Todmorden in order to celebrate the defeat of Napoleon at the Surrender of Paris to the Allies in March 1814, and his abdication and exile to Elba. The original monument – with a square base, a circular trunk with a conical obelisk – was 113 ft 4 ins high with an internal staircase of 150 steps leading to a small room with a fireplace.
It collapsed during a storm about 5 pm on 8th February 1854. As the inscription records, this was the same afternoon that the Russian Ambassador left London before the declaration of war on Russia, and the year that the Crimean War broke out.
The damaged monument was replaced by the present tower – designed by local architect James Green – in 1856 at a cost of £812.
The Fielden family were instrumental in raising public subscriptions for the rebuilding of the monument. Samuel Fielden subscribed £50 towards the project and also cleared the final debt of £212. The obelisk form of the monument may reflect his interests in freemasonry
The present structure stands 120 ft high and 1310 ft above sea-level, and it is a famous landmark visible from many parts of Calderdale. There is an internal staircase leading an external gallery around the monument at 40 feet.
It was further repaired in 1889.
The inscription of the monument reads:
STOODLEY PIKE
A PEACE MONUMENT
Erected by Public Subscription
Commenced in 1814 to commemorate the surrender of Paris to the Allies and finished after the Battle of Waterloo when peace was established in 1815. By a strange coincidence the Pike fell on the day the Russian Ambassador left London before the declaration of war with Russia in 1854, and it was rebuilt when peace was proclaimed in 1856.Repaired and a lightning conductor fixed 1889
Pronunciation: The name is pronounced as it is read stood-ley and rhymes with goodly
Page Ref: MMS217
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