Stoodley Pike info

We lived in the shadow of Stoodley Pike for 30 years and this is where my blog takes its name from.

Stoodley Pike is the old name for the hill, but on top is a stone peace monument which has become synonymous with the hill, so when people talk about "The Pike" they mean the peace monument. This is because the inscription carved above the entrance to the monument calls it "Stoodley Pike - A beacon monument..."

Stoodley Pike is on The Pennine Way in West Yorkshire above the hamlet of Mankinholes, Todmorden. The hill itself is 1307 ft at its highest point but the monument is built at about 1280 ft.

The first monument was a circular tower structure and was started in 1814 to commemorate the Treaty Of Ghent after Paris surrendered. Work was suspended when Napoleon left exile, but was resumed after The Battle Of Waterloo and this final victory by the allies ended the Napoleonic Wars. 

 

The first structure was completed in 1815. This wooden"Pike" fell down in 1854, co-incidentally on the very day that the Russian ambassador left London at the start of the Crimean War. It had already been weakened by lightning strikes and was quite near the edge of the hill.

The current stone monument was designed in 1854 by local architect James Green, and was completed in 1856 at the end of the Crimean War. It was built further back from the edge and was a more substantial structure than the previous effort. A lightning conductor was added in 1889 and a small metal grille was put into the balcony floor to let a small amount of light fall onto the last few of the 39 stone steps. There's a good local quiz question for you - where are "The 39 Steps" in Todmorden?

The inscription above the entrance is carved in stone and has become worn and very hard to read over the years -

 

 so here's an over-typed version....