Hundersfield ( ; also more anciently known as Honersfield and Honnersfield) was a manor, parish and, from 1746,
township
A township is a form of human settlement or administrative subdivision. Its exact definition varies among countries.
Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, this tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Canad ...
, within the
parish of Rochdale, in the
hundred of Salford,
England
England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
. It straddled the
historic county boundary between
Lancashire
Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...
and the
West Riding of Yorkshire
The West Riding of Yorkshire was one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the riding was an administrative county named County of York, West Riding. The Lord Lieutenant of the West Riding of Yorkshire, lieu ...
. There are written references to the parish dating back to 1202.
Hundersfield lay on high moorland around
Blackstone Edge, containing the settlements of
Todmorden
Todmorden ( ; ) is a market town and civil parish in the Upper Calder Valley in Calderdale, West Yorkshire, England. It is north-east of Manchester, south-east of Burnley and west of Halifax, West Yorkshire, Halifax. In 2011, it had a popul ...
,
Walsden,
Littleborough,
Wardle,
Smallbridge and parts of
Rochdale
Rochdale ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England, and the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale. In the United Kingdom 2021 Census, 2021 Census, the town had a population of 111,261, compared to 223,773 for the wid ...
.
The name Hundersfield is a corruption of Honorsfield; and that was derived from the word "Honore", signifying a
Saxon
The Saxons, sometimes called the Old Saxons or Continental Saxons, were a Germanic people of early medieval "Old" Saxony () which became a Carolingian " stem duchy" in 804, in what is now northern Germany. Many of their neighbours were, like th ...
lord.
Hundersfield was originally one of four townships within Rochdale, but was itself split into four.
Townships – Hundersfield , British History Online
/ref> Hundersfield was divided into four townships or civil parishes which were all originally within the ancient ecclesiastical parish of Rochdale.
The divisions were Blatchinworth and Calderbrook, Wardleworth, and Wuerdle and Wardle in Lancashire and Todmorden and Walsden which became part of the West Riding of Yorkshire in 1889. After 1894 Hundersfield was divided between the Wardle and Littleborough Urban Districts and Rochdale Borough.
References
Further reading
* The History of the Parish of Rochdale, by H. Fishwick.
External links
Township history of Hundersfield e-book
{{Authority control
History of the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale
History of Lancashire
History of West Yorkshire