STACKSTEADS (with Tunstead and Brandwood Lower End) constitute an extensive district, formed into the ecclesiastical parish of Tunstead in 1858 from the civil parishes of Rochdale and Whalley, in the municipal borough of Bacup, with a station on the Bury and Bacup section of the Lancashire and Yorkshire railway, about 1 ½ miles south-west of Bacup. The river Irwell, flowing down the valley, separates the original parishes of Whalley and Rochdale. This place is now in the civil parish of Backup, which was formed under the provisions of “Local Government Act, 1894.” The church of the Holy Trinity is an edifice of stone in the Early Norman style, erected in 1841, at an expense of £2,000, on ground given by the late Robert Munn esq. J.P. and consists of chancel, nave, vestry, west porch and an octagonal western tower with spire containing one bell and a clock: in 1873 the church was enlarged by the addition of 200 free sittings and other improvements at an expense of about £2,200: there are now 920 sittings, 440 being free. The register dates from the year 1841. The living is a vicarage, net yearly value £280, with residence, in the gift of five trustees, and held since 1889 by the Rev. John Falconer. There is a Wesleyan chapel, built in 1872, and seating 900; a Baptist chapel, built in 1874, and seating 800; and a Primitive Methodist chapel, built in 1874, seating 400. The population is chiefly employed in the manufacture of cotton and woollen fabrics and in stone quarries. The Conservative and Constitutional Club, founded in 1882, has 320 members, and the Liberal Club, founded in 1878, over 300 members. The Working Men’s Club, established in 1879, includes a reading room, and has now (1904) over 550 members. The principal landowners are Mrs. Munn, of Heath Hill, and Thomas William Lloyd esq. of Cowesby Hall, Northallerton, Yorks. Acre Mill forms the eastern part of the district, and has a woollen mill and three cotton mills. Here are stone quarries. Water Barn forms the western part of the district. The soil is clayey; subsoil, stone. The chief crops are pasture land. The population of the ecclesiastical district of Holy Trinity in 1901 was 7,245.

Petty Sessions held at the Police station every Wednesday & on any other day if required at 11 a.m. The places in the division comprise the three boroughs of Bacup, Rawtenstall & Haslingden.