STANSFIELD is a township in the parish of Halifax, bounded on south and west by Lancashire, extending from Hebden Bridge to Todmorden and 10 miles west from Halifax, situated on an, eminence, sloping to the rivet Calder; and is a polling place for the Northern division of the Riding, in Morby wapentake, Todmorden union, and county court district, rural deanery of Halifax, archdeaconry of Craven and diocese of Ripon. The river Calder and the Rochdale canal separate Stansfield from Langfield township. At Eastwood in this township is a station on the Lancashire and Yorkshire railway. The ecclesiastical parish of Cross Stone occupies the central portion of the township, and also includes the whole of Langfield. The church of St. Paul, Cross stone, is a stone building in the Pointed style, erected in 1833 in place of a former church, and consisting of chancel, nave, and square tower containing 1 bell; the east window is stained. The register dates from the year 1680. The living is a perpetual curacy, yearly value £300 with residence, in the gift of the vicar of Halifax and held by the Rev. Whiteley Mallinson sometime Fellow of Magdalen College, Cambridge, surrogate, Harley Wood is an ecclesiastical parish formed in 1864 from the parishes of Halifax and Rochdale, and comprises that portion of Stansfield known as the Higher Third. The church of All saints, erected in 1858, by public subscription, is a builing in the Decorated style and consists of chancel, nave and south porch with a turret containing 1 bell; the four south windows and the east window are stained and there is also one stained window on the north side. The register dates from the year 1858. The living is a vicarage, value £270 with residence, in the gift of the vicar of Halitax and held by the Rev. William Fearnsides. There are Congregational, Wesleyan, and General Baptist chapels. The manufactures are cotton weaving, silk spinning and iron founding. The trustees of the Savile estates are lords of the manor and the Messrs. Ingham chief landowners. The soil is sandy loam; subsoil, stone. The township is divided into thirds. A large portion is moorland which rises to heights of 1,400 feet, and the farms, which are small, are all pasture land; rateable value, £40,193. The area is 6,331 acres, and the population in 1861. was 8,168; 1871, 8,977. The area of Harley Wood is 4,499 acres; the population in 1871 was 4,893.

Lydgate is on the Lancashire border, and the Lancashire and Yorkshire railway skirts it.

Schools

National, Priestwell (mixed & infants), James Bracewell, master; Miss E. E. Bracewell, infants' mistress.

National, Edwin Shaw, master.

Sunday schools are held at Cross stone and at the National schools, Harley Wood.