The Te Deum Stone

John Harker, Area Officer

This article is from Signpost 57, Summer 2018

The Te Deum Stone is an historic landmark in Calderdale. The inscription on the stone says: “Te Deum Laudamus”. If you remember your Latin from school you will know it means “We praise thee, O Lord”. It stands at grid reference SD96982305 on Hebden Royd Footpath 076 above Withens Clough Reservoir, not far from Stoodley Pike. It is on the watershed between the Calder valley and Cragg Vale.

By repute, it is a boundary stone and possibly a Coffin Stone on a former Coffin or Corpse Road. Such routes connected outlying villages & farms with a consecrated burial ground.

In a huge moorland area like this, it was an onerous task to carry someone for many miles in often bad weather. The stone, originally taller, would have been used to rest the dead on while the bearers paused for breath and prayers were said for the deceased.

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