Hartshead Church
There are Stocks and mounting block opposite the entrance gate to St. Peter’s Church, Hartshead. Patrick Bronte was minister of this church from 1812 to 1815 and whilst there met and married his wife, Maria Branwell. Their two oldest daughters, Maria and Elizabeth, were born at their home, Clough House, in nearby Hightown. Both died young of tuberculosis. Patrick firmly opposed the Luddite attacks on mills and machinery. He was here when Luddites attacked Rawfolds Mill in 1812 resulting in the deaths of two of their number, Samuel Hartley and John Booth. Strangely, it is rumoured that the bodies of two other Luddites were secretly buried in Hartshead churchyard around this time, and that Rev. Bronte "turned a blind eye" to this fact. Charlotte Bronte, his daughter, reworked the Rawfolds Mill incident in her novel “Shirley”, renaming Hartshead church as “Nunnely Church”. An ancient dead yew tree stands in the churchyard, said to be many centuries old and there is a Sundial in the churchyard dated 1611 and a small school building of 1828 within the churchyard.
Walton Cross
This is the base of a cross dating back to the 10th or 11th century, each face of which is richly decorated with Saxon and Viking designs, mainly interlacing and knotwork. The shaft and cross, which have vanished, were also probably decorated similarly and may have been brightly coloured originally. One particular design, a circle with a rosette knot, is said to represent the "Tree of Life". The cross may have been a preaching cross or a waymarker. It can be found alongside a footpath off Windy Bank Lane north of Hartshead church.