This sign was donated by the Todmorden Lions Club in 1996 to commemorate the centenary of the town of Todmorden being granted a Charter of Incorporation and the area covered by the Urban District Council became a municipal borough.
Rather than showing the town itself it shows a stylised view of the surrounding countryside. This includes the famous Stoodley Pike Napoleonic war memorial, a railway viaduct a church and Walsden Water, that used to form the county border in the town.
"Todmorden is a market town and civil parish in the Upper Calder Valley in Calderdale, West Yorkshire, England. It is 17 miles (27 km) from Manchester and in 2011 had a population of 15,481.
Todmorden is at the confluence of three steep-sided Pennine valleys and is surrounded by moorlands with outcrops of sandblasted gritstone.
Todmorden has a complex geo-administrative history. It lies along the historic county boundary of Yorkshire and Lancashire.
Until the boundary reformation by the Local Government Act 1888, the Lancashire-Yorkshire boundary ran through the centre of Todmorden, following the River Calder to the north-west and the Walsden Water for less than 1 mi (1.6 km) to the south before turning south-eastwards across Langfield Common. The Town Hall, which was presented to Todmorden by the Fielden family and opened in 1875, straddles the Walsden Water; thus, from 1875 to 1888 it was possible to dance in the Town Hall ballroom, forward and back, across two counties of England.
Following the Local Government Act 1894, the Todmorden Local Board became an Urban District Council, , comprising the wards of Todmorden, Walsden, Langfield and Stansfield. At the same time, Todmorden Rural District Council, comprising the parishes of Blackshaw, Erringden, Heptonstall and Wadsworth, came into being. Two years later, on 2 June 1896, the town was granted a Charter of Incorporation and the area covered by the Urban District Council became a municipal borough.
The historic boundary between Yorkshire and Lancashire is the River Calder and its tributary, the Walsden Water, which run through the town. The administrative border was altered by the Local Government Act 1888 placing the whole of the town within the West Riding of Yorkshire.
Todmorden has a Greek Revival town hall (built 1866–1875) which dominates the centre of the town. The building straddles the Walsden Water, a tributary of the River Calder, and was situated in both Lancashire and Yorkshire until the administrative county boundary was moved on 1 January 1888. Designed by John Gibson of Westminster, this imposing building has a northern end which is semi-circular. One interesting external feature of the town hall is the pediment to the front elevation, which reflects the fact that it straddled the boundary as it depicts the main industries of the two counties.
The 120 ft Stoodley Pike monument (built 1814 and rebuilt in 1854) stands atop the 1,300 ft hill of the same name. It commemorates the defeat of Napoleon and the surrender of Paris. It is a prominent feature of Todmorden's moors, and is a landmark on the Pennine Way long distance hiking trail."
extracted from Wikipedia
The Lions plaque for the sign has the following text.
Lions
International
Presented by
Todmorden Lions Club
to mark the centenary of the
Todmorden Borough Charter
1996