Stansfield, West Yorkshire

Wyon Maryons, lord of the lordship of Stansfield, was reputed to have been the descendant of a noble line from Brittany who accompanied William the Conqueror to England, and received a grant of the lands and lordship of Stansfield. His descendant, Jordan, later assumed the surname Stansfield.^[11][12] Jordan de Stansfield reputedly married a daughter of Sir John Towneley of the Towneley family, and their descendants included Oliver de Stansfield (who was Constable of Pontefract Castle),^[13] and Joanna Stansfield, Prioress of Kirklees Priory (d. 1499).^[14][15][16]

The exact descent of this family and its various branches remains uncertain until the 15th century. By the early modern period, various Stansfield (Stansfeld) families populated Stansfield, Shore, and the neighbouring parishes of Todmorden, Heptonstall, Halifax, Sowerby, and Hartshead in Yorkshire, and Rochdale in Lancashire.^[17] James Stansfield of Stansfield Hall was resident there in the 1640s. In the 17th century, the Sowerby branch of the family reverted to an earlier spelling of the name (Stansfeld) and lived at Field House, Sowerby and later Dunninald Castle in Scotland.^[18][19][20]

Cross Stone taking its name from an ancient stone cross near the site.^{[clarification needed]} The tradition was that the church was built by a Stansfield of Stansfield Hall in Stansfield. The church, dedicated to St Paul, was in existence in 1537 but was rebuilt in 1832.^[21] It was decommissioned in 1979 and is now a private residence.