The move has not yet been agreed but earlier this year Calderdale Council did admit that the proposal existed and since then the issue has been a hot topic of conservation in Todmorden.

The dates on the foundation stones, the symbols carved in the sandstone facade, the doorway and the tower combine to tell a story of the ideals and aspirations of our late Victorian ancestors - a story that deserves to be remembered.

The campaign for free public libraries had been hotly debated in Parliament before the passing of an Act which allowed townspeople to tax themselves at a rate of 1d in the pound to provide this facility.

Some people feared that offering education to working men might make them dangerously discontented; a speaker in Halifax had objected to being taxed so that people could read novels: “Why not ask him to provide toffee for the children and tobacco for the young men and sermons for the brainless parsons.”

But there was, despite extreme social deprivation, a sense of unstoppable optimism. This was given expression not many years later by a local minister who felt that “literature, through the libraries, has liberalised and refined their daily civilisation” and who was convinced that “the ideal of a perfected human life for all, which is the goal of social evolution, is nearer than ever before.”

But how was a small town like Todmorden to raise enough to provide these riches?

The amount raised by a 1d tax would be about £450, nothing like enough to undertake an expensive building project.

Yet those foundation stones reveal that Todmorden's library was one of the first to be built in this area.

The answer is that Todmorden has possibly the only English public library to have been given by the Co-op.

The year 1896 saw the happy coincidence of two celebrations: the golden jubilee of Todmorden Industrial and Co-operative Society and the granting of the Charter of Incorporation to Todmorden.

In a grand gesture, the Co-op offered not only its extensive library of books, but the site (valued at £1000) and a fund of £3000 for a new library building.

The clues are still there. Some of the sandstone has not weathered well, but each of the pilasters that frame the entrance is crowned with the clasped hands that symbolise co-operation.

August 22, 1896, was a day of glorious celebration when, with a brass band procession, the president of the Co-operative Society and the provisional mayor of the new borough laid twin foundation stones for the new library. When it opened with equal ceremony a year later, the Co-operative News hailed it as “precious treasure containing infinite riches in a little room.”

Todmorden wanted a building to be proud of, to reflect its new status.

The local architect chosen for the project, Thomas Mitchell of Wellington Road, was given “a free hand without niggardly restrictions” and his design provided Todmorden with one of its grandest buildings.