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 number of wards was increased from four to six: central, walsden, langfield, stansfield, stoodley and cornholme. todmorden rural district was later renamed hepton rural district. since the local government reforms of 1974, todmorden has been administered as part of the metropolitan borough of calderdale, within the metropolitan county of west yorkshire. at the local government level, todmorden, the town, is almost entirely within todmorden ward although the eastern portion of the town toward eastwood shares some of adjoining calder ward with hebden bridge.