Congleton, a small corporate town, situated on the upper part of the river Dane, in the hundred of Northwich, near the borders of Staffordshire. The corporation consists of a mayor and six aldermen, in whom the municipal government of the town is vested.

There are two churches in Congleton; one in the town, and one at the bridge-end across the river, Loth which are subject to the mother church of Astbury, a village two miles distant. The silk and cotton manufactories at this place afford employment to a great number of the inhabitants. Congleton was formerly famous for making of tagged leather laces, called Congleton points. According to the returns made to parliament, under the population act, in 1801, Congleton then contained 855 houses, and 3,861 inhabitants; viz. 1,713 males, and 2,148 females, of whom 2,210 were returned as being employed in trade and manufacture, and 141 in agriculture.

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CONGLETON is a municipal borough, market and union town, in the parish of Astbury, on the banks of the river Dane and borders of Staffordshire, with a station on the North Staffordshire railway, and is the head of a county court district, 8 miles south-south-west from Macclesfield, 10 north-north-west from Leek, 9 north from Burslem, 12 north from Newcastle-under-Lyme, 32 from Chester, 48 from Derby, 28 ½ from Stafford, 28 ½ from Uttoxeter, 20 from Stockport, from Stoke-on-Trent, 14 from Buxton and 166 from London, in the Macclesfield division of the county, hundred of Northwich, Congleton section of Northwich petty sessional division, rural deanery of Congleton, archdeaconry of Macclesfield and diocese of Chester. The Macclesfield canal passes the east end of the town and has a wharf in Canal street.

The town is lighted with gas from works, erected in 1832, at Brook side, and belonging to the Corporation, and supplied with water from the forge works, and the district near the station and Mossley from Corda Well, Mow Cop. The principal streets are wide and paved and contain good houses and shops.

The first charter of incorporation, granted in the reign of Henry III. by Henry de Lacy, was afterwards confirmed by several monarchs, but the governing charter until 1835 was that granted by James I. in 1624—5. By the Municipal Corporations Act, 1835 (5 & 6 Wm. IV. c. 76), the town was divided into three wards, Dec. 7, 1835, and the Corporation now consists of six aldermen and eighteen councillors, who also act as the Urban Sanitary Authority. A commission of the peace was granted to the borough in 1836, and there is a borough police force.

St. Peter’s is an ecclesiastical parish, formed May 21, 1867, from the parish of Astbury. The church, in Chapel street, erected in 1742, is a rectangular structure of brick, with galleries on three sides, and consists of nave and aisles and a western tower with eight pinnacles, and containing an illuminated striking clock and 8 bells: the lower stage of the tower forms a porch: the organ was erected in 1824 at a cost of £1,000; above the reredos are two paintings on canvas of St. Peter and St. Paul: the church affords 1,253 sittings. The register of baptisms and burials dates from the year 1701, and of marriages from 1839. The living is a vicarage, average tithe rent-charge, £40, net yearly value, £197, including 26 acres of glebe, with residence, in the gift of Mrs. Hugh W. Williamson, eldest daughter of the late Thomas Rowley esq. of Overton, near Congleton, and held Since 1891 by the Rev. Thomas Twistington Higgins M.A. of Trinity College, Dublin. The population in 1891 was 3,181; the area is 463 acres.

St. James’s is an ecclesiastical parish, formed July 10, 1844, from the parish of Astbury. The church, in West street, erected in 1847—8, at a cost of £3,500, is a building of stone, in the Early English style, and consists of chancel, clerestoried nave of six bays, aisles, north porch, vestries and a bell gable containing one bell: there is a richly carved pulpit of dark oak with the date 1600: the east window and two others are stained: the church affords 560 sittings. The registers date from the year 1842. The living is a vicarage, average tithe rent-charge, £22, net yearly value, £278, with residence, in the gift of the Crown and the Bishop of Chester alternately, and held since 1896 by the Rev. Walter Taylor Warburton M.A. of Trinity College, Cambridge. The area is 903 acres; the population in 1891 was 3,623.

St. Stephen’s is an ecclesiastical parish, formed Aug. 1, 1845, from Congleton chapelry. The church in Brook street, erected in 1860, at a cost of about £4,000, is a building of stone in the Early English style, consisting of chancel, nave, aisles and a bell gable containing one bell: there are several stained windows, and the church affords 650 sittings. The register dates from the year 1844. The living is a vicarage, gross yearly value, £215. with residence, in the gift of the Bishop of Chester, and held since 1873 by the Rev. James Macleod Bannerman M.A. of Trinity College, Dublin. The area is 366 acres; the population in 1891 was 2,965.

The Catholic church, dedicated to St. Mary, in West road, erected in 1826, is a structure of brick: on the east wall is suspended a fine painting of the “Crucifixion:” there are about 400 sittings: attached are day and Sunday schools and a residence for the priest, and a burial ground not now used. The Congregational church, in Antrobus street, erected in 1876—7, at a cost of £5,000, is a building of stone in the Geometric Gothic style, from designs by Mr. Sugden, architect, of Leek, and will seat about 600 persons: under the chapel are lecture and school rooms. The old Congregational chapel in Mill street is now the Masonic Hall.

The Methodist New Connexion chapel, in Queen street, erected in 1836—7, is of brick, and with galleries will seat about 500 persons.

The Primitive Methodist chapel, in Kinsey street, erected in 1821, was rebuilt in 1890, at a cost of £2,000, and with gallery will seat 550 persons: below the chapel are school and class rooms, for 400 children. The Primitive Methodist chapel at Dane-in-Shaw, on the Biddulph road, erected in 1840, is a small building, and having 120 sittings.

The Wesleyan Methodist chapel, in Wagg street, erected in 1808, and renovated in 1893, is a large building of red brick, seating 1,200 persons: a new minister’s residence has been erected at a cost of £4,000 and there are attached schools. In Brook street is another small Wesleyan chapel, built in 1834, and seating 250 persons; and in Rood lane, a Wesleyan mission chapel, erected in 1886, and seating about 400 persons.

The Salvation Army use the old Baptist chapel, in Park street, a structure of brick, erected in 1822, and with galleries affording about 400 sittings.

The Unitarian Christian church, erected on the site of the old edifice in 1883, at a cost of about £2,000, affords sittings for 250 persons: adjoining are Sunday school buildings, erected in 1856, for 250 children.

St. Peter’s Cemetery, situated on a lofty eminence a little south of the church of that name, has an area of 1 acre, and was opened for interments about 1842 and enlarged in 1894 by the addition of 1 acre.

The Town Hall, in High street, was built in 1864, at a cost of £8,000, from the designs of E. W. Godwin esq. on the site of the old Town Hall; the basement is used for the market, and the upper floor as magistrates’ rooms, county court and municipal offices: in the centre is a tower no feet in height, containing 3 bells and a clock which strikes the hours and chimes the quarters: the facade is adorned with statues of H.M. Queen Victoria, Henry de Lacy, Earl of Lincoln, who first incorporated the borough, and Edward I. who granted its first charter: the building also includes an assembly room 75 feet long by 49 wide, and capable of holding 1,000 persons, with a gallery round three sides of the room for 200 persons: there is also a library and news rooms.

The municipal insignia comprise a great mace and lesser maces and a corporate and other seals. The great mace of silver-gilt is 3 feet 5 ½ inches in length and in general form resembles the usual late type; the staff is covered with a spiral pattern of oak foliage and acorns and divided into sections by gadrooned knops; the foot knop, which is much larger, being handsomely wrought and terminating in double finial; four elegant open-work brackets support the mace head, the surface of which is divided into panels, containing respectively the borough arms, national badges, crowned, and the royal initials C.R. and immediately above is an encircling fillet, bearing the inscription “The Freedom of England by God’s Blessing Restored to C.R. 1661the circlet, instead of the usual crosses and fleurs-de-lis, is formed of an intertwined cable, looped round small shields and other ornaments, and the usual arches of the crown are imitated by four ornate scrolls curling inwards and supporting a kind of mound, highly enriched and surmounted by a flattened orb with a plain cross: the chief interest of this mace lies in the fact that it was made in 1651, during the Commonwealth, when every kind of royal emblem was avoided, but on the Restoration, it was subjected to various alterations; the inscription receiving the addition “To C.R.” and the date 1651 being changed into 1661; the royal badges and arms on the side and top of the mace head are affixed by screws; these alterations, it seems, cost £3. The smaller mace of silver, and 14 inches long, consists of a plain banded staff in three sections, with a bell-shaped head at either end, the upper being more richly ornamented, and bearing the royal arms of Jas. I. with the cypher I.R. The corporate seal, a very fine example of 15th century date, is of latten, circular in shape and 1 7/8 inch in diameter, and has for a device a tun floating on the sea, between two conger eels hauriant, and surmounted by a lion of England; round the margin is a legend: the statute merchant seal of silver is oval and 1 ½ inch long; it bears a crowned rose with the cypher I.R. encircled by an inscription, and was re-cut in 1661. The corporation has also four halberds now carried in processions by the borough police, and an old china punch bowl. The mayor wears a robe of dark cloth with silk facings, presented by T. G. Sheldon esq. mayor in 1882—3; and the mayor’s sergeant has also a gown and cocked hat.

In the rear of the Town Hall are butchers’ shambles, the county and borough lock-ups for the confinement of prisoners and gaoler’s house.

The volunteer fire brigade, formed in Dec. 1861, has now (1896) 15 members. The engine was presented by the Liverpool and London and Globe Insurance Company, and is under the control of their local agent: the fire engine station is in Back Park street. The Corporation have also a brigade of 19 men with an engine, kept in the Market place.

The Masonic Hall, Mill street (formerly a Congregational chapel), was built in 1790, by Capt. Scott, a well-known evangelist. The lodge here was founded in 1846.

A charter was granted for a weekly market, to be held on Saturday, by Edward I. to Henry de Lacy, in the year 1272; and an annual fair of three days’ duration to be held on the festival of the Holy Trinity: the fair has long been discontinued, bub the market, though inconsiderable, being so near to Macclesfield, is held every Saturday. The chief trade in corn is by sample: the corn market is held at the “Bull’s Head,” Mill street. Fairs are held here annually, viz. on the Thursday before Shrovetide, the 12th of May, the 13th of July and the 22nd of November.

The chief trades are the manufacture of silk and ribbon, silk throwsting and spinning, fustian cutting and towel weaving, and for these industries there are extensive factories. Coach, chair and nail making and wood turning are also practised, and there are ropewalks, iron and brass foundries, agricultural implement and machine works, and in the vicinity, corn mills, gravel pits and stone quarries; these, unitedly, afford employment to a great number of the inhabitants.

A newspaper, called the “Congleton Chronicle” (with which is incorporated the “Congleton & Macclesfield Mercury,” established in 1855), is published in the town.

The Cottage Hospital, established in 1866 and supported by voluntary contributions, has 8 beds.

The charities, for distribution in bread, clothing and money, amount to about £270, yearly; including £62 from Holford’s charity, and £93 yearly for the general uses of the poor from the Alsager's charity; the latter furnishes in addition £11 for apprenticing and the same for education; Parnell’s gift of £2 yearly is for the clergy.

The public park and recreation ground, which consists of about 25 acres, is traversed by the river Dane, over which there is an iron bridge, and the park affords ample facilities for boating, cricket and bowls during the summer months; in the park are two pavilions, one for picnic parties and the other for the use of different athletic clubs.

The objects of interest in the neighbourhood of Congleton are Moreton Hall, Astbury church, Biddulph Grange, Eaton Hall, Bath Vale mineral spring, Moreton Hall, the Old Mill, Cloud End and Mow Cop. Cloud End is 1,190 feet and Mow Cop 1,091 feet above the level of the sea.

Sir Charles Watkin Shakerley bart. C.B. of Somerford Park, is the lord of the manor.

The area is 2,549 acres of land and 23 of water; rateable value, £30,687; the population in 1891 was 10,744, viz.: North ward, 3,825; South ward, 2,749 and West ward, 4,170.

Borough Police Station (the force was augmented to Government requirements May, 1890), Market place, Jonathan Hall, chief constable, with 2 sergeants & 8 constables.

Congleton Union

Board day on alternate Fridays, at the Workhouse at Arclid, at 10.30 a.m.

The Union comprises the following places:-Alsager, Arclid, Astbury or Newbold Astbury, Betchton, Blackden, Bradwall, Brereton-cum-Smethwick, Buglawton, Church Hulme or Holmes Chapel, Church Lawton, Congleton, Cotton, Cranage, Davenport, Elton, Goostrey-cum-Bamshaw, Hassall, Hulme Walfield, Kermincham, Leese, Moreton-cum-Alcumlow, Moston, Odd Rode, Radnor, Sandbach, Smallwood, Somerford, Somerford Booths, Swettenham, Tetton, Twemlow, Wheelock. The area is 56,167 acres; rateable value in 1891, £196,632; the population in 1891 was 37,657.

Workhouse, Arclid, is a building of red brick of considerable extent, capable of holding 354 inmates; it was erected in 1844, and consists of a centre & two wings.

PLACES OF WORSHIP.

St. Peter's Chapel street, Rev. Thomas Twistington Higgins M.A. vicar; 10.30 a.m. & 6.30 p.m.

St. James’, West street, Rev. Walter Taylor Warburton M.A. vicar; 7.45 & 10.30 a.m. & 6.30 p.m.

Holy Trinity, Mossley Moss, Rev. James David Griffiths B.A. vicar; 10.30 a.m. & 6.30 p.m.

St. Stephen’s, Brook street, Rev. James Macleod Bannerman M.A. vicar; 10.30 a.m. & 6.30 p.m.

St. Mary’s Catholic, West road, Rev. Hugh Donlevy, priest Congregational, Antrobus street, Rev. Edward R. Hayton B.A. Minister.

Primitive Methodist, Kinsey st. Rev. Adam Glegg, minister.

Methodist New Connexion, Queen street, Rev. W. P. Newsam, of Burslem, superintendent.

Wesleyan Methodist, Wagg street. Brook street & Rood lane, Revs. Robert Simpson & William Thompson.

Unitarian, Cross street, Rev. John Christien LL.D.

Salvation Army, Park street.

SCHOOLS

Free Grammar School, near St. Peter's church, was founded before the Reformation, the earliest existing record relating to repairs in 1553, & the position of the old school house on one corner of the churchyard of St. Peter’s would imply that the first master was a resident priest & the school a chantry for chorister boys. The corporation did all the repairs of the premises & claimed a general control over the institution until they were checked in 1643 by the Rev. Andrew Bowrey, then master, who refused to acknowledge their dismissal of him. During the Commonwealth a cordwainer named Hall was appointed the master, on the ground of his being, as stated in the records, a “scoller & godly man.” The present school was built in 1814, & has an endowment of £16 yearly, being a fixed charge on the revenues of the corporation: there is also a special endowment of £500, the result of a general subscription in honour of the late Randle Wilbraham esq. on his completion, in 1848, of the 50th year of high stewardship of the borough, the income derived from which is devoted to the free instruction of three boys for ever, to be selected by the owner of Rode Hall for the time beinor £1 is paid under the will of Dr. Hulme; & Samuel Malbon, of Oxford, apothecary, & son of a former master, left in 1789 a field worth £6 yearly for the master’s use. All sons of burgesses are taught classics free, but fees are charged for other ordinary subjects, & the master is allowed to take boarders. The Rev. William Bevern Grix M.A. of Queen’s College, Cambridge, headmaster, & also chaplain of the donative chapelry of Somerford, & a surrogate.

A School Board of 7 members was formed Nov. 30, 1870 Clerk, Henry Latham, Moody street.

Visiting Officer, William Henry Proctor, Wagg street.

The Board meets at the Town hall on the first Thursday in each month.

St. Peter’s, Chapel street (mixel & infants), erected in 1828, for 500 children; average attendance, 200 mixed & 98 infants.

St. James’, North street (boys), for 250 children; average attendance, 160.

St. James’, North street (infants), built for 160 children & enlarged in 1895 for 250; attendance, 120.

St. James’, Astbury street (girls), erected in 1844—5, for 250 children; average attendance, 146.

St. Stephen’s, Spragg street (mixed, 320 & infants), 200; average attendance, 160 mixed & 150 infants.

Holy Trinity, Mossley Moss, built in 1845, for 250 children; average attendance, 186.

St. Mary’s Catholic, West road, built in 1858 by the late John Johnson esq. for 224 children; average attendance, 140.

Wesleyan, Brook street, for 220 children; average attendance, 140.

Wesleyan, Wragg street (mixed), built in 1869, for 420 children; average attendance, 186.