Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for CONGLETON

CONGLETON, a town, a township, three chapelries, a sub-district, and a district, in Cheshire. The town stands in a fine valley, on the river Dane, adjacent to the Macclesfield and Colwich railway and the Macclesfield canal, 8¼ miles SSW of Macclesfield. It was known at Domesday as Cogletone; possessed consequence in the time of Henry III.; and retains a number of old timbered houses; but presents now an aspect of modern neatness. It ranks as a municipal borough, chartered by James I., conterminate with the township, and governed by a mayor, six aldermen, and eighteen councillors; is a polling-place; publishes two weekly newspapers; gives title of Baron to the family of Parnell; and has a head post office, ‡ a railway station with telegraph, two banking-offices, three chief inns, a town-hall, a market-hall and assembly-room, three churches, six dissenting chapels, a Roman Catholic chapel, a grammar school, four national schools, and a mechanics' institute. The present town hall was built in 1866, at a cost of about £8, 000, and is in the Venetian-Gothic style. The market-hall and assembly-room were built in 1822, at a cost of £2, 000, defrayed by Sir E. Antrobus. St. Peter's church occupies an elevated site, and was rebuilt in 1740. St. James' church is an elegant edifice in the pointed style of the 13th century, and was built in 1848. St. Stephen's church consists of nave, chancel, aisles, bell-turret, and vestry, in the early decorated style, and was built in 1860. The grammar school dates from the 16th century, and was reconstructed in 1865. A weekly market is held on Saturday; and fairs on the Thursday before Shrove-Tuesday, and 12 May, 5 July, and 22 Nov. The making of gloves and of tagged-leather laces, called Congleton points, was at one time the chief employment. But silk manufacture, in various departments, is now the staple, and has a number of mills. Much business is done also in connexion with extensive neighbouring coal-mines and limestone quarries. Whitehurst, the engineer, was a native, and Bradshaw, who presided at the trial of Charles I., was mayor. The township, co-extensive with the borough, is in Astbury parish, and comprises 2, 564 acres. Real property, £32, 860; of which £1, 150 are in gas-works. Pop., in 1841, 9, 222; in 1861, 12, 344. Houses, 2, 620. Congleton viaduct, on the railway, about ½ a mile from the station, is a fine work, 114 feet high and 231 feet long., exclusive of the embankments; and has arches 50 feet in span. -The three chapelries are St. Peter, St. James, and St. Stephen; the first ancient, the second constituted in 1844, the third constituted in 1845; and the three are jointly conterminate with the township. The livings are vicarages in the diocese of Chester. Value of St-Peter, £210:* of St. James, £150;* of St. Stephen, £150.* Patron of St. Peter, T. Rowley, Esq.; of each of the others, alternately the Crown and the Bishop.

The sub-district contains the parish of Biddulph, electorally in Stafford, and the townships of Congleton, Newbold-Astbury, Moreton-cum-Alcumlow, Somerford, Somerford-Booths, Hulme-Walfield, Radnor, and Bug-lawton in the parish of Astbury. Acres, 18, 657. Pop., 19, 124. Houses, 3, 954. The district comprehends also the sub-district of Sandbach, containing the parish of Church-Lawton, the township of Alsager, in the parish of Barthomley, the townships of Smallwood and Odd-Rode, in the parish of Astbury, the townships of Sand-bach, Arclid, Bradwall, Hassall, Betchton, and Wheel-ock, in the parish of Sandbach, and the townships of Tetton, Moston, and Elton in the parish of Warmingham; and the sub-district of Church-Hulme, containing the parishes of Swettenham and Brereton-cum-Smethwick, the township of Davenport, in the parish of Astbury, and the townships of Church-Hulme, Blackden, Twemlow, Cranage, Leese, and Cotton, in the parish of Sandbach. Acres, 52, 889. Poor-rates, in 1862, £9, 663. Pop., in 1841, 26, 421; in 1861, 34, 328. Houses, 6, 994. Marriages, in 1860, 265; births, 1, 268, -of which 127 were illegitimate; deaths, 822, -of which 351 were at ages. under 5 years, and 16 at ages above 85. Marriages in the ten years 1851-60, 2, 610; births, 11, 118; deaths, 7, 566. The places of worship in 1851 were 19 of the Church of England, with 9, 056 sittings; 4 of Independents, with 935 s.; 2 of Baptists, with 550 s.; 1 of Quakers, with 150 s.; 25 of Wesleyan Methodists, with 4, 683 s.; 1 of New Connexion Methodists, with 500 s.; 9 of Primitive Methodists, with 1, 488 s.; 4 of the Wesleyan Association, with 618 s.; 1 of Roman Catholics, with 242 s.; and 1 of Latter Day Saints, s. not reported. The schools were 23 public day schools, with 2, 682 scholars; 44 private day schools, with 1, 087 s.; 53 Sunday schools, with 5, 978 s.; and 6 evening schools for adults, with 91 s. The workhouse is in Arclid.


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a town, a township, three chapelries, a sub-district, and a district"   (ADL Feature Type: "cities")
Administrative units: Congleton CP/Ch       Congleton RegD/PLU       Cheshire AncC
Place names: COGLETONE     |     CONGLETON
Place: Congleton

Go to the linked place page for a location map, and for access to other historical writing about the place. Pages for linked administrative units may contain historical statistics and information on boundaries.