Monument record 164/0 - Congleton

<1> Thompson, P, 1981, Congleton - The Archaeological Potential of a Town, p.3-7 (Report). SCH968.

The earliest reference to Congleton is in the Domesday Survey of 1086. The manor was at this time about two thirds the value of Newbold Manor and remained part of the Parish of Newbold Astbury until 1868. During the thirteenth century the manor was part of the De Lacy family estates. As Baron of Halton, Henry de Lacy granted Congleton a borough charter in c.1272, which gave the right to hold markets and a fair, created a mayor, catchpole and aletaster. The burgesses were entitled to form a merchant guild and to hold land rights but they were still under obligation to the manor with such rules as compulsory use of the Mill. By the early fourteenth century, eighty burgages were recorded and the plan of these plots can still be defined on the High Street and Bridge Street. A decline in the late medieval period was followed by increasing prosperity in sixteenth and seventeenth centuries with a notable number of trades operating, in particular leather working. A number of timber framed buildings survive from this time. The arrival of the silk industry in the 1750s brought new prosperity and growth with up to thirty-four mills operating in the town using the River Dane and Howty Brook.

<2> Yates S, 1820, A History of the Ancient Town and Borough of Congleton (Book). SCH77.

<3> Head R, 1887, Congleton, Past and Present: A History of this Old Cheshire Town (Book). SCH969.

<4> Cheshire County Council, 2002, Cheshire Historic Towns Survey: Congleton Borough Part 1: Archaeological Assessments (Report). SCH6977.

Congleton was one of Cheshire’s most important medieval towns. In the late thirteenth century the town was granted a borough charter and a market charter, and in the Cheshire Mize of 1405 its assessment was the second only to Nantwich. From the mid-eighteenth century Congleton gained fame as a centre for silk manufacture.

<5> Cheshire County Council, 2002, Cheshire Historic Towns Survey: Congleton Borough Part 2: Archaeological Strategies (Report). SCH6984.

<6> Cheshire County Council, ?, Congleton: A guided tour through the town (Booklet-Leaflet). SCH9705.