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Congleton Past and Present by Robert
Head
This is a reproduction of the history of Congleton written in 1887 by Robert Head. Congleton at this time was a manufacturing town involved with silk production along with the other Cheshire towns of Stockport and Macclesfield. This history is an extension of the history written in 1820 by Samuel Yates, providing a lot more information in the form of statistics from the town records, many of which are now lost. The past is described first with two short chapters on the Roman and Norman periods, almost nothing was known at that time about the Saxon period. The towns history during the medieval period is covered in places by mention of charters and manorial records. A lot more detail is provided on the historical periods from the seventeenth century onwards, including the biography of some of Congleton's better known historical citizens.
Robert Head's book then moves on with the contemporary situation, describing the state of the town in the 1880s. This includes details of the town's main industries, such as the silk mills. The Silk industry was a temperamental trade that suffered numerous periods of depression. Fustian and Felt cutting was introduced in an attempt to find a more stable industry but this suffered from the same problems as the silk trade. This part was contemporary in its time but now it has long since become part of the towns history which makes it all the more interesting to read.