THE CONGLETON HISTORY SOCIETY |
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THE CONGLETON HISTORY SOCIETY |
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The objectives of the Society are
to foster and encourage, amongst members of the public, interest in and research
into the history of the town of Congleton and the neighbourhood by means of
meetings, lectures, visits, the publication and distribution of papers, articles,
and books.
| Chairman | Peter Aston | 01260 280047 | |
| Secretary | Shirley Williams | 01260 278757 | |
| Treasurer | Mike Laurence | 01260 274239 |
The Society was formed in 1963 with the specific intention of producing a history of the Town of Congleton to be published to celebrate the 700 year anniversary of the Town gaining its Market Charter. This early group was successful and published W B Stephens' History of Congleton in 1970 in good time for Charter Year with its accompanying visit by the Queen in 1972. The Book is now out of print and commands a significant premium; copies have recently been changing hands at £50. When the book was published, a new group decided to promote the understanding of History in the Town and the Society in its current form was born.
There are close links between the History Society and Congleton Museum Trust. The Trust was formed to create the Town Museum which opened in June 2002, with the help of Heritage Lottery Funding and lots of local Charity and Council support. The Museum interests a wide range of visitors from both near and far and young and old! For more specific information on the Museum follow this link to its website
We meet on the second Wednesday of
each month between September and May each Society Year.
The meetings start at 7.30pm, finish about 9.15pm and are held in the Library
in Congleton.
We typically have a speaker at each meeting including the Annual General Meeting in May.
We have about 90 members of the Society, and about 60 people come to each meeting.
Each member pays an annual subscription fee of £5.
Visitors are most welcome to any of the meetings and pay an entrance fee of £1.
Over the last 30 years the Society has published a series titled 'Journal of the Congleton History Society'. The eleventh Journal was published last year; we currently seem able to gather enough articles to publish bi-annually. The 11th Journal is for sale in the Museum priced £2.50.
During Millennium Year we completed a project recording as much information about the current Town and its surroundings as possible. The intention was to provide an archive of information for future generations to use. A book of our work was published in 2001, titled Congleton in the Year 2000, and it too is available in the Museum priced £7.50.
We seem to be involved in a lot of archaeological fieldwork this year – some mysterious wooden posts, obviously old, emerge from the River Dane when the river is low and we are analysing the layout of the posts to see if we can establish the purpose of the structure and by carbon dating a sample of the posts, its age. The log boat being on display in the Town Museum has aroused much interest, and earthworks in the area of where the boat was found suggest a mill pool and mill. Was the boat used for fishing on this pool? We are trying to find out.