Congleton, mun. bor. and market town with ry. sta., Astbury par., E. Cheshire, 26 miles S. of Manchester and 157 miles NW. of London, 2572 ac., pop. 11,116; 2 Banks, 1 newspaper. Market-day, Saturday; is a well-built town, on the banks of the Dane, a tributary of the Weaver. C. is a place of considerable antiquity, with charters dating from Edward III. The principal industry is the mfr. of silk, but there is also salt-making and coal-mining. C. has canal communication with Macclesfield, 8 miles NE.

(John Bartholomew, Gazetteer of the British Isles (1887))