CONGLETON, a market-town and municipal borough of England, in the county of Cheshire, near the border of Staffordshire, 2B miles south of Manchester by rail. It is finely situated in a deep valley, on the banks of the Dane, a tributary of the Weaver. Its main streets are well built, and its western suburb consists of handsome villas and gardens. Though a place of considerable antiquity, it makes little figure in history, and possesses few buildings of architectural interest. The parish churches, the guildhall, built in 1822, the market hall, and the town-hall datingfrom 1864 are the most important. At one time the leather laces known as “Congleton points” were in high repute; but the principal industry of the town is now the manufacture of silk, which was introduced in 1752 by a Mr Pattison of London. The making of salt is carried on to an extent which gives employment to nearly 200 men; and at the census of 1871 upwards of 700 were engaged in the neighbouring coal mines. There is canal communication with Macclesfield. In 1871 the population of the municipal borough, which embraces 2564 acres, was 11,344, inhabiting 2559 houses....
CONGLETON, Henry Brook Parnell, First Baron (1776-1842), was the second son of Sir John Parnell, chancellor of the Irish Exchequer, and was educated at Eton and Cambridge. In 1801 he succeeded to the family estates, and married a daughter of the earl of Portarlington; and in 1802, by his father-in-law’s interest, he was returned for Portarlington to Parliament, but he speedily resigned the seat. In 1806 he was returned for Queen’s County, for which he sat till 1832, when he withdrew from the representation. In 1833, however, he was returned for Dundee; and after being twice re-elected for the same city (1835 and 1837), he was raised to the peerage in 1841 with the title of Baron Congleton of Congleton. In 1842, having suffered for some time from ill health and melancholy, he committed suicide. He was a liberal Whig, and took a prominent part in the struggle of his party. In 1806 he was a lord of the Treasury for Ireland; it was on his motion on the Civil List that the duke of Wellington was defeated in 1830; in that year and in 1831 he was secretary at war; and from 1835 till 1841 he was paymaster of the forces and treasurer of the ordnance and navy. He was the author of several volumes and pamphlets on matters connected with financial and penal questions, the most important being that On Financial Reform, 1830.
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