IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Royle Street, CONGLETON, CW12 1JJ

Built in 1878, the Masonic Hall is located on Mill Street. The front entrance is just in front of the white car, near the bottom of the brickwork and just to the right of that car is an Ordnance Survey flush bracket (Image). This was also the site of the original United Reformed Church before it was moved to Antrobus Street (Image).

This mark is set into the brickwork on the front wall of Image For more information on this and other bench marks go to http://www.bench-marks.org.uk/bm20363 .

Fustian cutting mill built in 1913. Now apartments. Congleton has a rich textile past in silk, cotton and fustian cutting. Although some mills have now gone, others have been converted to apartments or offices. This mill has retained its character despite conversion. These relatively small mills convert quite well but the huge brick spinning mills of Lancashire are another story altogether.

A former fustian cutting mill. This shows the three storey brick built block of the 1870s. At the far end is a 20th century flat roofed, concrete and steel framed range. This is one of several remaining former silk and cotton mills in Congleton. Fustian cutting was using a sharp blade to cut through the loops of various types of fabric (usually cotton) to produce the high pile required for velvet, moleskin and corduroy. Between 1860 and 1950 fustian cutting was Congleton's dominant industry and took place in reused silk mills and in new build premises.

Former fustian cutting mill alongside the River Dane. Brick built three storey range of the 1870s (to the rear in this view) Later 20 the century flat roofed and concrete and steel framed ranges of 2 and three storeys to the west and south.

Looking along Cross Street from its junction with Mill Street, the Image is about halfway along on the right.

On the left is the River Dane while on the right the wall marks the remains of Dane Bridge Mill with the sills of the ground floor windows visible in the wall. The guide book I have lists this as a former silk mill of 1875 with three storeys and in a ruinous condition. It has obviously been demolished and is now overgrown wasteland. An earlier view is seen here - Image Despite the loss of two large old mills in recent years, Congleton still has many links to its textile past.

Located on the corner of Mill Street and Antrobus Street, Bon-O-Phool is an Indian restaurant and take-away. The rear of the Image on Cross Street is visible too.