Congleton Museum Trust, a registered charity, was formed in 1985 by a group of local history enthusiasts to pull together as much as possible of the history of Congleton and to explore ways of exhibiting it to the community. It was 2002 before the trust managed to open the museum in the former police station next to the Town Hall. There was by then a wealth of fascinating artefacts to display, including an Anglo Saxon log boat, a burial urn from 1500 BC,two major coin hoards from the 17th Century, plus numerous items of historical interest from more recent times.
The first settlements in the Congleton area were in Neolithic times, and archaeological finds tell us people lived here in both the Stone and Bronze Ages. There is little evidence of Roman occupation, but the Vikings made their mark by destroying nearby Davenport which allowed Congleton to become the local market town.
In Saxon days Earl Godwin of Wessex held the town, but by the time of the Domesday Book of 1086, William the Conqueror had made his nephew Earl of Chester and granted him the whole of Cheshire. He in turn passed
‘Cogletone’, which had been laid waste by the king’s army, to his man Bigot.
