CONGLETON BEARS AMD WAKES:

Congleton is an ancient market charter town.

 

It is known as 'Bear Town' from an incident during Elizabethan times when bear baiting was a fashionable sport.

 

The Town Bear died immediately before the Annual Wakes holiday, and money set aside to buy a new town bible was used to buy a new bear so that the celebrations would not be spoilt.

 

Congleton is thought to have origins in Neolithic Times. The Chambered tomb, known as the Bridestones was probably built by Stone Age people.

 

An Anglo Saxon settlement grew on the banks of the River Dane. The nearby village of Davenport was burned by King Sihtric in AD920, indicating Scandinavian occupation.

 

By the Domesday survey of AD 1086, the towns population did not exceed 30 people.

 

Congleton's first Borough Charter was granted in 1272. A copy is kept in the Town Hall together with the 1584 Charter of Elizabeth I and the Charter of James I.

 

The Town was more prominent in the Tudor period and became well known for 'Congleton Points'- metal tags fixed to the end of leather laces.

 

The Civil War largely unaffected Congleton. However John Bradshaw, High Steward of Congleton, became president of the court which tried and beheaded Charles I in 1649.

 

In the 18th Century Congleton was transformed by the introduction of silk manufacture. Nowadays light industry and engineering provide the major employment for the town. Congleton has retained it's medieval street plan and the Market Cross which once stood in the High Street, is now in the towns park next to the River Dane.

Of the Congleton Customs one was known as “St. Peter's Chains, or Bells.”-

Congleton Wakes – the feast of St. Peter ad vincula, or - St. Peter in Chains, was on the 12th day of August, notwithstanding St. Peter's day in the English Church was on the 29th June.

At midnight on this festival the chains were used. They consist at the present time of three broad leathern belts (bearing the marks of great age and renovations), around which on the outside are a number of bells with rolling bullet clappers . . . . . The clangour roused by the least movement is at once loud and startling.”

Three acolytes, or subservient priests, with the belts slung over their shoulders, paraded the principal streets, the clanging chains (which represent those that bound the Apostle) calling the faithful to wake up and pray.

Thus, reminded of their duty, and having assembled at the Market Cross, the citizens were advised in a pious homily from the Reverend Father attached to the church, how best to keep the feast of their patron saint. Coming to modern times, the fate of the bells reveals a sad translation. They lapsed into the possession of a family of chimney sweeps, who, from father to son for well nigh soo years zealously guarded what they termed their hereditary right, and perpetuated amid hideous rows and drunken fracas the annual perambulation of the borough. So insufferable had this nuisance grown that some years ago, the Town Clerk purchased the bells, and they are now preserved. As already stated, by the local authorities.”

Congleton Museum now have in their safe custody the “Scold's Bridle”, “St Peter's Chains,” and several relics saved from the time of Henry VIII.

In later times The Wakes was the annual holiday when all industry shut down.

This following song appears on The Druids' 1972 album "Pastime with Good Company", credited as being "written by Derbyshire folklorist John Tams to an original idea by Peter Coe." JT does not appear to perform on the album though he was on their 1970 work "Burnt Offering".

The Congleton Bear

The Wakes coming on and the bear he took ill

We tried him with potion, with brandy and pill

He died in his sleep at the eve of the Wakes

The cause, it was said, was strong ale and sweet cakes

Chorus

The cheeses of Cheshire are famed, but beware

Of stories they tell of the Congleton Bear

Congleton Bear, Congleton Bear

They sold the Church Bible to buy a new bear

He'd served the town well and held served the town true

To lie him in state was the least they could do

The old bear was dead, a successor they'd need

A new bear was wanted, and that at great speed

(Chorus)

Now a parson is useful in times of great need

And imbibed with strong porter he quickly agreed

The parson, his Bible he gave then and there

We sold it in Nantwich to buy a new bear

(Chorus)

The new bear, a she-bear, was toast of the town

To music and laughter she danced up and down

So loudly the cheering would waken the dead

It caused the old bear for to rise from his bed

(Chorus)

Pills, potion and brandy induced a deep trance

And refreshed by the music he began for to dance

He danced down the road causing many a gaze

And word quickly spread that the old bear was raised

(Chorus)

He rolled his dark eye as he spied the she-bear

And with an embrace they danced jigs pair-and pair

The cheeses of Cheshire are famed but beware

Of stories they tell of the Congleton Bear