Congleton Park

In 1860, members of the Park Committee, set up to create a park in the town, along with James Bateman, creator of the gardens at Biddulph Grange, assessed a possible location at Town Wood. Congleton Town Council subsequently purchased land between Town Wood and the River Dane. The park was designed by Edward Kemp (who had worked under Joseph Paxton at Chatsworth House) and the town surveyor William Blackshaw. A cast-iron bridge was built over the River Dane, providing a southern entry to the park. Congleton Park was opened on 29 May 1871 by the Mayor, Dr Robert Beales.

The area of the park is about 10.5 ha. In the north-west is Town Wood, a steep wooded slope of area about 4.5 ha through which are informal paths: there are views from here to the east and south. At the highest point there was once a mock fort emplacement with a Russian cannon. The cannon, one of many captured after the Siege of Sevastopol (1854–1855), was received by Congleton in 1859 and placed in the park in 1871. It was removed in 1940, and was probably melted down for the war effort. Below Town Wood is a flat triangular area with a circuit path, bounded on two sides by the River Dane. A pavilion was built near the cast-iron bridge in 1887, to mark the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria,…