Astbury, Cheshire

Description
Astbury or Newbold Astbury, a village, a township, and a parish in Cheshire. The village stands on an affluent of the river Dane, near the Macclesfield Canal, 2 1/2 miles SW of Congleton, and has a post-office under Congleton, which is the money order and telegraph office, and fairs on the last Friday in April and October. The township comprises 2907 acres; population, 608. The parish includes also the townships of Moreton-cum-Alcumlow and Somerford, the borough of Congleton, and the ecclesiastical parishes of Hulme Walfield (including Radnor and Somerford Booths), Buglawtown, Odd Bode, and Smallwood. Coal, limestone, and building stone are worked. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Chester; net value, £700. Patron, Lord Crewe. The church is one of the finest in Cheshire, Perpendicular generally, and has been enlarged and restored several times. It has a nave, chancel, N and S aisles, clerestory, W and S porch, two chapels, and a tower with a lofty spire at the NW angle, which was the western tower of the original church. It contains chancel stalls, a rood-loft, a fine screen, a handsome E. stained window, and carved oaken ceilings. There is a peal of 4 bells, and a good organ. There are some interesting monuments in the church, and others very ancient and much decayed in the churchyard.