How Congleton became known as 'Beartown'

The town's affection for bears dates back to an extraordinary decision made four centuries ago

References to bears can be found around almost every corner of Congleton.

From 5ft bear statues, the living bear sculptures on 'Two Bears roundabout', the names of local businesses, the Bear Town bikers, and the town's football and rugby clubs, both nicknamed - you guessed it - 'The Bears'.

The town's affection for bears dates back to an extraordinary decision made by townsfolk four centuries ago. "It dates back to the 1600s. It’s not a pleasant story," says Jackie McArthur, Deputy Chief Officer at Congleton Town Council.

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"Every year we had the Congleton Wakes, which was like a carnival, and during the Wakes, a lot of the entertainment was around the bear baiting.

"Congleton’s bear unfortunately died ahead of the Wakes. The town had a big treasure chest which they were saving up to buy a new bible, and the town council of the day agreed that the bear warden could have the money that was in the coffers for the bible to buy a new bear.

"That’s where the rhyme comes from: Congleton Rare, Congleton Rare, sold the Bible to buy a bear.” We didn’t actually sell the bible, we used the money we had saved, and that’s in the town records."

In 2011, efforts were made to revive the story with a 'Bearmania' festival. "We had 65 five-foot bears all around the town," says Jackie. "Quite a few of them remain.

"We’ve got a knight bear and a mayor bear at the entrance to the Town Hall from when we were celebrating 750 years of our charter last year.

"On one of the main roundabouts as you come towards the town centre is the Two Bears Roundabout, which has two big bears made out of hedges. We’ve got Beartown Brewery, Beartown Spices, and both the football and the rugby teams are called ‘The Bears’. So, there’s quite a few bear references around the town."

“I think every town, at the time, had bears. Certainly, I saw a history programme about Nantwich talking about their bears."

In modern times, Congleton's residents remember the story by supporting bears across the world, as Jackie explains: “As part of the Bearmania project, we worked with Animal Asia, and with the money that we raised through Bearmania, we rescued a bear we named as Bosley, from Vietnam.

“Still within the town there’s quite a few people who have kept connections with Animal Asia and the great work that they’re doing today to get bears out of cages.”

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