Leek

 

A MARKET-TOWN and parish, in the hundred of Totmanslow North, is seated at the

northern extremity of the county of Stafford, on a pleasant eminence near the river

Charnet ; is 154 miles distant from London and 31 from Manchester. ' The streets are

wide, well-paved and clean. The population is about 4000. Their chief employment

is in the manufacture of ribbons, silk-twist, buttons, ferrets, galloons, thrown silk, ban-2

dana and other handkerchiefs.--The church is an incient gothic structure, dedicated to

Edward the Confessor, and is supposed to have been built betwixt that time and the con

-quest. It is built of stone, has two ailes, a square tower with six bells, and a clock

with a most excellent set of chimes; it has also two handsome ornamented circular

windows. In the year 1816 eight pinnacles were added to the tower, several parts of

the exterior of the edifice decorated with ornaments, and the interior underwent a

thorough repair. There is a mural monument of white marble in the chancel, to the

memory of John Daintry, who died on the 23rd. of August, 1758, aged 58 years, and

several other individuals of that family. In the church-yard is an ancient stone-cross,

the shaft of which is about ten feet in height. It has been called Danish from the “ima

gery and fret-work,” as Mr. Gough observes, with which it is ornamented.—Leek

church is a vicarage in the patronage of the Earl of Macclesfield. The Rev. Richard

Bentley is the present minister.——Leek is remarkable for the following phenomenon:—

By the intervention of a rocky mountain, at a considerable distance westward of the

town, the sun sets twice in the evening at a certain time of the year; for after it sets

behind the top of the mountain, it again breaks out on the northern side of it, which

is steep, before it reaches the horizon in its fall.--Blue-hills, in the neighbourhood of

Leek, abound with coal-mines; a salt-spring also issues from one of them.——William

Badnall, Esq. silk dyer, of Leek, left by will dated the 11th. January, 1806, £1000. to be

vested in the public funds, the interest of which is to be annually laid out in bedding,

clothing, or other necessaries, to be distributed on the 5th. day of November, among

twenty poor widows resident in Leek and Lowe, who are not less than 60 years of age.

——The alms-house is a curious piece of gothic architecture, situate in the Compton.

Each poor widow is allowed 2s. 6d. per week, fuel, and a new gown once in two years.

There is also a free-school with a small endowment ; a Sunday-school for the Established

Church, one for the Methodists, and one for the Calvinists.--On Tuesday the 3rd. Dec.

, 1745, O.S. the Scotch rebel army, commanded by Charles Edward Stuart, and the Dukes

of Perth, Athol, &c. marched through Leek on their way to Derby, and returned on the

Saturday following ——Market-day, Wednesday. There are nine annual fairs, viz. on

the Wednesday before the 13th. of February, Wednesday in Easter-week, May 18th.

Wednesday in Whitsun-week, July 3rd. and 28th. Nov. 13th. nearest Wednesday to St.

Iluke, and Wednesday after Christmas-day; there is also a cheese fair once a month, and

a fat cattle market, from July 28th, to Christmas, held once a fortnight on the market-day.