Multiple mill buildings are still standing and several of the town's museums explore the local silk industry.

Other landmarks include Georgian buildings such as the Town Hall and former Sunday School; St Alban's Church, designed by Augustus Pugin; and the Arighi Bianchi furniture shop.

[8] Three crosses survive from this period, originally located in Sutton and now in West Park,[9] and J. D. Bu'Lock speculates that there might have been a Pre-Conquest church.

[10] The area was devastated by the Normans in 1070, and had not recovered by 1086; the Domesday Book records the manor as having fallen in value from £8 to 20 shillings.

[20] The Cheshire archers were a body of elite soldiers noted for their skills with the longbow that fought in many engagements in Britain and France in the Middle Ages.

[citation needed] In the 14th century, it had a king's chamber and a queen's hall, as well as a large stable, and the manor served as a stud farm for Edward the Black Prince.

Construction began in 1398,[citation needed] and that year an application was made for a licence to crenellate, or fortify, the building.

When the settlement was first established and for some centuries afterwards there would have certainly been some sort of ditch and palisade round the western side of the town which was not naturally defended.

[28] By the Tudor era, Macclesfield was prospering, with industries including the manufacture of harnesses, gloves and especially buttons, and later ribbons, tapes and fancy ware.

A short-lived copper-smelting operation was established by Roe in 1750, processing ore from mines at Alderley Edge and Ecton (Staffordshire), and later from Anglesey.

It was the last narrow canal to be completed and had only limited success because within ten years much of the coal and other potential cargo was increasingly being transported by rail.

Hovis is said to derive from the Latin "homo-vitalis" (strength for man) as a way of providing a cheap and nutritious food for poor mill workers and was a very dry and dense wholemeal loaf completely different from the modern version.

Waters Green was once home to a nationally known horse market which features in the legend of the Wizard of Alderley Edge.

[47] Waters Green and an area opposite Arighi Bianchi, now hidden under the Silk Road, also held a sheep and cattle market until the 1980s.

In 1866, the legal definition of 'parish' was changed to be the areas used for administering the poor laws, and so Macclesfield became a civil parish.

[61][62] The result of the 1880 general election for the Macclesfield constituency was declared void due to corruption, and no by-election was allowed to be held.

A much larger non-metropolitan borough of Macclesfield was created instead, which also covered an extensive surrounding area, including the towns of Bollington, Knutsford, and Wilmslow.

It is close to the county borders of Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east and Staffordshire to the south.

[citation needed] Macclesfield station is on the Stafford to Manchester branch of the West Coast Main Line.

Fifteen bus routes run within the town and to other locations including Altrincham, Buxton, Congleton, Crewe, Knutsford, Stockport, Wilmslow and Wythenshawe.

The A538 provides access to Prestbury, Wilmslow and Manchester Airport, with the B5470 being the only other eastbound route from the town, heading to Whaley Bridge and Chapel-en-le-Frith.

In 2004, research was published in The Times naming Macclesfield and its borough the most uncultured town in Britain, based on its lack of theatres, cinemas and other cultural facilities.

A fictionalised version of Macclesfield's railway station appeared in the 2005 football hooliganism film Green Street.

[citation needed] It was also the location of Control (2007), a film about Ian Curtis, the lead singer of Joy Division.

[98] In literature, Macclesfield is the second principal location of the fantasy novels The Weirdstone of Brisingamen and The Moon of Gomrath by Alan Garner.

In 2008, the borough was named as the fifth happiest of 273 districts in Britain by researchers from the universities of Sheffield and Manchester, who used information on self-reported personal well-being from the British Household Panel Survey.

It was founded by John Whitaker whose objective was "to lessen the sum of human wretchedness by diffusing religious knowledge and useful learning among the lower classes of society".

In September 2020, Macclesfield Town Football Club was wound up in the High Court over debts totalling more than £500,000.

[111] On 13 October 2020, the official receiver confirmed that the assets of Macclesfield Town had been sold to Macc Football Club Limited.

[118] Macclesfield parkrun, a free weekly timed 5k run, takes place in South Park every Saturday morning at 9.00am.