Wigan Album

My first awareness of the village of Standish was
When I started working there in 1956 at the local
Textile mill down Bradley Lane,at that time it was a lovely peacefully village,hardly any traffic plenty of open countryside not being built upon,it even had its own dialect which I found fascinating me being a wigan lad.but like everything else the village as lost its charm through housing projects and heavy traffic.

And the well.

The advertisement sign stand out

Walking day, on the Saturday we would stand there singing The Church’s One Foundation.

Nothing much changed today then is there ??

Linma, thats one of my favourite hymns but I think a little out of favour today in the P.C. world we live in.....but still one of my favourites anyway, along with I Vow to Thee My Country.

What a gulf between the dignity of that hymn Helen , and the dreadful , dreadful schmaltz of the ' World in Union ' song . The tune of course is Jupiter from Holst's Planets .

Spite Row on the left and facing, the houses at the top of Church Street that were demolished and became spare land before becoming the garden area opposite the Church Hall car park. The building to the right, had it become the butchers at this point or was it still the Eagle and Child public house ?

At this time the stocks were on the right of the cross facing the three terraced houses, as opposed to where they are today between the cross and the well. The Eagle and Child lost its licence in 1916 and became Worthington's butchers sometime after that. I remember the Market Square being totally cobbled in the 1940's as it is in the pic, we used to play football on it. This photo was taken before 1930 as Spite Row on the left was demolished in that year. I would suggest that the photo was taken around 1920.