Login   |   Register   |   
Photos of Wigan
Photos of Wigan



Wigan Album

Whelley

34 Comments

Whelley
Whelley
Photo: Scholes Malc
Views: 7,265
Item #: 17617
Description says it all!

Comment by: George on 20th April 2011 at 15:14

A fantastic photo, a view of something I never saw but in an area I was very familiar with, if you know what I mean.

Comment by: Dennis Miller on 20th April 2011 at 15:34

I only walked down that lane yesterday, it is nice to see how it used to look... when it had character.

Comment by: Ken Smith on 20th April 2011 at 15:53

My great great grandad Thomas Fillingham was landlord of the George & Dragon from 1890 to 1900 but I would like a photo of the pub its self if anybody has one.

Comment by: cullie on 20th April 2011 at 18:43

can anyone tell me were abouts in whelley this photo is. im only 45 but i remember the george n dragon pub. i just cant place were it is in relation with today.

Comment by: ken on 20th April 2011 at 20:46

I would say it is taken near enough to the corner of Sole street. I always thought the Miners Tent was older than the George & Dragon, unless the Dragon was re-built, the tent certainly looked older.

Comment by: Vicky on 20th April 2011 at 23:33

My Grt Grt Grandad-Robert Ainscough was Landlord of the George and Dragon Inn, 33 Whelley, at the time of the 1911 census.My other Grt Grt Grandad, Robert Winstanley was Landlord of the Miners Tent at the time of the 1911 census and died there in 1920.The Miners Tent was down as 32 Whelley.I would love to see a photograph of either of these two pubs.Great photo

Comment by: Ken R on 20th April 2011 at 23:34

A few years ago i was walking down Wigan Rd in New Springs and there was a sewer line rupture, the flow of efulent was pouring down the road towards Whelley, the pressure had lifted the asphalt and exposed the original road of cobblestones. So lots are buried under a thin skim of tar and pebbles.

Comment by: Nogger on 21st April 2011 at 00:06

Wonderful photo, like George I remember this area well but not quite like this.
I think the photo was taken from the end of Cumberland Street, with the gable end on the right being the top of Thompson St. The light coloured cottages on the right in the centre of the picture were still around in the 40's and Mrs Webb's chip shop was in this row; the large gable behind is I think 'The Miners Tent' which was at the top of Eckersley St. the chap standing astride the kerb is immediately in front of the pub. The caption is wrong as the pub is recorded in the 1881 Directory.

Comment by: Scholes Malc on 21st April 2011 at 08:40

Ken - just posted a photo of George & Dragon for you - belter!

Comment by: Ken Smith on 21st April 2011 at 14:38

Seen it thanks very much Scholes Malc wonderfull

Comment by: DerekB on 22nd April 2011 at 15:56

Cullie, The George and Dragon was opposite the top of Ellis St.which went down from Whelley to Whelley Secondary modern school and ended opposite the lower end of the shcool's playground. A & P Cole's car sales lot currently runs from the top of Eckersley St. to the top of Ellis St.
The Miners Tent pub (mentioned in another comment) was situated at the top of Eckersley St. If my memory serves me right,in the early fifties it was closed as a pub, became a cafe for a while and subsequently a used car showroom. Since by then I had long since moved from Whelley to Beech hill, I can't recall what happened to it eventually or when it was demolished.

Comment by: ken on 22nd April 2011 at 23:16

Derek B, The George And Dragon was opposite Thompson St. Ellis St. doesn't come to Whelley it runs from Wright St. to School Ave

Comment by: DerekB on 23rd April 2011 at 14:57

Ken, sorry to disagree. I was born in Ellis St and The George and Dragon was definitely opposite there and directly opposite John Clark's grocers shop. (Now a tanning saloon?) Opposite Thompson St was Dalton's bakery - they also had another branch on Scholes just beyond the entrance to Bolton St.

Comment by: Kath Arkwright on 23rd April 2011 at 18:17

My grandmother was born at 38 Whelley in 1880 but the family lived at 36. At 34 was her mother's aunt Alice McSorley and at 32 her mother's brother John Hitchen a coalminer. At this time the Miners Tent Inn was at 16 Whelley and the beer seller was Thomas Turner.Sometimes these houses are called the Twenty Houses but maybe they are ones nearer Scholes.I have a copy of the booklet containing this picture and must say you've done a lovely job injecting new life into it!

Comment by: Jenny on 24th April 2011 at 05:06

Loved seeing this old photo. My ancestors lived in Twenty Houses Whelley also, the address always confused me as there was clearly a number for example 30 Twenty Houses Whelley etc. Can anyone shed any light as to what this meant? Was it a group of twenty houses? or was it a name to refer to something else?
Either way great photo!

Comment by: ken on 24th April 2011 at 22:22

Derek B. You are quite right, the metion of John Clark's and Daltons cake shop cleared my memory. I can picture them both now. It just shows how you can remember some things and forget others and something jogs your memory and it all becomes clear again.I suppose it is to be expected when you are going back 50yrs or more.

Comment by: Margaret on 25th April 2011 at 10:51

Cox's fruit shop was opposite Thompson Street and the George and Dragon pub opposite Ellis Street. Both in the same block with a newagents shop in the middle.

Comment by: DerekB on 25th April 2011 at 16:18

Margaret,don't know how long you go back but I remember where Thompson St. met Whelley an old lady had a second hand shop. On the other corner was the last of the shops in what were then all Co-op departments. This was the shoe repairers/cloggers and they also charged up batteries (accumulators?) for radios. I can still see these batteries with their clear glass sides and the liquid visible. A lot of houses around the area still didn't have electricity in those days. Above the Co-op shops was the Co-op hall - I have been to a few wedding receptions there as a kid and had new irons on my clogs at the cloggers. In the block opposite Thompson St, apart from Dalton's confectioners, the only other shop I can recall was Mr Gabbott's chemists. On the opposite side to this at the end of Moore St East was a branch of Morton's grocers - now a print shop.

Comment by: ken on 25th April 2011 at 23:16

Derek B. You mention Mr Gabbot's.In that row was also a off-licence on the corner of Salmon St. and at the other end of the block was a chip shop ( no shortage of those) and I think Fairhurst's butchers was next door to Gabbot's. It was certainly in that row

Comment by: DerekB on 28th April 2011 at 16:31

Ken, your mention of Fairhurst's butchers being in that row jogged my memory.I was at school with a lad called Bernard Cusani and I seem to recall his father had a butcher's shop there at the time. Would that be either before or after Fairhurst's, or were there two butchers in the row (unlikely), or is my memory playing up on me?

Comment by: ken on 28th April 2011 at 22:04

Derek B. Cusanis butchers was at New Springs, just before Chapel St.

Comment by: DerekB on 29th April 2011 at 16:05

Ken,thanks for the info re Cusanis. My memory obviously was playing up on me!

Comment by: Vicky on 3rd May 2011 at 17:57

can anyone tell me where Maybury's pie shop was in whelley? i remember being taken there as a little girl and when you have little legs seems a long way.thanks

Comment by: DerekB on 5th May 2011 at 16:04

Vicky, apart from Daltons (opposite the top of Thompson St)and mentioned earlier, the only other pie/cake shop I can remember in Whelley was at the top of Eckersley St. For some reason we never went to this one and I can't remember the name. Could this have been Maybury's?

Comment by: DerekB on 6th May 2011 at 14:44

Vicky, since I posted my last comment I have been talking to a mate who worked as a lad for a Wholesalers in Great Acre in the early 60s. He tells me that he used to go to Mayburys for the dinner time pies and it was definitely opposite Thompson St, so it would seem that they must have taken over Daltons shop. Another possibility is that they also took over the other shop which Daltons had, which was roughly opposite what is now Longshoot Health Centre, and perhaps that was where your mother used to take you.

Comment by: Jack on 6th May 2011 at 16:30

Vicky/DerekB,
Maybury's confectioners was opposite Thompson St.on the corner of Whelley/Cumberland St. The best meat & potatoe pies ever been baked.
Great photo Malc, any more?

Comment by: Vicky on 10th May 2011 at 16:28

Thankyou for replying, i can remember the shop doorway and always lots of people inside but not exactly where it was.I remember Mayburys, Sherringtons hardware store and Hiltons papershop but thats all.

Comment by: upthetims on 17th May 2011 at 00:59

Qn the right looking at this photo,the farthest away street would be Great Acre

Comment by: Louise on 13th August 2014 at 19:52

I'm trying to locate a photo of the miners tent inn in whelley. Can anyone help?

Comment by: Dave Stephens on 19th July 2015 at 18:29

I think a lot of you have got the streets wrongly orientated. I lived at 84 Shelley from being born in 1951 till around 1964. Thompson Street joined Whelley right on a bend in the road, still does actually. Cumberland Street is\was directly opposite. The view in the picture is taken from that bend so none of the streets in view are Thompson street.

Comment by: Dave Stephens on 19th July 2015 at 18:41

Looking at Google maps confirms for me that the first street you can see on the right is Ellis Street so this PIC is taken from on the bend at Thompson Street. 84 Whelley were I lived is still there and faces directly down Sole Street and there the road is\was straight. Sharrocks grocers on one corner of Sole St. the outdoor on the other. Co-op and the old ladies Secondhand shop on each corner of Thompson St. Mayburys pie shop opposite on the corner of Cumberland St which you can make out on the picture. I was the order boy for Harry Sharrock delivering orders all over the area on a bike with a big basket on the front. On Saturdays I got paid £1, made £2 in tips and was given a Mayburys pie for my lunch.

Comment by: Dave Stephens on 19th July 2015 at 18:44

I'm wrong. The street on left is Westmorland St. so the shop isn't Mayburys

Comment by: Julie A on 22nd April 2017 at 10:20

Thanks, this is a fantastic photo for helping visual Whelley as it was. This is my first post. I'm newish to tracing the Corless family in Wigan and at the moment I'm focusing on Martha Corless born c1825 who lived in the Whelley area. Kath Arkwright (hello), I notice you've posted a comment about the Hitchen/McSorley family. On the census you mention, Martha Corless (plus children Ellen and William) were lodgers/boarders with Peter and Alice McSorley, along with John Hitchen. In 1881, Martha was living next to Charles Hitchen, younger brother of John. Do you (or anyone else) happen to know if Martha was related to the Hitchen or McSorley family? I've not yet found a link (and there may not be one). As far as I've been able to trace, Martha was the daughter of Robert Corless and Catherine Chandler.I've traced Martha's daughter Ellen, but I'm trying to discover what happened to her son, William. Any information from anyone would be very much appreciated. Thank you.

Comment by: Julie A on 22nd April 2017 at 11:17

Sorry, Kath, you didn't mention a census! That was from my memory of the 1861 census, when the McSorleys, John Hitchen, and Martha Corless were all at the same address.

Leave a comment?

* Enter the 5 digit code to the right of the input box. Don't worry if you make a mistake, you will get another chance. Your comments won't be lost.