Wigan Album

LOVE IT!!!!

Well done David, you're right, well worth posting all three photos from a bye-gone era.

Is the church in the distance, Highfield Parish Church?

Yes, that's ST Matthew's church Highfield in the background with Foundry lane running left to right in front of it. There are a few more pictures of Blundell's on the 28dayslater website.

Superb photo... well worth posting. I take it this was taken on the slag heap Yo-yo.

Are those what used to be called the twenty steps in the back ground ? I dont mean the bridge at the station!

I would date this to be about 1965/66. Reg Senior's bungalow is there and also there are new houses on Foundry Lane. The little shops are there; I remember Billy's sweet shop and the one at the end that sold delicious meat and potato pies and tuppeny loaves...Highfield church dominates the skyline...Summer of '66?

Yes jm the bridge was called twenty steps I used to go over that bridge when I was going to Highfield senior school from Goose Green in the late fifties.

Brilliant group of photos. Not a lot around to illustrate what the Yo-Yo and the old Pit used to look like. Moved to Worsley Mesnes in 1956 and remememder climbing the Slag heaps and looking out towards Pemberton and Highfield. Also remember the sulphorous smell and smoking areas of the tips. I also remember going under a railway on the Worsley Mesnes side and there being a story about a brick arched tunnel running under the slag tips. Can anyone recall that?

Dave C
Yes we called it Blundell's tunnel. It was blocked though in my day and was said to be dangerous. I once went just inside the entrance... spooky!

Fantastic photo and a view I am very familiar. We spent many a happy hour climbing and sliding / tumbling down the tip. Pre Health and safety days - my stomping ground ~ 67 to 70ish. We lived in Brindley St

im nearly sure that's me on the tip.it wouldn't surprise me because I was always up there.i was standing at the bottom of the tip one day and a mate of mine threw a piece of sleck of the top and cut my head wide open.stiches followed

I was brought up in foundry Lane next to the old school house I played on tips in 70s that hill was called big Ben and the other was the yo yo its spooky I remember talking about red clogs and talking to my grandad who worked at blundells when he was 14 in 1923 he educated me about all the pits it was fascinating

Great panoramic view of the area and a post industrial landscape David.
Wasn't there once a plan to build a link road here through from the M6 to the M61 at Westhoughton that go shelved?

I went coal picking on these slag heaps. When there was a coal strike, late 1970's. Managed to get enough coal to keep the family home going during the strike..