Wigan Album

An interesting set of photo's Terry. I nearly bought a pair of these bricks at an antique pottery car boot sale in Liverpool. This scouser tried to tell me they were Edwardian doorstops.

"Gadbury brickworks, on the south side of Wigan Road from Gibfield Colliery, was named after the old Gadbury Fold Farm nearby. It was established by Fletcher Burrows and Co, owners of Atherton Collieries around 1914. The works closed around 1964 shortly after the colliery finished working."

On the Gadbury Fold housing estate there is a brilliant sculpture of miners being lowered down into the pit. Why can't we have something like that in Wigan instead of eyesores like that head in Millgate and other edifices that have nothing whatsoever to do with Wigan?

I agree about the revolting "Head". I cannot get my head around the reason as to why it was created for Wigan! WHen you think of the mining communinity we had. We do things differently in Westhoughton even after 100 years after the event we have a wonderfull sculpture of a miner in a kneeling position with his tools about him. Created specially to commemorate the Pretoria Pit Disaster. Plus the tablets with all the names of the victims. Wigan Council take note!

Wait a minute.....head....railings....Westhoughton......It's all beginning to make sense now.

yes Eddie I am the patron saint of " heads"! I've still got some hand grenades left don't give me any more ideas! I look on Wigan as my spiritual and ancestral home. I have researched my paternal line to the 1600 's and my Welsh from 1870 who incidentally came to mine the Cannel coal as well as Irish from 1870 all went into the Mines.

Gadbury Fold Sculptures. Copy and paste.

http://tinyurl.com/zd25zfu

Sculpture of the miner in Westhoughton is slap bang in the town centre in a lovely garden just off the main road. The sculptures on Gadbury Fold are completely impressive. The point was why is the "Head" at the top of Millgate and what is its significance?

As far as I'm concerned Vb, it has no significance whatsoever. Also, considering its central location, I believe it to be an opportunity missed. Not only that, it's feah....It's exceedingly difficult, as Charles Dickens once stated, or wait, could it have been Rudyard Kipling...... one of those two bakers anyway, to spell dialect words correctly, but no doubt you will be able to interpret my meaning....There's another one for the dictionary. Feah. However you choose to spell it.

Eddie if they sculpted a miner's helmet or whatever you call it and put it on its head it would still be 'foew'!

Edwardian door stops??, A speaker at a sports night said he carried one to stand on at the match and it was handy to get the wife a ring or broach or necklace on the way home