Wigan Album

Is this what became the golf course. Must have been a hot summer that year with the windows that are open and the folks sat in the garden.

Yes Cyril it is. During WWII the top floor was used to house Belgian refugees.The back 7 holes of the golf course was turned over to agriculture at that time also.

Early History

Hindley Park, the old hall and estate lands, were purchased for £1,300 in 1721 by Alexander Leigh, a powerful and prosperous man in the Borough of Wigan. He was a Barrister who was variously Town Solicitor, Clerk and Mayor.

Whilst never residing in the hall he did exploit the coal reserves and even built the Douglas Navigation Canal to cut the cost of transporting his coal to Liverpool. He eventually sold the canal to the Leeds Liverpool Canal Company becoming the Lancashire section of it.

The estate eventuall passed to his Grandson, Robert Holt Leigh who, at the time, was living at Whitley Hall, Wigan. He too trained as a Barrister but in 1802 was elected as MP for Wigan.

It was during this time that he decided to relocate to Hindley Park and to build a magnificent Hall befitting his position. The Hall was built about 1811 to his own plans but he forgot to include stairs! That was corrected and we have today a beautiful building over 3 floors with extensive cellars.

A newspaper article from 1904 describes the history of the Hall from 1800 to 1904:

“Hindley Hall is an exceptionally large brick building with spacious rooms, and to the right of the long drive leading from the entrance gates, there is a large lake.”

Where was Whiteley Hall Joseph ? My grandparents lived at Whiteley, though I never knew the area was called that as a child.

Mostly right, Joseph - but, although Leigh sold his shares in the Douglas Navigation to the L&L, and it did indeed feed onto the L&L initially, when the L&L was built through to Wigan, it was built as a separate channel from the Navigation. The only part of the Navigation still in use is a short canalised section at Sollom which was incorporated into the Rufford Branch of the L&L. By 1782 all the Navigation's locks on the Douglas had been removed. The L&L bought him out to secure the water supply from the River Douglas for the canal down to Liverpool, and to free it to develop the canal around Wigan without interference from a vested interest such as Leigh.

Helen Of Troy. The Hall was on Whitley Crescent up Wigan Lane, no longer standing. It had a lake too by the hall and is now known as Whitley Reservoir.

Helen, a map of Whitley Hall was put on the Communicate Board by Art, copy and paste the link below into your browser bar, I'm sure that a photo was also put on at one time by a relative.

http://www.wiganworld.co.uk/communicate/mb_message.php?opt=f2&msd=515298&offset=&subject=Whitley%20Hall

Joseph, I found an article on Google about Whiteley Hall with a map that showed the lake, now reservoir. My grandparents lived in St Clements Road & all the times I stayed there & played in the neighbourhood I never came across the lake. An interesting history of the Hall which was bought by the Leigh family in 1775. Thanks Joseph.

Thank you to Cyril as well.