Wigan Album

that chimney would have been the industrious bee colliery chimney just past Russell street

Someone once said to me that the chimney was the brick works chimney, sorry no other info and all I remember was a tiny ruin and the chimney standing in the field.The houses to the left at the back are on Gidlow Street.

alan said the chimney belongs to what used to be longworths pit.

i will look into that one further Carol
i dont remember Longworths pit only the one i mentioned

ask your alan to check these.
i cant find the pit which he alludes too
http://www.freewebs.com/windinghouse/three.htm

june, I remember the chimney well we used to play there as kids.
i came from langdale ave, you know the posh council houses
i think alan taylor lived in russell street which are the houses beyond the ones you mention

All of my aunts,(now in their 60's) still say it was the brickworks chimney.Peter, there was a Jean Frost in my class at Belle Green, your sister by any chance ?ajulie remembers the peoplw at no.2 Carol.

guilty jean is my sister.
interesting about the brickworks
do you know what it was called
i have looked on some old maps but it doesnt show anything

asked alan about the chimney, my mistake he said that the pit managers name was longworth therefore it always got called longworths pit.

Sorry Peter none of my relatives can name brickworks,but one of my aunts thought Longworths might have had a hand in it,as they owned a lot of land in Ince when she was growing up.She remembers her dad sending her to the Longworths house,a big white house where Morrisons now stands,to pay their ground rent on the house and a pen he used to have,where he stabled his horse.

I was told last night by an aunt and uncle thar the bricks made at the works had the letters E W S on them.No other details sorry.

I have lived in Ince all my life as you know Peter and I was always told it was the site of the Busy Bee pit which was indeed owned by the longworth family, They lived in the House at the top of Petticoat lane which was bought by the Threlfalls, and the site is now being built on

we called that place there the rucks, I remember we used to slide down them using old mudguards, Behind them was the brickhill, and the ressy as we used to call it, were I learned to swim, the brick hill was the corporation tip which was accessed down moat house street

i always associated the pit with the name busy bee.
and i remember the spare land at the back of your old house before they built that new estate.

Peter,it must have been colliery chimney as I have just been looking at the Ince directory on 'Stuff',and it says Busy Bee colliery,prop.Albert Longworth.As for the spare land at side of our old house,there used to be pens behind me,Ispent many hours sliding down the rucks on any old bit of tin we could find and picking the shale out of my legs where I had fallen off my tin and carried on down on my backside.I was lucky enough to ride on the bulldozers when they flattened everything for the new estate.I used to play in Gallaghers pickle works yard too and got told off for going home stinking of vinegar,many happy hours walking the old wooden barrels.Guess I can add trespassing to my list of sins !!

Do you remember that great big hairy alsation that lived in the pickle works, when you looked in through the windows it jumped up and barked, so we did it all the more

June, I was in Jean Frost's class at RoseBridge. Name use to be McSorley. Was it at Belle Green or Ince Central you were talking about?

To Kath-- I was at Belle Green school with Jean Frost.Out of class 4 I was the only girl to go to Hindley and Abram,along with 4 boys.

Hi Gerry
I remember that Alsation only too well.It bit my brother Derek-The hairy mutt ended up having all it's teeth extracted. Today it would have been put down!
Needless to say it didn't deter me from having a dog.
I own a gorgeous Weimaraner.

to kath devine nee mcsorley..... in case you're still watching comments on this photo, I have recently put a class photo from the old Ince Central on Wigan World"schools" with you on it.

My Grandma, Bessie France (nee McManus) lived at 114 BelleGreen lane from the late 1920's til about 1970. The back of her yard is just off to the left of the photo. Our relatives, the Moores, lived about three doors up Belle Green Lane from Gidlow Street. a a youngster I played on the slag tip in the background and remember the pens and "nissen hut" type sheds just behind my Grans. does anyone remember when the cleared the slag tip and pushed the old pit head brick structures down the shaft ? I can still hear the noise now. How dangerous were those pit shafts ? We used to climb the surrounding wall and throw bicks down the brick lined shaft. Where was the Health and Safety Fairy back then ?

The area I think is off bell green behind the houses of York street and prince. Silverdale Kendal road and Arnside where not build till the 1965 not any early my father was born in york street them move to levens place from york street with his parent he lived in all his live for 68 years and use to tell story of now it use be like. He and his parents was one of the frist ones to move in to the new houses. I have relations that live in Silverdale now. The slag heaps where off the top of bell green lane I think

hi jaqueleen,i was born and bread in york st, what is your dads name ? the chimney was half way down bellegreen lane we used to play there as kids there was no chimeney near york st , only black tank and canal ha,when the houses were demolished we moved to 3 levens place , becketts,what was your name and what number did you live i probably know you x

Hi Josie my father was Harold Jones he lived at number 28 York Street his dad was Joseph and his mum was Ethel. The only reson why they move to the new houses because the council made them so could knock them down. My lived in levens from 1965 till 1995. His mum deid the year after they move to the new house in 1966. I think his parents move to York Street about 1918. Hope this help