Hi I know there has been a long thread on here about this area but I am curious about High Brooks Cottages 1 to 6. My Grandma was born in one of these and I wondered if anyone knew anything about them. At the moment there are two houses called High Brooks but they are number 7 & 8. Someone put an old painting on here titled High Brooks Cottages that appeared to show 6 small Cottages. Does anyone know where these where in relation to numbers 7 and 8 ? Or does anyone know anything about them or have pictures ? Thanks

Hello Avius. There is a photo on the Wigan world album and someone posted this.

"Comments by Janice, 29th January 2009

John, if you are coming in from Downall Green end, going past the graveyard on your right, at the top of the hill turn left into Brocstedes Road follow this road going over the motorway bridge immediately over the motorway bridge turn left this is still Brocstedes Road and then they are the 1st cottages you come to on the right hand side. The cottages are tucked away right at the end of Brocstedes Road. These cottages were built in 1840 and were built further down Brocsteds Road than the other 6 cottages the first 6 no longer exist. Even though it is called Brocstedes Road it is more like a farm track. Were you turn into the track this is the start of Highbrooks and it ends at the cottages. The area before the track ie. Jimmy Wadsworth's Farm and bungalow this area is called Low Brooks."

Click on this LINK

Hi Terry
Thanks for that. I regularly pass the two cottages in the picture. I hadn’t seen the post about the first six being before number 7 & 8 on the lane. I have looked on old maps but it is hard to make out how many there were and exactly where.

Aren't those cottages to be demolished ? Land takeover to build the new Industrial / Warehouse Estate ..

Hi Janet,

Yes they are unfortunately.

High Brooks

Avius

If you call in to the coffee morning on Thursdays at Park Lane Chapel you will be able to have a chat with two former High Brooks residents, Raymond Frodsham and his sister Edith.

Hi Keith..

OMGosh... I know I have been over here 43 years, but my Heart always will be in England and it breaks my heart, to look at the link and see everything I knew, being wiped off the face of the earth.Not just High Brooks,but everything, every walk, every home of all my now deceased family, schools, everything I knew.. so sad...Thank God the Chapel is still there and Pray it will be for a Very long time...

i think there is some pics on the towns section . look for the downall green pics .

Thanks Whups, yes I have seen those, but I'm going on 75 and even D G isn't the same place I grew up in.. and from what I hear, all the fields around DG are going to be built on soon.. Nothing is the same, but I have lovely memories of growing up in DG, during what I consider to be the best times..

no doubt jouell . but pics are on north ashton & not downall green as i 1st stated.

Jouell they will have to sort the sink holes out in the fields behind Birch Grove and Leyland Green Road before attempting to build on these fields. They said this was down to the drift mine workings but there is a lot of shifting sand over these fields.

I keep my horse on the yard at the top of Brockstedes Rd. it’s a disgrace that they are allowing this land to be built on. We see dear, hares, kestrel, barn owls, sparrow hawks and a lot of other wildlife daily. Thank you for the info about the coffee mornings Gaffer

avius.... I grew up in Downall Green, back in the 40s, 50s and early 60s.. when it really was semi rural.. Only the Terraced houses on Rectory Rd and the Estate and fields all around...
We all walked everywhere,almost every week walked up Brockstedes , through Drummers Fields, through High Grove to my Grandparents who lived at Cox Lump and I remember all the wildlife you mentioned, except Deer, don't remember seeing any of those.. But it used to be Heaven on all the walks..

Forgot to mention, you really should go to Park Lane Chapel.. It is a treasure trove of local history, plus you'll get to meet some lovely people...my cousin is one of them...

I guess the deer will have come in since the 1950's/60's.

The smaller fields which existed previously, had hedgerow boundaries as often as not. A partial barrier, which would have, to some extent, kept them out.

That said though, I get the impression than deer have become more commonplace close to where people are, in recent times. Certainly from 1970's onward, far more of them bounding across roads, seen from car whilst driving.

Closely related place: Coroner's Nook. Anyone know how it came to acquire such a name?

Yes priscus, you're right re the hedgerows, a lot of those are gone now..Plus it is the people encroaching more and more on land previously lived on by wild animals and that is why we see more animals close to home.. Same thing happening here also.. Very sad...

Did not see a lot of rabbits either when I was a kid, but that, no doubt, was due to the myxomatosis!

It was deliberately spread in UK, and "more than 99% of rabbits in the UK were killed by the outbreak" (Wiki)

(In October 2018, it was reported that a mutated form of the virus may have jumped to hares in the UK)

they just started to build at brocsteads .

Do you mean the new houses going up or down the Brow, or In the fields?

in the field near the brook on the right side as you go from the church to the top .

I had seen plans for those, they will build anywhere these days it seems... They must have to put in massive amounts of fill dirt to be able to build... I wouldn't want one, that's for sure and they aren't cheap either...

When I was young, we used to collect massive amounts of Blackberries from the bushes that grew along that fence.. memories, memories...

Sink holes and shifting sands , hey.

Someone once told me that the name 'Drummers Lane' comes from an Irish word for land which swallows you up! (I know that is not the most usual meaning advanced for the name.)

Word was something like Dromass, but I have never seen it written, and it was more than sixty years ago, so my recall less than clear. I am unfamiliar with Irish language, and have failed to track down any such word with Google Search.

No idea if the suggestion has any validity or not.

I remember being told, it was named Drummers Lane / fields, after the Drummer boy who was killed there during The War of the Roses, or some war... It was a long time ago I was told this..

I always wonder if this area is The Burn Hill?

The Burn Hill, Bryn/Ashton-in-Makerfield, was identified as an area where coal outcropped, in documents pertaining to a land sale in the Thirteenth Century. It is the earliest historical reference to coal in the district.

When I was a kid, we knew that here, coal could be located at quite shallow depth. (£3 Million worth was extracted when the M6 was taken under Downall Green Road)

Hi Priscus,
I have a coloured sketch of the cottages drawn by Mr Thomas who lived in the cottages in the 20/30s. They were known as Coroners Nook these are the cottages you are asking about and are on the lane just before our house which is number 7 Highbrooks, our house is unfortunately going to be demolished to make way for yet more warehouses. Coroners Nook cottages were demolished in the late 30's
I will have to dig the sketch out and the names of the families who lived there and put it on here for you.
Janice

Thank you ever so much Janice. I'm really looking forward to seeing it.

Janice, I have very fond Memories of being at your house and walks down the lane.. I am so sorry you have to lose your lovely home, it must be heart breaking.. Wishing you all the very best...

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neither would i espcially down near the brook as it always got waterlogged there . but the builders & machinery have already moved in.

Awww dougie, you're a Gem, thank you so much... Very sad to see all the building that's gone and still going on, but lovely to see all the old places..
At least we have our memories as to how lovely places used to be... Thank you

Thank you for that information Janice. I couldn’t understand why when I looked on old maps I couldn’t find the older high Brooks Cottages. I have seen the ones labelled Coroners Nook. My Mums says she remembers visiting them when she was a little girl (she is in her 80’s now) and the toilets where separate and around the back. My Grandma used to tell a tale of one lady crossing the nearby stream in the dark on a plank of wood. In the morning the body of someone was found wedged under the plank and she must have stepped over them in dark.
So sad that your house will be demolished I pass it on the way to the stables and think how lovely it is.

Thanks Janet, yeah so sad isn't it, more green fields lost. You need to be getting back over here before its all covered in concrete, Be good to see you again, take care.

Hi avius, I will try to put the photo and information on as soon as I can but at the moment I am having trouble putting photos on. As soon as I get it sorted I will let you know.

Janice, I'm beginning to think I won't make it over any more.. but, ' Never say never', we'll see.. When are you having to move?