Places   (Help with places, streets and buildings in Wigan.)

Whenever there is a discussion regarding the Laxey Wheel,there is a point that is always stated. Quoting from the above link, it usually goers something like this:

"Realistically it would make more sense to construct the wheel's components in a port city such as Liverpool, rather than inland in an area such as Wigan, thus requiring land transport to the nearest seaport before shipping the components to the Isle of Man."

There are a couple of things that are never said. Back then, heavy items such as castings where usually carried on the canals, not roads. The Leeds/Liverpool canal carried so many items, there were even specially constructed boats for the purpose. So to get the (unassembled) wheel to Liverpool would not have been a problem. The wheel was transported in this way, there are photos showing it being unloaded on an Isle of Man beach. It was too big even in that state for the harbour.

There are/were other wheels on the island that were certainly made in Wigan. Isle of Man historians can confirm this fact. So the Haigh foundry would have been well known on the island.

About the only concrete evidence that says it wasnt built in Wigan is tha fact that the foundry was in Haigh!