Wigan Album

Don't apologise - avoid the chance of the owner of the copyright coming after you by at least attributing the pic to its source. Some of us might like to try and find the book you have. While it's good to see such views, they do actually belong to someone.

more please

Sorry Rev, I always seem to get on your wrong side, but there is no indication of who the photos belong to, only a remark by the author of the book a Mr John Hannavy, so to Mr Hannavy I apologise for using your research for the book to allow a few others, who may not have the access I have to your excellent photos of old Wigan.

Isnt that strange? Was only just talking on fb last week with my distant cousin in Wigan about this Pub (she grew up on a farm near here) and how the "oldies" would wander across after a days work on the farm for a brew or two at the Boars Head in the early days. Probably looked much like this way in those days. Can imagine them sitting in there.

John Hannavay was a lecturer in photography at Wigan Tech in the 70s and 80s, he was invloved in publishing a few books of old Wigan photographs and about Victorian Photographers.

As a very samll child over 50 years ago I remember being take for a walk with my parents and grandparents from Springfield up Gidlow Lane, along near the railway line and Beech Hill works and coming out at the Boar's Head; is it still possible to get that way?

AW, yes just carry on up Gidlow Lane and go past the Gidlow Houses for a short while onto Standish Wood Lane, and then turn right onto Pig Lane and walk up there to Wigan Road, you come out just higher up from the cemetery entrance

I have exactly the same picture. It is contained on a postcard in a series of Will Smith's picture postcards of Wigan. It was thrown out of a newsagents at the top of Standishgate, presumably because it was so dated then. I have had it since 1952 ish.

Thanks for the info Cyril.

The book this view comes from and I think others aitch has posted recently are from the book ‘Wigan Now & Then’ Celebrating wigan and Standish 1900-2000 in words and photographs by John Hannavy, published by Smiths Books of Wigan in 1999, ISBN 0951068083. The book contains around 70 old postcard views and the authors modern views of wigan. Some of the old views have been coloured on a computer as they were only ever available in sepia. There is text describing the old views and linking them to the modern photos. Some of the dates given for the old views are more than a decade out and the comment on the last page that there could be “well over a hundred and fifty” (old postcards of wigan) is wildly off the mark, just look at the thousands on this site. Overall a quality printed paperback showing changes in wigan over a hundred years.

Cyril...Where do you get "Pig Lane" from?