Wigan Album
standishgate
17 Comments
Photo: Keith
Item #: 35580
That’s more like it. I had forgotten the mock Tudor on the left. There was quite a lot of it at one time. I had forgotten Lace’s cake shop as well but remember the one nearer to Millgate.
All those buildings had far more character and appeal than Primark (C&A) or that grim parade of shops on the right, not to mention the ugliest building in Wigan, Bryan House.
The subtle colour brings the scene to life.
How lucky we were to live in a town as it was. You turned out dressed up just to go up town. The older generation certainly did the old lady with the stick and wearing her hat just shows. I bet she lived around the Wigan Lane/Swinley area. All the Mock Tudor must have come about after all those battles between the Wars of the Roses when in the end the Lancastrians won.
( I’ve been reading a bit about the wars and all the killing and usurping between the various kings!). Henry V11 was a stingy beggar though. Sorry for going off on a tangent it’s the mock Tudor to blame!… I did feel sorry for the handsome 6ft 2in Edward of York…fascinating histories. ‘Wolf Hall’ is next if the ‘White Cockade’ doesn’t appear soon.
Wigan was on a par with Chester then with those and all the other buildings around town too, thankfully some folks had the good sense to take photos.
The lady walking by Norweb or the electric showrooms has a fox fur hanging from her neck, remember how they were very popular then, I recall seeing a lady wearing one with four cubs attached - and the sense of sadness and disgust I felt.
Has known for some reason they and fur coats were seen and worn as a status of wealth then and I know I hadn't and I imagine that many others too, had never seen most or any of the animals killed for their furs for the coats, it was in the 1980s that I even saw a living fox in the wild with them previously being hunted.
Character, style, tradition, craftsmanship (of all kinds) just helped to make everything ‘consumer friendly’, not to mention ‘easier on the eye’.
Another cracking colouriseation photo Keith, You really do bring photos to life.
Well done.
I'm afraid I have some fox furs, Cyril, that were given to me by a lady whose Mother had owned them but has now passed away, and the lady knew I went to 1940s events and she went to the trouble of finding out where I live and offered them to me. I agree that it was dreadful to kill foxes for their fur in the name of fashion, but my furs died many, many years before I was born.....people wouldn't condone it now. I do use them at forties' events, (in fact, we bumped into Veronica at one last year!), but if, by leaving them hanging in the wardrobe, I could bring them back to life, I would do so, but I can't, and I don't want to throw them away, so I care for them on behalf of the lady who passed them on to me and her Mother.
Sorry Irene, I remember you saying once before and did recall a moment after pressing the submit button so I couldn't edit anything, I know you are a passionate animal lover and that nothing can be done about those furs from times past.
I was on about the 1950s and '60s, with film stars and the like swanking with their expensive coats etc., and using them as a statement of wealth. Sadly fur coats are still very popular in America, also here too with the palace guards and their bearskin hats, it was reported they'd tried synthetic furs, but all had complained because they had got too heavy, or they just couldn't do a thing with them after the hats had got wet in the rain.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/5075158.stm
https://www.peta.org/issues/animals-used-for-clothing/fur/
I don’t know about Chester, York or other historic towns and cities but most, if not all of this ‘Mock Tudor’ embellishment in Wigan was added around 1920.
Any older buildings with real visible external beams and woodwork were demolished in the late 1800’s as the town prospered and was rebuilt with terracotta frontages much more fashionable at the time
Perhaps like many today, people started bemoaning what had been lost and tried to recreate a fantasy past and so the ‘Prettying’ up of existing brick fronted buildings began.
Look at any photos on the Album of Wigan between 1900 and 1920, hardly an exterior beam to be seen. Except for the Market Place and that was Edwardian 1905/06.
History and Fashion is a very fickle thing.
Thankyou Cyril. If I ever see you when I'm wearing one of my furs, (they are called Winston, Neville and Monty), I will take it off and put it in my basket. It had never dawned on me, to be honest, that bear-skin hats on the palace guards were actually real bear skins! Many years ago we went to Bodalwydden Castle in Wales to a Country Fair....Clarissa Dickson-Wright was there and all kinds of posh country people,,,,and they were trying to stop the ban on fox-hunting going ahead. They had a "hunt", (I think it was only a mock-up one), with the horses and dogs and the red-coated riders, and my daughter and I had wondered off in the direction that they were riding. Anyhow, as they got near us, they started shouting at us to get out of the way, but Ashley and I stood our ground and refused to move and they had to go round us, shouting and blowing their daft horns. I bought a kitchen clock from there which I still have and I often have a little smile to myself when I look at it!
Irene, as someone once said about fox hunting, "the unspeakable in pursuit of the uneatable".
The Manor House in Scholes had the mock Tudor as well that was very old from the 1600’s as is the old pub at New Springs. I suppose it was a nod to the Tudor dynasty and Wigan being a Royal Borough. There would probably have been more that we know nothing about and demolished long ago. Many towns would have copied the trend I imagine.
One of the scruffiest parts of the town centre now, around Mac Donald's.
If you're talking scruffiest areas round town,look no further than Mesnes Street and Market Street.
I cannot disagree Julie but live in hope that one day when the redevelopment is complete that new businesses will move in and the exteriors will be renovated.