Wigan Album

It doesn't look like that now Gerry, I was up there the other week and it is full of every type of rubbish possible, and the row was called Bee Cottages, they were accessed at one end by 4 or 5 steps and at the other end were the slag tip was it was level

me and alan did a bit of courting under that bridge i remember the houses further up .

No wonder there was a big dent in the Wall Josie

alan must av done it with his scooter.

walked under the bridge every morning going to work at john englands and remember the three or four little houses and barons wood yard and the slagy

The bridge looks low because it's been filled in with rubbish, but when the line went across it, you could drive a small truck through it. The 4 or 5 little houses to the left after the bridge known as the Bee Cottages never had electricity at all, you could see the gas mantels lit through the windows and the gas lamp column outside, and the toilets was in the back yard. The was a cornfield at the rear of the houses that stretched to De Trafford Drive, and later, the field became the site for Storage-network warehousing co. The Beehives were kept Opposite the houses down a little valley, and always remember seeing the Bee-keeper out and about. John England Tubes got bigger and bigger and later became Martland and England, and there was only one road to get to it and that's Belle Green Lane, well before Makerfield Way was built.

colin you could get to john englands 3 roads by car under the little bridge or top hemfield rd passed barons farm or top of ladys lane enfield rd

Tony, I was commenting about the Long Articulated Heavy Goods Vehicles going to and from John England's works. Remember, power assisted steering on HGVs was unheard of, especially the MK1 Atkinson's they uesd at that time. It would have been almost impossible to take the Hindley route. The little bridge at the top of Petticote lane was again not suitable for a 32ton HGV. So at that time only Belle Green Lane was the most sensible and direct road to take for the lenth and weight of those HGVs.

can anyone remember when John Englands was the Admiralty paintworks ????

We are all, nor as owd as Thee Aitch

sorry colin i misread what you meant as for the navel paint store aitch i was told by the older end that it had been a paint store long before i'd worked there

Looks like no takers Aitch, so when was John England's a Admiralty paint works?

Looks like aitch don't know ?

Are you asking or do you know the awswer to John Englands paint works Mr Aitch?

It was still called the admiralty paint works in the late 40s early 50s

I remmember the old gas lamp, I think it was the last working gaslamp in the area.

I remember the cottages,my Mum always called that little road Cinnamon Brow.There were families that lived there called McCabe and Eastham,it always looked really pretty then.

Ive just been battersby st to see this. But its long gone. BUT i found another bridge made of stone (arched). Was this always there but we couldnt access it because it was through the farm gate?

My gran Alice McCabe lived at 13 Cinnamon Brow and her sister Maggie Eastham lived at no. 9; their father John Eastham built those cottages and before that they lived at the old house down in the valley. The beekeeper rented the field from them and was called Mr Meadows. The cottages had gas but not electricity and outside earth closets. They were demolished in the 1980s. Does anyone remember Mr Tarpy the coalman? I remember him making deliveries in the 1960s/70s.