Wigan Album

Bernard Derbyshire's comment re Gerrard's Yard on the SV School pic led me back to my Ince Directory for 1925/6. The Yard is between 334 and 336 Warrington Road (Gerrard, Pawnbroker was in 334) - from this map you can work out that it is north of Spring Street, where a break is shown about 6 houses up, opposite the end of Duke Street.
Do you have any school pics from St Mary's, Keith?

Keith. One of the best maps I've seen, illustrating the old Spring View. The circular diagram, to right of Ainscow Street, would be the Clay Hole Pond, it had two small islands on it, where swans nested. The council estate of Marlborough Avenue, and Malvern Crescent, it seems, would have been built later, when, I have no idea.

I wonder what the occupants of ince hall thought when the railways turnes up

Oh goody - someone to burn our coal. The Hall was owned by the coal-owners.

Albert,your. Right great map of Spring View I lived on main rd across from Morris St.Shows both my Schools .St Mary's & Spring View.Right about Clay Hole .Tuther side of Wagan Works was our swimming pond Trenchie.

Jimmy. You are right about the Trenchie. Nobody had the furthest notion of health,& safety. It was always a bit of a gamble as to what you trod on, before you got to the swimming depth. I don't think anybody picked up anything nasty from swimming in the Trenchie. We all seemed immune from everything.

Albert,great times in Trenchie all School holidays .Like rest of kids from View learned to swim in Trenchie My uncle , Jack Radcliffe pushed me off a raft it was sink or swim think I was about 4/5 .Like you say not a clue what you were stood on . My Wife & kids think I'm joking when I tell them what was thrown in ( in bags with bricks in) how we didn't catch ought don't know .Would not get me in now.

Jimmy. Are the two ponds' still there, Clay hole, and Trenchie, plus "The Little River,"? it ran near by the Trenchie

Albert, the Clay Hole, from which the clay to make many of the bricks used to build the 1887 St Mary's church was taken, was filled in with rubbish by Ince UDC. When they built the new estate on that site they had to carry out massive drainage works, installing sump holes and pumps to deal with the high water table, and forming bunds and flood areas to deal with the high possibility of flooding from Ince Brook, which still flows through from Amberswood to Pearsons Flash. They also had to build the houses on concrete rafts atop deep piles driven down through the clay to the bedrock, up tp 20m, I believe.
Trenchies is still there - so are the swans - and they have civilised the area by putting in a cycle path system, linking Hindley to Wigan over Amberswood Common.

Thank you Reverend. Very informative. It sounds quite idyllic now. In the forties, they seemed to be for ever pumping water from the wagon works, nearly all day long, into the little river. There was a cast iron pipe about 12" in diameter, that emptied the water into the river, on the opposite side from the Trenchie. I don't think it poisoned the river. The sticklebacks thrived. We caught them, and put them in jam jars. Do they use the Trnchie for any pleasurable activities?

How true it is, I never discovered.I was told that in the middle of the Trenchie was an old pit shaft. If there is any substance in that. If we had become a cropper, grappling irons would have been no use, they would have had to have used a submarine.

Albert,used to catch ,frogs newts,stickler backs in Little River .At top of Donkey Lane were River went under Warrington Rd we used to watch a Kingfisher catching sticker backs. Reverand Ince Council were using Clay Hole as a Tip when I was a kid in 50's .Used to walk up lines past Trenchie to Council Yard get 1Shilling for every Rats tail.All from Clay Hole tip.

Does anyone know the date for this map, I was born in Marlborough Avenue and notice that it isn't on the map. The bottom part of it is show as Duke Street and I notice that Repton Avenue is Pearson Street. My family moved to Spring View from Sandbach in the early 1900s when my Grandfather was transferred to Springs Branch from Crewe. They lived in Stafford Street then Morris Street, before moving to Marlborough Avenue when the new houses were built.

I/went/to/both/St.Mary's(in/red)(now/Spring/View
Church)/for/infants/(there/was/monkey/bars/in/the
playground)and/then/it/moved/to/Spring/View/school/Derby
Street/for/juniors/(..My/older/brother/and/sister/went/to
the/one/marked/in/red/old/St/Marys/school)

1970's