Wigan Album

St Thomas's is a very old church. When doing family history & using Lancashire Parish Clerks Online I notice the church records go back a long a
way.
I have to say people in Lancashire are very lucky to have such a good PCO....many places don't have any volunteers to transcribe records...so thank you to all the folk that have made LPCO such a success.

H-o-T - you're right - the LOPC is a fantastic resource, with no equivalents available in most of the country. However, it is restricted by the number of volunteer transcribers it has - even when churches release their records (and too many refuse to do so, for some reason). I'm sure they'd welcome anyone willing to take on the task.

Upholland is one of the more ancient churches in the north west like Ormskirk and Winwick. It is unusual that the local post office is inside the church with a cafe, well away from the centre of the village up a steep hill.

Mr X. The Church and Post Office are in the centre of UpHolland Village, I think you may be confusing UpHolland Village with Hall Green which is an area of UpHolland, the Post Office was at Hall Green until a few years ago.

A church I have never been in but looks lovely from the outside.
Up Holland as a rich history. Mentioned in the Doomsday Book in 1086 were it appears as Holland and in 1226 it as Upholand derived from the Old English hohland meaning 'land on or by a hoe or spur of a hill' which sounds plausible.
I did once read that it was named after Sir Geoffrey De Hollander who was granted lands in the area after the Norman Conquest, but can find no current reference to this.
In 1307 Robert Holland endowed his chapel at Up Holland which eventually became a Benedictine Priory. Edward II stayed there in 1323 when he visited Wigan. This was few years before we had a Premier Inn!

As a life long resident of UpHolland (70+ years) I can inform you the church IS in the centre of the village.
The area you refer to as the village centre, is in fact the district of Hall Green, which was still fields, when UpHolland village was already centuries old.

Mr X should stop using Google and google maps trying to look clever.
Upholland village is centred on the church not up at Hall green.
Always has been, always will be.

Colin I went last year for the first time. Catch the bus if you go not the train. The bus stop is quite near the church. I can’t remember the number though. The church is lovely and there’s a cafe inside and a tiny room for the post office. I went to see George Lyon’s grave. The ladies in the church are lovely and very helpful. It was a lovely sunny and warm day. Put it into your ‘things to do book’.

Colin - Arriva 375 and 385 services, Wigan to Southport.
Ask the driver to let you off at School Lane/Owl Inn.