C and A Standishgate

Could anyone tell me what was on the site prior to C and A being built and what year it was built. Thanks in advance.

Not sure what was there before C&A although I seem to remember a building with some Black and White frontage. It must have opened very early Sixties as my Mum worked there and she had to go to Liverpool for training before the Wigan Store opened. Don't know if this helps much but if I can find anything else out I will post ASAP.

Thanks for that. My Mum is over here for a holiday and we were just talking about Cand A and that is how it cropped up.

Not a clue what was there before it though. I do remember the most excellent Mark Williams pork pies though!

It was originally the Roebuck Hotel, then Mark Williams..

That site originally housed R O Lace's pie shop, which had the black and white frontage, Shearings antique shop and a few others. Trying to recall, but I think there was also a barber shop. It was in or around 1959/1960 because I was just a child at the time, and I know this because we lived at the back of the building site on a temporary basis.

The jib of the crane being used at that time had an accident and knocked our chimney off the roof. What a mess it made. The Wigan Observer came down to take photos of our house and it was in the newspaper. I still have the photos from that time and, if anybody is interested, I'll find them and scan them to show you.

I think we got something like £50 compensation, which was nowt, even in those days.

Mark Williams butcher's wasn't affected though at that time.

didnt mark williams have their own abbatouir ,know spelt it wrong .

Yes they did have an abertoir behind as my Husband delivered Oil there in the 60's.
He always said never buy anything from there.

The stench that blew from the slaughter house up that alley between Mark Williams and Hunters was absolutely awful, how folks could have a whiff of that and still go into the shop beggared belief, and the screams coming from the pigs was horrendous.

Mollie did you ever see any rats as big as cats at the back of there, I've seen them coming into the co-op loading bay and in Church Street, and they were big too.

mollie m always thought RO Laces was at the side of C&A?

There used to be some cottages there as wwell as Mark Williams and when they knocked them down they came across the river Douglas flowing underneath and I believe they had to build a concrete raft to suport C and AFurther along towards Powell st there was also a Public house and a Barbers shop cannot think of any more at the moment

Roebuck Hotel

Laces cake shop was where the paper shop etc is now.

I remember the smell of Mark Williams and the sawdust on the floor and to be honest I didn't like it

I much prefered the place when it became a McDonalds

what a wonderful building that roebuck hotel ,bet it was huge inside

Elizabeth that would have been the culverted brook that ran down Back Mesnes Street where Mitchinson's flower shop was, the alley that lead to it is where Ken Goodwin's shop is now on Standishgate, if you look there is a manhole cover in the pavement - that leads into the culvert.

This photo of the Roebuck Hotel was on the Album, bet it was grand inside too.


Link to another interesting photo from Ron Hunt

Oops just seen your Roebuck Hotel post danni.

Most of the smell came from Forster/Fosters skin and hide place on Water street near the church.

aurefield , Sorry about that, but it what I was told by the builders it was the Duggie ,I must say I bow to your knowledge more than the builder ,when I stopped to have a look through the railings or something they had put up ,I do know it was a huge hole
Danni forgot about the cake shop , and never remebered the Hotel I only remember Mark Williams shop

There used to be a TV shop next to Mark Williams in the early days of TV

on my way to st mary,s school from our house in albion square millgate many times the wagon came with live animals for slaughter they would back the lorry up to the gate to let them in to their demise us kids didnt know what they did

jj

Posted by: ayrefield (983)
The stench that blew from the slaughter house up that alley between Mark Williams and Hunters was absolutely awful, how folks could have a whiff of that and still go into the shop beggared belief, and the screams coming from the pigs was horrendous.

Mollie did you ever see any rats as big as cats at the back of there, I've seen them coming into the co-op loading bay and in Church Street, and they were big too.

Replied: 12th Sep 2010 at 11:22


So sorry. I don't go on forums much anymore, but thought I'd pop back to read this.

Oh yes, Ayrefield. Rats as big as cats indeed. There were two abattoirs where I lived, not 20 yards away, one being Mark Williams' for the cattle and lambs, but there was also a piggery behind our houses as well of his. The stench from them all was incredible. The other being Forster's as recalled by Joseph.

Our gorgeous cat Sandy picked up some rat poison from one of them, back in or around 1959. I'd never seen death by poison before, but I've seen it since, and it truly is awful. I don't like rats either, but rat poison is inhuman as, once eaten, their stomachs explode resulting in a very painful, slow death.

I used to sit at our front window watching the cows and lambs being herded from the trucks into the abattoir on their way to execution. Let me make this clear, I'm not a vegetarian, but don't ever believe that animals don't know when they're going to their deaths, because believe me, they do.

I sobbed many tears watching the cattlemen prodding them to get out of the trucks. They wouldn't go on their own because they could smell blood and smell death.

At the time that C&A was being built, there were site cabins at the back of our houses. In those days, the piggery would shoot a wooden bolt into the head of a pig in order to kill it, but it was an inhumane way of doing it compared to today's so-called "humane" methods with stunners. This particular day, a pig got loose running around with a stick in it's head. It was terrified and escaped, not wanting to die. As a little girl, I was horrified seeing that.

We used to do a lot of work for James Strange's abattoir which was located in Bryn, and many's the time they brought pig and cow stunners in for us to repair. They still had
skin, blood and hairs on them, and it still sickens me to think about that.

Another thing I saw as a child was that a cow got loose from the abattoir. Old Mrs Lewis next door, a little old Welsh woman who had a spotless home, had her front door open. The cow ran into her house and up her stairs. The poor thing was petrified. It eventually ran back down the stairs onto the street and this is something I'll never forget as long as I live, and I've remembered this for 50 years. A cattleman had mounted a horse and threw a lasso around the cow's neck and towed it back to the slaughterhouse, and that cow was screaming for mercy.

Sorry to have gone a bit off track there but, yes Rio, Lace's was at the side of C&A. I was disremembering the layout of the shops at that time, but it was a very long time ago.

My love of animals tells me that I should be vegetarian but, we were born to be carnivors.

Unlike JJ, as a very sensitive child, I did know what was going to happen to those poor creatures, and that's why I vehemently defend the animals of this planet, and why I despise it when folk call bad people "animals" for wrong-doing! Animals don't murder, rape or commit other serious crimes against their own kind for pleasure or gain. Reet. Off me soapbox now, but just don't call the scallies of this world, animals, because they're not. They are sub-human, not animals. Sorry for this lengthy discourse but, as I said, I don't pop on here much. I bet you're relieved that I don't!

nice to hear off you mollie on this thread . it was very interesting to read , things like that never go away do they . hoping your keeping well , and not the last time you will come on here .take care

keep coming back mollie m, i enjoyed your piece.take as long as you want.

Dind'nt Comet open the first shop in that area?

Hi again. Thanks Christine, and Scoop as well.

Well, I promised to dig out those old photos that went into the Observer way back in time, and I found them tonight after a massive search! Now, all I have to remember is how to post them on here, so here we go.

Back of our house when C&A was being built. This is a photo of my mum and two of the builders trying to shake all the soot out of our carpet! Now then, lemme think how I does this. {Mumble mumble}}! Here we go:



And this is a photo of my mam in our back yard then with the bricks from the chimbley having fallen. The newspaper reported that the "tansad she was recovering could have had one of her babies in!" It was just an owd pram, but please forgive the tin bath on the wall. We did actually have a bathroom, but she wouldn't part with the tin bath at that time!



So sorry about the quality of the photos, but they are 48 years old - taken in 1962 when I was 11.

Hy Mollie, x

Long time no speak, hope your doing ok.

Sorry for going off thread

Hiya chuck. Nice to speak with you again. I'm alreet wi' all't rotten cut out! x

My stars, looking at those old photos again though doesn't half take me back to when I was little.

Went on forums the other day, couldn,t find you

Thanks everyone for your comments.

Posted by: custard (3830)
Went on forums the other day, couldn,t find you

Replied: 14th Sep 2010 at 23:52

Which forums lass? I rarely go on any forums anymore.

Broady, you're welcome. Hope it's helped a little bit.

the one you used to go on Mollie.

Sorry to revive this again, but I need to put right something I said incorrectly in my first post on this thread, for Broady's information. It wasn't Shearings Antique Shop - it was Sheargold's. Sorry about that.

I've put the photos on that I promised, and they've scanned surprisingly well, and I did do a bit of figgling with them as well.

Lovely hearing from you Mollie, really enjoyed reading your story and the pictures you have kindly shared

Aw, thanks Twigginer lass. It's nice having a chat. In the past I've been guilty of putting me foot in it a few times with folks, but I don't mean any harm.

Anyway, glad you enjoyed the story behind the photos.

During that time I found a little kitten who came up to me. It's neck had been dislocated and it walked funny. I nicked some of those bricks and made a little shelter for it. Me mam went mad, but she knew what I was like with animals as I'd recently looked after a little bird who'd injured his wing, then let him go when he could fly again. Anway, I fed the little kitten, but sadly, the poor little mite bit my right middle finger out of fear, and it ballooned up. Mum had to take me to the doctor's to get an anti-tetanus. After that, the little soul disappeared. This was after Sandy had died from the rat poison.

Blimey, I do yap on don't I, but I could go on all night with memories from that time! I'll shut up now!