History of Wigan   (Help with ancient and recent history.)

Depending which books you read it is estimated that there were 3/5 thousand mine shafts in and around Wigan .It is funny the town never collapsed with the amount of coal that was extracted from under it. Are there any shafts which are only covered with timbers not capped I remember years ago there was a shaft on the left going up to the motorway bridge at Windy Harbour which was only covered with railway sleepers.