Photo-a-Day  (Monday, 26th October, 2020)

By jove, so it is.

A very imposing building, built with red brick, it says Wigan & Lancashire without a doubt.
Another good pic Dennis.

It's a shame this building has been so neglected. It's a landmark on Market St.

Hindley library?

I haven't seen that building for over 50 years.
Good photo Dennis.
Solid municipal!

Good job it's not in Wigan town centre, the bulldozers would have eaten that years ago

Excellent photo Dennis, proper building ,not like the square boxes they build today.
That drain pipe top box needs unblocking or replacing ,going to cause untold problems, lack of maintenance by Wigan Council again.

better than canals dennis i hope we have a canal free november

I wonder who was the last man to look out of those windows on the tower.
Yes that drain pipe needs unblocking, because that water will be causing thousands of pounds worth of damage

I only went in there once as I used Abram Library, (when we still had one!), but when they issued plastic cards instead of cardboard tickets you could use any library in the Wigan area and I found Hindley lovely and old-fashioned and homely....that is not meant in a derogatory way at all, that's how I LIKE libraries to be. There was a little museum upstairs at one time, I believe. I miss the days when the librarian stamped your books and libraries were hushed places where people obeyed the "Silence" notice. I have a couple of library books with the date-sheet intact and I still have my cardboard library tickets. I just can't part with them. When I was a little girl I wanted to be a librarian and my schoolfriend and I, aged about eight or nine, managed to get a date-stamp and ink-pad.....oh the excitement!..... and we made little tickets and stuck empty "After-Eight" chocolate wrappers in my books at home into which we slid the ticket with the book's title on, and stamped our home-made date sheets, taking turns to be the librarian. How easily children were pleased back then. This was the early 1960s and I think After Eight had only just come out. It must have been around Christmas time as that's the only time our house would have seen a box of chocolates! My REAL library books as a child came from the mobile library which visited Ince , where I lived, on a Tuesday afternoon....I can smell its particular aroma still.....not unpleasant, just a mixture of old and new books and ink and sometimes wet macs and umbrellas! Happy Days! (Sorry for going on...I get carried away with the past, but it's better than the present at the moment!).

I've always thought that it's one of the best buildings in Hindley. You're right David, it's not right that it hasn't been maintained. Didn't the library have to move out in the end? Great photo of it Dennis.

Last time I saw it was looking very neglected.Part of the building was also a museum. I often wonder what happened to the items from it? One item that I always looked at was a human skull but have no idea why it was in the museum.t

I'm sure it doesn't now belong to Wigan council, wasn't it sold at auction some years ago. It is a listed building too, but how do the owners of such get away without maintaining them.
https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1287213

Hindley & Abram Historical Society displayed their exhibits upstairs and it was a great place to spend a good hour or so browsing through them.

Irene, I think we all look forward to you "Getting carried away with the past"
Always interesting when you do.

Irene you would enjoy the Peoples History Museum in Manchester, its right next to Salford central station

https://phm.org.uk/visit/

It's so sad that this building was not maintained properly,as it was built for the people of Hindley by a local benefactor.I was told by a member of the then library staff that the council didn't bother to have gutters cleaned,consequently they overflowed and ruined walls through damp. I might be cynical but I find it hard to believe that this would have happened in certain areas around Wigan. We now have our 'library and community centre 'a former day care centre in Progress Street,where the variety of books available is so poor.

Lovley memories Irene, I remember going to the children's library in Station Rd Wigan, aged about 9/10 I still remember the smell, the silence,and the Enid Blyton books I loved, that took you to another world.I was reading them last thing at night,and first thing in the morning.Also we went to the library on our own, not with parents,thought we were grown up.That would not happen today.

Here lies another 'sign of the times'. A shame, but it is of no use in the modern World. I think it sold for £60,000 a few years ago.

The Wigan I remember,
Is not the same as this,
call me Mr Cynic,
but that's the way it is.
The buildings they're all changing,
some are left to rot,
then comes yon developer,
and builds a leggo plot .
Some call the old depressing,
so better to knock it down,
and build some modern boxes,
the more to share around.
Everywhere more boxes,
then put more there on top,
then you'll have a tall high view,
to eye depressing lot..

This is HINDLEY, not Wigan.