Photo-a-Day  (Friday, 16th April, 2021)

I was talking to Oliver Somers son some years ago and he told me that he lived here when he was young.
Here is a video of Brentwood from a few years ago.

https://youtu.be/-SXlDLdRbDM

I see Wigan planning office is at it again, albeit in a smallish way as this pic shows....they should be reading a BBC item this morning of how planners got it all wrong in the 1960/70s....and since. It not just Wigan that has messed things up,lots of places have & are regretting it.
Thats me on my soapbox !

It's such a shame to see what has happened to this once beautiful Victorian building,the vandals have trashed it,it's been set on fire,and now going to be demolished as Brian quoted..I get a sad feeling every time I pass it.

Is this building on Wigan Lane? What a tragedy it has got into such a state. It must have been absolutely beautiful in its day. It's still a remarkable building. The people who owned this in the past must have been very well to do. Usually doctors lived in these type of houses. At least something is being done to rescue it.

Veronica,it's just before The Cherry Gardens..RAEI is further up on the opposite side.

I completely agree (Helen, Maureen and Veronica), it's wrong for a beautiful building like this to be demolished, and especially considering its location. In a few decades they will regret this; meanwhile the planners/developers will be rubbing their hands at the profits to come. Such short-term vision, it makes me sad.

The planners didn't get it all wrong in the 1960/70s, they tried their best to create new modern buildings, with all the mod cons that were available at the time.

Thanks Maureen I thought it was . xx

Look at those beautiful chimneys and the ornate brickwork. I bet whatever goes up in its place won't have a quarter of the character of Brentwood or be anywhere near as pleasing to the eye. Such a shame.

I was born there when it was Park Vale maternity home in the 1940s.

Yes Mick, I understand that they were trying to create space & light for people but the problem was they made most of it out of concrete & on the cheap & concrete doesnt keep it brand new look for very long, people still want space & light not concrete bunkers.

In the early 2000s some local residents signed petitions and objected to plans for Brentwood to be turned into a rehabilitation hostel for patients from mental health wards, its purpose was to help reintegrate them back into an independent and social life.

I remember at the time there was scaremongering about insane folk wandering the streets and breaking into houses to boost the petition and objections to the scheme.

Though the truth was the patients to be housed there weren't a danger to anyone, they needed somewhere other than a hospital environment to recover back into a regular way of life and to begin socialising again.

Obviously the plans for this didn't get passed as were other plans for an office with a group objecting to the removal of trees for a parking area, since then it has been left to deteriorate.

The architectural thieves soon went in and stripped the interior of anything of value even a large cast iron Aga stove, which would have needed a lot of muscle and a lorry to move, and as Maureen has also said, the vandals and arsonists have since been in and made a right mess in trashing and burning it.

It would have been far better for it to have become a hospital patient hostel than for it to have ended up in this sad state, obviously the land is now far more valuable than the building, a pity it doesn't merit to become listed.

I think you can see that whoever built this property took imense pride in their work. It didn't take 2 minutes ( ish ) to put up and didn't look out of place on Wigan Lane. Such a shame it'e been left to get into this condition. Maybe it can become Junior Doctors accomodation for the RAEI

Well said, Cyril. When I was involved with a Housing Association locally schemes for such accommodation were often stymied by negative, often lying, opposition. I sometimes attended public meetings intended to address local fears - but often folk simply weren't interested in hearing positive stories about similar developments elsewhere - they had their 'truth', and were simply not open to reasoned arguments.
As far as I understand it, Wigan Council has long had a policy of opposing demolition of the older houses on Wigan Lane - but Planning Law is on the side of the developers... who will even demolish buildings without permission or notice to get what they want.

WN1 Standisher,it would be brilliant as you say if it could become a Junior Doctors accommodation,but I wonder if the powers that be know they could make more of a fortune making the land into luxurious apartments,it really would be a sin to just demolish it..I still don't know why it couldn't have been made a listed building..we should protect these buildings and bring them back to some semblance of how they used to look.

Tragic story Cyril, those who opposed the plans for a patient's hostel until rehabilitation or a Junior Doctor's accommodation as Maureen says, deserve
all they get. Whether it's a 'glass house' for a business or whatever, it will never be as beautiful as that building once was. It needs some multi millionaire to come along and restore it to its former glory.
I wish ....

Thank you Brian, for these lovely photos of Wigan, as we have all said before Wigan has some beautiful buildings.Everyone is sad about what's happening to some of them

The case of the missing Aga hey! Now who do we know that has an Aga Veronica? And who did Mick see on Wigan Lane in his van not so long ago?
The thot plickens! He wasn’t there looking for his top set again I’ll be bound!

I worked for the Accountants' next door during the 1990s and I remember two ladies living there - one of whom was a doctor. Not sure whether they were mother and daughter. It was a little tired looking even then, but an elegant building built by craftsmen.

Not forgetting that tree trunk as well Dt it is a wood burner as well.....that's probably where the teeth are - buried under the sawdust! No wonder he's gone quiet...

It all fits, Veronica (well everything fits except 0zy's top set but they never fitted anyway or he wouldn't have lost them in the first place). No wonder he's been holed up in that Air Raid Shelter all this time. Trouble is, Veronica only Mick as seen him sans his upper level Peggy's. Do you think Mick would pick him out in a line up Veronica?

I doubt it Dtease - the big 'O' has many disguises - he's partial to a gaberdine mac and trilby - sans ' Bogey ' - he may be away on location filming. Mick is too busy looking for grotty buildings to compare with Shangri- la... Still life goes on ...