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Photos of Wigan
Photos of Wigan



Photo-a-Day Archive
Photo-a-Day Archive

Photo-a-Day  (Wednesday, 24th November, 2021)

Haigh Sough


Haigh Sough
Haigh Sough mine drainage portal into the Yellow Brook.

Photo: David  (Sony RX100)
Views: 1,996

Comment by: Alan on 24th November 2021 at 04:19

What does SOUGH mean ? It doesn't show in my dictionary.

Comment by: Mick on 24th November 2021 at 06:15

I bet that bit of ironwork was originally a fire guard and made at the Haigh foundry

Comment by: Veronica on 24th November 2021 at 08:25

'Soughs' or 'suffs' are what we called the drains in the road. Told to keep away from them 'dirty' if you played near them. Sometimes if you lost something near them a key or money you would be poking about in them. You could never retrieve anything lost in a 'suff' ! They were a black heavy grating in those days.

Comment by: irene roberts on 24th November 2021 at 08:44

This brings fond memories of visiting Haigh Sough and various other Haigh landmarks, (sites of the many pits that were once dotted about) with a friend in a rattly old van one day long ago. Talk about Elvis's "All Shook Up"....I felt like I'd been on a fairground ride!

Comment by: ray on 24th November 2021 at 08:45

Alan....I think that Sough, pronounced Suff, is a local word for sewer. Ray.

Comment by: Edna on 24th November 2021 at 08:52

Alan, Sough means a whisling sound, in the sea etc, or the wind inthe trees.So in this case its the whooshing of the water.Good photo David, I think every nick and cranny part of Wigan has appeared on here.

Comment by: DTease on 24th November 2021 at 09:54

In this respect a Sough was a drainage tunnel that kept the water level below the depth of mines in the area.
It took seventeen years for his lordship to dig the Great Haigh Sough but it ensured the fortune of his family for three hundred years because it meant that he could connect the mines on his land to the sough and that made them workable. It also gave him an advantage over other landowners who had no other choice but to licence his lordship to extract the coal from under their land.

Comment by: Pat McC on 24th November 2021 at 11:05

Does anyone know what Soughers means - as in Soughers Lane in Bryn.

Comment by: Garry on 24th November 2021 at 12:44

Mick, the Ironwork is clearly an old fence, ie a school or park grounds.

Comment by: Rev David Long on 24th November 2021 at 13:55

The term 'ground sough' was also used locally to describe the underground channel used to fill locks on the canals. You don't hear it much nowadays - I suppose as the working boatmen have died out, their terms have died with them.
Garry - I think it's more likely to be a purpose made barrier - but most unlikely to date back to the days of Haigh foundry, Mick - I doubt that they bothered putting safety barriers up in those days.

Comment by: John Belman on 24th November 2021 at 14:31

A welding fabrication company made that specifically for the sough Garry, so nothing at all to do with an old school fence or park grounds.

Those weirdos who like to video strange places vandalised the original forged iron grating to get into the sough to film, this was put in place to deter others and also children from entering.

Comment by: Brian B on 24th November 2021 at 14:37

Veronica you need the contacts!!! Pal of mine had an uncle who drove the Wigan council "Gully Sucker" he would go down the sough with a spoon like ladel prior to putting the cleaning pipe down, kept us going in lost "pops"

Comment by: Veronica on 24th November 2021 at 15:04

There used to be railings like that one around the duck pond in Wigan Park.

Comment by: Veronica on 24th November 2021 at 16:45

I bet there was loads of treasure found down those 'suffs' Brian B. Besides 'pops' ...

Comment by: Alan on 24th November 2021 at 17:44

I agree, old railings cut down fabricated and welded to fit.

Comment by: Shaun Devlin on 24th November 2021 at 18:30

Ancient monument dates back to 1670

This monument is scheduled under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979 as amended as it appears to the Secretary of State to be of national importance.

Comment by: Cyril on 24th November 2021 at 19:25

The last time I saw any of those road gully cleaners was of them emptying their loads onto the landfill tip at Kirkless in the mid 1990s, they were still a common sight then and another service which at one time was seen as being essential that the council stopped doing.

I hope you gave them marbles a good disinfecting Brian B. especially when you think of what gets washed down off the roads and gutters into those gullies.

Comment by: Rev David Long on 24th November 2021 at 19:41

Sorry - bit of a memory lapse - the canal tern is not 'sough' - but 'clough'. The original wooded paddles which opened the clough were known as 'jack cloughs'. Almost all of them have been replaced with windlass-operated mechanisms - which are less susceptible to bad usage or vandalism.
Some discussion about how it's pronounced - clow, cluff, or clew...

Comment by: Pw on 24th November 2021 at 19:55

I remember the grid cleaning lorry in Hindley,driven my Mr Stretch from down Lord street.The waste was just dumped on waste land down Liverpool Rd. and we also used to find loads of "murps".We used to play a game called follow on with marbles down the side of the road in the gutter and many marbles were lost down grids.

Comment by: Rev David Long on 24th November 2021 at 20:09

Cyril - gulley cleaners are still out on the roads - you'll see more of them than usual over the next few weeks as they clear the leaves from blocking the drains.

Comment by: Cyril on 24th November 2021 at 23:30

I've never seen one for years David, and I've only seen a truck road sweeper only now and again, you saw them regularly too. They must all be operating around Standish placating those restless natives.

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