Photo-a-Day  (Tuesday, 26th April, 2022)

Pity in the photo you are drawn to the bin and lamp post more than the railway. Even the train is obstructed by the security cameras

Ah! The bridge I couldn’t imagine in the other photo you put on Dennis.

The wall beyond the church gate - spent hours, whole days on there, trainspotting. The mainline in full view, Wallgate Station platforms below.
A duffle bag with ham sandwiches and an old flask. Oh, and a brown anorak in bad weather. 8h24

That tree trunk on the left is astonishing . Like some monstrous hairy caterpillar . I like the ' celtic ' patterns under the bridge . And Debbie Harry singing O Denis dooby doo , just for you Dennis .

Just in time with the camera Dennis, nice.

The archway is over some steps that lead down to King Street West and I've only ever walked up them once in my life....I always enter the Church Gardens from Church Gates at the corner of Wallgate/Market Street or through the gap just by the Dog and Partridge, (or whatever it's called these days). Just imagine if you happened to be sitting in the Church Gardens when a steam train passed by, which they occasionally do....what a view that would be!

What strikes me about this viewpoint is how wonderful it would have been to see it over to the horizon when the church was first built and before the railway as well. It does seem quite high up on those steps.

You are number 6 .
I am not a number , I am a free man ! ?

Irene your lucky, because Ive never walked up them steps.

I too can't recall ever having walked up or down those particular steps, and like Irene have been in/out the church yard from either Churchgate or past the Dog & Partridge or in/out through either Bishopgate or the King of Prussia Yard.

Does the council oversee the gardens or the church authorities? The times I've been passing through I've never seen anyone tending them.

I was told that there are graves under the grass, there’s no indication that there is though as far as I can see.

Cyril. I've seen Council workmen tending the gardens in there a number of times when I've been in.

I’m so sorry , but every picture shows a ‘prop up’ that’s not the true Wigan we all love. The fabric has gone , the essence has gone . A tidy up don’t solve it for me . What’s happened to the bloody heart of Wigan we once knew . You can shift soil , but you can’t move soul..

Thanks Irene I'd always wondered as the Rector had gardeners doing the Rectory gardens at one time. I'm sure that there were a few headstones in the grassed area at one time Veronica, and if you remember the paths were paved with gravestones before they were covered with tarmac, this was a lot safer though as the gravestones that had become worn down could be quite slippery when wet.

In the mid 1980s when Lowe's store was demolished to make way for Barclays Bank Victoria House a skeleton was uncovered at the back and was considered suspicious with it being on top of a terracotta drainage pipe. However forensics found the remains to be very old and that the area around there was once part of an ancient burial ground at the rear of the church. The skeleton was said to have firstly been found when Lowe's building was being built, (it opened in 1887) and then laid more a less back into place, but on top of the drainage pipe, and to be found again almost a hundred years later and then reinterred properly.

I got to hear of that as I worked at Environmental Health at the time, I'm not sure if it ever was reported in the local news.

I did hear about the skeleton being found. No wonder it was said that Lowes was haunted. Nowadays they would have done a DNA test I bet. Come to think of it Cyril I do remember the grave flag stones.