Photo-a-Day  (Friday, 23rd August, 2024)

Willie Wonka once lived in Wigan.

These old alleyways fascinate me. We all walk past the top of them but never think what might be down there! What is the name of that one, please, Colin? I know there's a Rowbottom Square down Wallgate and a Bretherton Row. I remember when Flax Mill and Crawford's Wool Shop were in one of the alleys, and The Wigan Observer Offices, but I haven't actually been down one for many years.

Looking at it now it reminds me of those quaint little back streets in Tenby or one of the Cornish villages. We certainly have the seagulls flapping around.
I have also noticed that beam sticking out from the roof, no doubt they used to hoist bails of goods up and through those upper windows perhaps sacks of cocoa and sugar!

Irene, I couldn't agree more, they have me fascinated and also the generations of people that must have lived and worked down there in the last 200 years or so. I don't know if that particular building ever had a name but its certainly got a lot of history.
In the days when The Moot Hall was at the top of Wallgate making the road very narrow and the Town Hall & Shambles and Fish Stones were in the Market Place and Library Street was not even thought of, if you walked up Wallgate from King Street on your right you would first encounter Rowbottom Square were the building in the picture is located.
Next was Bears Paw Yard
Next was Bretherton's Row, which ran parallel to Bears Paw Yard with only a wall separating the two. It's now spelt Brethertons Row but was once
known as Elbow Lane. Not sure when or why the name changed.
Next up was Old Cloth Yard.
Next was Bay Horse Yard
Next was Queens Head Yard
Next was Cross Keys Yard
Until finally you came to The Wiend off which was Moores Yard
Then the two Alleyways both being Coopers Row.
An finally Millgate.
There were even more pubs than those named so clearly in those days there were more pubs than todays Vape Shops! many of those yards and properties were pulled down for the building of Library Street and some might have even changed their name as I didn't see Barrack Square mentioned on this old map.
Hope all this doesn't confuse you.

PS, I have just brought up a 1980's photo on The Album taken from roughly the same spot.

I seem to remember James Starr having a small warehouse up there 1950s/60s but I don’t remember those buildings being painted white.

Veruca Salt might have been down there.

Anne they might have been off white because of all the smoke.

Colin could the John Bull Chophouse be one that you’ve not named as we do a tour round Wigan when out with the lads and Tenby is a place we’ve taken the girls and also the grandchildren the beach is brilliant and always have a boat trip over to Caldy Island,Polperro Cornwall is another favourite seems like our paths have crossed many times.

John, the John Bull Chop House is further up Wallgate past The Wiend off the Market Place on Coopers Row, I have taken a few shots up there but as it has been photographed a few times I think mine have finished up on the cutting room floor!
Coopers Row is quite photogenic, hardly believable it’s in Wigan, I’ll send you one or two that I’ve captured this year.

Well Done Colin , your optimism on keeping Wigan’s history not only open but interesting, I personally find inspiring! Saying that , I am greatly saddened how my beloved Wigan has changed !
Carole King’s most beautiful song and lyrics come to mind and I can’t help feeding off her words . Each to our own is a line of poetry to me because it speaks of the voice of one person! For me Wigan has lost something massive and I can feel and see its difference !

I thought Wallgate ended where Market Place starts??

Marvellous what a few cans of paint can create without taking away the history of the area. Reminds me of narrow alleys in places like Whitby. These areas should be made more of instead of demolishing them. Full of character and interesting.

Many thanks Mark for your kind words. Not many seem to have much interest in Wigans history or the efforts I put in, it sometimes seems that only the present captures the imagination. But that’s life, I shall continue.

Never knew the history or even that there was a chocolate manufacturer in those buildings Colin, a Wigan chocolatier now that is interesting, the girder sticking out from the far gable suggests that a winch was in place there at some point, maybe it was sacks of cocoa beans and sugar being winched up to begin the confectionery process.

Years ago I would go to the shop that was up those steps to buy concentrated grape juice to make wine, then it was The Grapevine; which sold ingredients and products for wine and beer to make at home.

All of those yard names sound very interesting Colin, wonder what businesses dealt in them, and possibly quite a bit of squalor with overcrowded houses too I should think.
In the 1960s I remember Dick Cheetham a furniture repairer and French Polisher who's workshop was in a yard that was reached through an alley off Millgate, which would have been between Millgate and Coopers Row, I never knew the name of the yard - or if it had a name.

I had thought that the site had gone down as I kept getting unavailable and other suchlike messages whenever I'd tried to look in.