Photo-a-Day  (Friday, 14th February, 2025)

I thought Rowbottom Square pavement flags were the oldest Mick, but maybe I'm wrong.

Incidentally Big H , I’m led to believe that every time Veronica is down in the dumps , she gets herself a new hat … just in case you were wondering where they came from .

Whereas personally , I only buy quality stuff from car boot sales , irrespective of the cost .

Can you give more details Mick....how old the flags might be ?

What a photo to wake up to! After two lovely views of Wigan pubs that looked like postcards, now we have this old alleyway.
But having said that it is a view I've never seen before and I've been up many Wigan alleyways when I was a Wigan Policeman.

I'll go back later this morning, Helen, and see if I can find out.

?

How can one tell these are the oldest flags in Wigan there’s so many in other passage ways?. Is there a date? The Weind flags are really old with the cart tracks. Or they were the last time I looked.

I’ll have you know ALL my Winter hats are hand knitted to-a high standard Ozy.

How can you know that these are the oldest??

Leave them beer barrels alone metal mickey!

Enjoy yourself, it’s older than you think!
Flagstones such as these were laid down and formed in the Carboniferous Period 300 million years ago, give or take 50 million.
They could be from a local quarry but more likely from Yorkshire perhaps around Holmfirth hence the common term Yorkstone and prized for their mineral structure and durability.
So next time you walk on natural flagstones don’t take them for granted, just think, you are walking in the steps of Dinosaurs.

Helen, I've just got back and I saw a date stone on the Post Office which stands next to the alleyway that says 1884, so it is that old but I think it could have been there before the Post Office was built so it's more than likely much older.
Thanks for your question Helen.

So Mick, will it be a case of eeny-meeny-miney-mo then, with going off the date of either when the Crown Post Office was built or the Dog and Partridge, though the actual date of how old the stone flagstones will be - is that they are as old as this world they were hewn from.

Are the stone flagstone theives still around? - if so they'll be putting this location in their book and they'll end up in a Galley kitchen down south.

Another thing I found out this morning while nosing in the back alley was that the Wigan Brewhouse make fine crafted cask ale in the heart of Wigan in a fully-restored 19th century, Grade II-listed tower brewery and now has its own pub with lovely views of the church and gardens.

They are very old and if you ever get the chance to go there, just imagine the Roman kids of Coccium enjoying playing hopscotch on them, while there parents were busy in the boozer.

Mmm, is this what you saw before you went down the alley Mick?
https://www.bing.com/images/blob?bcid=qC91aHOheBoIBNSFkb1s33qm.H-j.....5Q

Could they be 'Parbold Stone'?

It was a highly rated construction material in early 19th Century. It was used for sleepers when early local railways emerged.

I'm confused, Mick posted the picture but Big Harold says he'll go back and check, are you one and the same person?
Which alleyway is this Mick? I can't make out that building across the road. The Alley has certainly seen some traffic over the years and the flags are laid to give the rainwater a runoff in the centre. The Victorians thought of an easy and simple solution. These days they would overcomplicate everything with paperwork passing across the desks of various pen pushers, committee meetings and planning applications with the inclusion of safety lighting and handrails in case someone should trip, all at great expense before being blocked by DEFRA because a rare species of worm had been spotted.
Only to find out later when David Attenborough had arrived on the scene with a team of international Helminthologists and BBC camera crew that it was an elastic band!.

Strangeloop, Parbold was one of my thoughts also, I think the age of the stone there is of a similar epoch.
I find it fascinating to look at a cliff face and see those strata of rock laid down over tens id not hundreds of millions of years, it makes you realise how miniscule a time we have on this planet, entire species gone in the blink of an eye while the rocks endure and the earth abides.

Rowbottom square dates back to 1853, that's still unchanged today. How I got that date the Wigan Observer was founded in that building at Rowbottom Square, so the the ginal could well be early 1800s.

Central drain to funnel water away from footings of the buildings is considerably older than Victorian: It is a feature of Roman roads when they are in a built-up environment.

Yes definitely Roman, they reminded me of when I visited Pompei.
Wigan Historical Society should put a plaque up explaining the history of Wigan to Wiganers.

Perhaps there were some ‘’jetty’’ buildings there at one time well before the red bricked buildings. Just a thought after seeing Keith’s photo of the ‘jetty’ buildings in the Market Place. It would be common sense not to remove the stone flags.
The stone flags would have been there before the red bricked buildings surely…

Mmm, is this what you saw before you went down that alley Mick, though halfway up that wall looks to be damp and steaming?
https://moillusions.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/lol.jpg

'Hopefully this link shall work.'

There was also a local limestone quarry at Norley and off Billinge Road at Pemberton (Delphs), there were a few at Horwich too