Photo-a-Day  (Sunday, 9th March, 2025)

It’s good to see how the work has progressed, the stonework has come up a treat and the new windows in keeping with the old.

Those trees need cutting down because you can't see much scenery from that viewpoint when they come into leaf.

What have the builder supposed to have done to the hall?
Looks the same to me!

Is that you admiring the view Mr Seddon ?
The hall looks all but finished at the front, nice mellow coloured stonework...and generally a very nice & unusual angled photo. Top marks from me!

The stone work is beautiful it’s a lot lighter. That’s how it must have been many years ago before the smoke of the Industrial past got to it.
The view from the top of the building must be even more fantastic.
What is going to happen with the hall when it’s all finished? I hope it’s not going to be turned into another hotel.

I can’t believe how much the sand blasting has unveiled the true colour of the stonework. It’s absolutely marvellous! It was a dull grey before.
Thanks for today’s photo Dennis you are lucky just to be able to walk around there. It would take a train into Wigan and a bus just to get to the gates on Wigan Lane for me!

I thought about that Mick, they do need cutting down otherwise you’ll see very little when the trees in full leaf.
Martin, trust me, the Hall did not look too healthy upon close inspection, rotting window frames, leaky roof, dripping downspouts, ancient plumbing and drainage and questionable electrics etc. Now it’s being completely modernised whilst keeping its character.

Veronica, we stayed there when it was the ‘Faulty Towers’ Hotel. The manager took us up onto the roof where an expansive terrace with seating and a bar was being created, the view was fantastic. However the route to get to it was up many stairs and along winding corridors which concerned me. When I asked about secondary escape routes in the event of an emergency or fire, he looked at me in bewilderment and just scratched his head!!!
They would never in a million years have got a licence to open it to the public.
But as I say fantastic views, wish I had taken some pictures from there, although I have some of our suite complete with rotting widow frames and baby grand piano.
.

The view from around the side of the hall is spectacular there’s nothing at all to block the view for miles around. That’s my favourite spot I was always drawn to it. Made my day this photo!

It was raining in a lot of places, so a lot of the roof and chimney pots needed attention.
The best way to get to the hall veebs is to hire one of the bikes from Wallgate station

Looks good and tidy, was a massive project. We need to keep the Hall for members of the public to see, not a Hotel. Thanks Dennis.

Or asylum seekers hotel Veronica.

I doubt many people will stand where the man is standing and look at the hall from that viewpoint. Most people will view it and photograph it from the drive that sweeps up to the front door, as they have always done. It looks lovely.

Really good pic,hall does look much better after the sandblasting.

It's been shotblasted, there is a difference.

How lucky you were though Colin just to stay for a short while. I love Fawlty Tower type hotels. I stayed in the Windermere Hotel 2 years ago and a brick was used to keep the sash window up for a bit of fresh air! I can’t see my frozen shoulder coping with one of those bikes from the station Capt. Mick of the Mick Rangers. Don’t get me going Robert it’s not right - it’s just not right! Surely not…

The Sandblasting has really brought the building back to life, a messy job but worthy of it.

Michael there's is indeed a difference, the Hall has been Sandblasted and not Shotblasted.
Sandblasting is a more softer texture for buildings and a more smoother finish. Shotblasting is a more feisty blast more like for metals.

It was being water blasted when I was chatting to the workmen

Transport to Haigh Hall is a big problem for the people of Wigan, you really need to have a car to get there, and that bus service which runs sometimes is not the answer, it needs to be something more radicle, something which will put Haigh Hall and Wigan on the map.

So how about having a cable car system up to Haigh Hall, running from the Plantation Gates opposite Wigan Infirmary, where the cable cars would then soar high above the Douglas Valley, it would be a spectacular ride over the plantations route up to the Hall.

Sir Bob, I’ve seen a map with Haigh Hall and Wigan already shown, adjacent to each other.