Photo-a-Day  (Sunday, 30th March, 2025)

Kirklees hall seen this more than enough will passing on my pushrod. Could do with a lick of paint aswell.

It may have seen better days but it’s stood the test of time. It’s surprising it’s not in a worse condition with the ravages of time and use.
I believe it became two houses at some point.
I remember seeing a photo on Album and mention of a murder?

Although it’s just a few steps down a lane at the side of the canal you could easily miss seeing it especially when the leaves are on the trees.
A well composed picture and even in it’s current state a welcome reminder of one of Wigan’s heritage.

It is amazing that the building is still standing, it reeks of history & a time gone by. Thanks for finding & showing it on PAD. Is it still lived in Colin ?

When I went that day it was the first time I had been in very many years remembering how it used to be in the 1950’s and 60’s. Now the tree lined canal walk is quite beautiful and tranquil with access to The Whelley Loop path little further down.
If you don’t have a car, or have difficulty walking, take the bus to New Springs, walk along the Canal down to Rose Bridge and get the bus back to town.

Yes, Kirklees Hall must have been a horrible place to live with all that mining and manufacturing around it and the views of the slag heaps and smoking furnaces and the chimney smoke coming from the houses and factories of Wigan Ince and Scholes wouldn't.
It's still not a nice place to live, with all that noise coming from Redlands tile and pipe manufacturers and with it also being on the main route to the canal's stolen car and motorbike dumping grounds

Walk up to here very often,loads of history attached to it.

I think it could be made into desirable apartments for retirees with careful planning and the right sponsors.
It could easily be done and the land brought back to how it was. Nature is very forgiving in covering up the worst that mankind can do. All the Industry has gone and the views around there are glorious on the rise with the clean air. It looks a very sturdy building. These old Manor Houses were built in the best prime positions in the same way Haigh Hall was pre Industrial times.

There's always a cuckoo in the nest, isn't there. who HAS to see the negative side? Who disagrees just for the sake of disagreeing? I grew up in Ince with the furnaces, the slag tips, (our beloved rabbit rocks), the noisy clatter of looms and the cotton-dust floating in the air from the Empress Mill, the hammering from The Wagon Works where my Dad worked, the smell from TEG'S pickle works, and the smoke from a thousand coal fires. And do you know what?.....I would go back in a heartbeat. I remember this house from a walk down the canal many years ago with a friend, and I would like to say Thankyou, to Colin, for showing it, and long may it stand to delight the eye, (well, some eyes).

Helen, I think it’s split into two properties but judging by the state of the building and the land around, not to mention signs to keep visitors away I imagine the insides are worse than the exterior. Hope that I have not done them a disservice by saying that.

Why not turn it into a hostel for immigrants?

By the look of it they are already in there. Just on the news that there been over a 40% increase in boat crossings.

Agree Irene. Wigan would not have been the town it was without the sweat and toil of its people. Its industry made the town rich, now it’s in decline because there’s hardly any industry left in the country. At least the green and pleasant land of a certain village escaped even if it does have the motorway running through it…how very dare it!
Just noticed through my bleary eyes that the windows have been blocked up. Would that have happened very early on due to the
‘window tax’ in earlier times or were they blocked up at the time of the beginning of the mining work? Just a thought. I like the ornamentation on the bricks at the left of the building. I wonder if it’s the same under the mock Tudor boarding.

Irene, I know this area better than anybody else who looks at Pads, so I am qualified to express my truthful opinion on this photo, unlike you who is still living in the land of the stench of TEGs pickles. BTW Mr Pickle Gallagher lived in the countryside village of Shevington.
Likes being said it wasn't ever a nice place to build a big house and still isn't a nice place to live with all the antisocial drug drug-infused activity that goes on around that place.

Colin, you shouldn't have mentioned doing them a disservice by saying that what you have said, you should know by now how sensitive some of the people who come on here are.

As said before industrialisation the hall would have been built on prime land. No canals or mines then just beautiful farmland with the River Douglas wending its way through the country side. Anybody with one eye can see it’s in a poor state but it wasn’t always like this. It could be renovated.

Mick, please go back and read my comment. I never mentioned anyone by name. Why do you think I meant you? If you recognised some traits of your own in the "cuckoo in the nest" who delights in always disagreeing with the majority, then that is not my doing. And how on earth do you know that you know this area better than anyone else who looks at p-a-ds? As well as the people who live in the vicinity, it is a very popular place with walkers and cyclists, particularly from the Ince and New Springs areas. My friend Elizabeth has commented in today's posts that she walks up there very often, and I know that she is a fan of walking and often walks with friends, so a LOT of people know that area well, not just you. And I am happy to live in the past in the land of the stench, thankyou; that's my prerogative and my choice.

The Kirkless Estate was over 145 acres, not 59 as is stated.
Colin imagines right about the interior -

https://images.themovemarket.com/fit-in/600x400/ea1e3af5-bebb-48ef-895f-13aa9ce6eeb7/kirkless-hall-farm-farm-lane-aspull-wigan-greater-manchester-wn2-1jp-9

The right hand portion appears to be a separate build, as evidenced by the different brick colour, and vertical joint line sans any bonding of the brickwork.

The windows in this portion appear to be more recent, although they could be replacements. The smaller brick size, and their darker colour would suggest this is the older build.

And isn't it strange that the cladding had been applied to just that small wing.

Mick…..would the Mr. Pickle Gallagher be the one who once lived in Westwood lane Lower Ince, if so I and my friends knew him quite well.

Strangeloop, the right-hand portion is the farm-house. The 'hall' as such is the left-hand portion which is rendered. It's listed, so the windows will be under conservation rules.

The most important aspect of this picture is that it is a specific building which is indigenous to Wigan. Yesterday we just had a Nuthatch and without any background. It was not relevant to Wigan and could have been anywhere, even in a book. In my opinion Mick’s gas pipe was far more interesting and relevant to the Wigan area.

Irene sweetheart, when you wrote this comment, There's always a cuckoo in the nest, isn't there? Who has to see the negative side? Who disagrees just for the sake of disagreeing? I could swear it was me who you were talking about, if it was me give me a clue to who you were talking about.

Mick, who I was talking about is of no consequence. My point is that you read my comment about someone who disagrees for the sake of it, (with no name having been mentioned), and you just assumed that I meant YOU , so you must recognise that in yourself or it wouldn't have entered your head that I meant you, would it? And what reason would you have for saying , as you did in your last comment, "I could swear it was me you were talking about" if you didn't recognise your traits in my words? It's like someone on p-a-d saying "That woman who likes the 1940s fashions"....I would immediately recognise myself and think they meant me, even if they were talking about someone else. I think most of us on here now can recognise each other's way with words. Anyway, I'm sorry to have distracted from Colin's photo with this.

With respect Owd Reekie you could say that about trees, daffodils and one time a dandelion inching its way through a crack. It is nice to see birds and ducks. I’m sure the Nuthatch was in the realms of Wigan. It was nice to see even if your eyes are not A1.

Mick’s Pumps knows very well it’s him Irene.
He just needs to be reassured.

Thanks, Veronica. I'm shutting off now as this laptop is only going for a few minutes at a time before it goes blank and I have to keep messing about with it to get the screen back on. It's so old I don't know how it keeps going at all but I much prefer it to my phone for Wigan World. So Goodnight, speak soon. xx

The Kirkless Estate was over 145 acres, not 59 acres as posted.
Owd Reekie, it's a specific building which is indigenous to Aspull, not to Wigan.

We seem to have a professional optician in our midst by the name of Veronica. Without seeing me she has given her professional opinion upon my eyesight and deemed it as “not A1”. She also has extra sensory powers in being “sure the Nuthatch was in the realms of Wigan” even though yesterday’s picture excluded any background data. Quite remarkable!

With respect again Owd Reekie ..why would the Dennis go to an another town to photograph a Nuthatch? It’s Wigan PAD. It wouldn’t be worthwhile.
Ps it’s my own eyes not quite A1 but referring to anyone..not yours especially. Mistake in my grammar. Apologies for that. There’s room for all kinds of photos wouldn’t you agree?

I do agree that there is room for all kinds of photos. The nuthatch photo produced a large volume of responses. It doesn't seem appropriate to me but, clearly, it was liked by many others.

Irene,
I worked many years with Ted Gallagher whose parents owned TEG pickles and I am sure he told me his parents lived in Westwood Lane. Ted, the son, lived down near the bleach works in Standish.