Wigan Pier

Add links
Coordinates: 53°32′28″N 2°38′19″W / 53.54111°N 2.63861°W / 53.54111; -2.63861
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

On the right, the reconstructed Wigan pier

Wigan Pier is an area around the Leeds and Liverpool Canal in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England, south-west of the town centre.[1] The name has humorous or ironic connotations since it conjures an image of a seaside pleasure pier, whereas Wigan is inland and a traditionally industrial town.

History

The original "

staithe, probably a wooden jetty, where wagons from a nearby colliery were unloaded into waiting barges on the canal. The original wooden pier is believed to have been demolished in 1929, with the iron from the tippler (a mechanism for tipping coal into the barges) being sold as scrap.[1]

A telling of the origin of what really was 'Wigan Pier' goes that in 1891, an

Queen Elizabeth II, fishing for tripe using locally produced sweets Uncle Joe's Mint Balls and refer also to George Formby Senior as the origin of its mythical existence.[4]

In 1937, Wigan was featured in the title of George Orwell's The Road to Wigan Pier, which dealt in large part with the living conditions of England's working poor. In response to a critic, Orwell insisted "He [Orwell] liked Wigan very much—the people, not the scenery. Indeed, he has only one fault to find with it, and that is in respect of the celebrated Wigan Pier, which he had set his heart on seeing. Alas! Wigan Pier had been demolished, and even the spot where it used to stand is no longer certain."[5] Some have embraced the Orwellian link, as it has provided the area with a modest tourist base over the years. "It seems funny to celebrate Orwell for highlighting all our bad points, but Wigan wouldn't be anywhere near as famous without him," said the Wigan Pier Experience's manager, Carole Tyldesley. "In the end George Orwell has proved to be a strong marketing tool."[6] Others regard this connection as disappointing, considering it an insinuation that Wigan is no better now than it was at the time of Orwell's writing.[7]

The canal scene from The Road to Wigan Pier describes the area as such: "I remember a winter afternoon in the dreadful environs of Wigan. All round was the lunar landscape of slag-heaps, and to the north, through the passes, as it were, between the mountains of slag, you could see the factory chimneys sending out their plumes of smoke. The canal path was a mixture of cinders and frozen mud, criss-crossed by the imprints of innumerable clogs, and all round, as far as the slag-heaps in the distance, stretched the 'flashes'—pools of stagnant water that had seeped into the hollows caused by the subsidence of ancient pits. It was horribly cold. The 'flashes' were covered with ice the colour of raw umber, the bargemen were muffled to the eyes in sacks, the lock gates wore beards of ice. It seemed a world from which vegetation had been banished; nothing existed except smoke, shale, ice, mud, ashes, and foul water."[8]

Today, the slag heaps have been removed or landscaped with trees, the factories are closed or converted to housing, and the canal is only used for recreational boating and fishing.

Existing buildings

The pier was at the end of a

tramway from a colliery. The wagons would be brought right to the edge of the canal to be tippled so that their contents went straight into the waiting barges. The original wooden pier is believed to have been demolished in 1929, with the iron from the tippler being sold as scrap. Because of the more recent pride in the area's heritage, a replica tippler, consisting of two curved rails, has been erected although several hundred metres from the original location.[1]

The original terminus of the canal, completed 1777
Gibson's Warehouse was built in 1777 and is now The Orwell at Wigan Pier

The former Wigan Terminus Warehouses were built in the eighteenth century and refurbished in the 1980s. Boats could moor inside the building and off-load directly into the warehouse.[9]

A warehouse with covered loading bays, converted into a museum of Victorian life (often mistakenly thought to be Wigan Pier), and the home to The Way We Were museum,

colliery disaster, the Second Boer War and (on the top floor) a complete pub transported from Hope Street and reconstructed by shopping centre developers. The Wigan Pier Theatre Company used these displays to remind present generations of "The Way We Were"—not always a happy life.[11] The attraction closed on 20 December 2007.[12]

Gibson's Warehouse is a Victorian cotton warehouse, originally built in 1777, re-built in 1984 as The Orwell at Wigan Pier, is situated on the canalside.[13]

Number 1 Wigan Pier, won a Civic Trust Award—the architect being Michael Stroud Churchward when it refurbished in the early part of the 1980s.

Trencherfield Mill is a former cotton mill, located across the road from Wigan Pier converted into luxury apartments in 2009.[14] It still contains the massive working steam engine which was kept in the new development.

There are several bridges across the canal. Bridge #51 Pottery Changeline is a

public house (now demolished), taking its name from The Plough constellation.[16]

Elizabeth House, whose address is The Pier, Wigan, houses Keep Britain Tidy, an environmental charity.

Wigan Pier Nightspot was a very popular

night club on the southern bank of the Canal, from the late 80's until it closed in December 2011.[17]
The club played music predominantly of the Scouse House/Bounce genre at weekends. Also through the 1990's, an Alternative music night (Often referred to as 'Indie' night) was held on Wednesdays, and during summer months the club attracted hundreds of customers at all music nights.

Future

A planning application proposing the overhaul of the famous Wigan Pier to provide new homes, an artisan food hall and events spaces have been approved.[18]

References

  1. ^ a b c Wigan Pier - Leeds and Liverpool Canal
  2. ^ Origin of the term
  3. ^ On the Wigan Boat Express
  4. ^ "Songs of the Inland Waterways : Ballad of Wigan Pier". www.waterwaysongs.info. Archived from the original on 29 October 2020.
  5. ^ George Orwell (1937). The Road to Wigan Pier, ch 4.
  6. ^ On the road again Archived 30 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  7. ^ Vallely, Paul (30 April 2003). "On the road again". The Independent. Archived from the original on 30 September 2007. What he wrote still colours people's views of Wigan... But if Wigan is going to grow it's got to leave Orwell behind and sell all that.
  8. ^ George Orwell (1937). The Road to Wigan Pier, ch 7.
  9. ^ The Leeds Liverpool Canal: Wigan
  10. ^ The Leeds and Liverpool Canal: Wigan
  11. ^ Britain's Waterways - Wigan Pier & Skipton Castle
  12. ^ "Wigan Pier Closing Down Message". Wigan Leisure & Culture Trust. WLCT. 2007. Archived from the original on 12 May 2008. Retrieved 27 February 2008.
  13. ^ Welcome To The Orwell at Wigan Pier
  14. ^ "Trencherfield Mill developments". Archived from the original on 13 May 2013.
  15. ^ The Leeds Liverpool Canal: Wigan
  16. ^ The Seven Stars Bridge
  17. ^ "Wigan Pier NiteSpot". Retrieved 29 March 2008.
  18. ^ "Step forward for Wigan Pier plans".

External links

53°32′28″N 2°38′19″W / 53.54111°N 2.63861°W / 53.54111; -2.63861

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wigan_Pier&oldid=1160995747"