Wigan Album

Beautiful :-)

Thanks for putting it on. Pictures like these are the very reason I enjoy browsing these pages on a daily basis.

I love this picture Allan, could you tell me where these cottages were.

Down Brock Mill lane off Wigan Road, past the plantations

Lovely scene. I wonder if life was as idyllic as it looked ?

If you go down Brock Mill Lane and take the cobbled/dirt track downhill you come to the river at 69 steps.The cottages were just to the right of the path at the bottom by the river.

go down leyland mill lane, turn right on to the little industial estate after 20 or 30 yards turn right again the cottages down the lane on the left

can someone please take a photograph of how they are now and post them here

Unfortunately Roy, they were demolished some years ago. I remember them though, and the end cottage (on the Brock Mill Lane side) was a small shop for the employees of the Blue Printers factory nearby. The 'shop' continued to trade (from its sideboard) after the factory closed and became the Post and Chronicle print works.

I remember going to visit my friends Grandma who lived in one of these cottages, back in the late 1950's/early 60's. The view can't be replicated now (obviously because the cottages are no longer there), but the bridge to the left of the cottages crossed the River Douglas aboyt30-40 yards downstream from the current footbridge at the bottom of Sicklefield/64 (or 70) steps. The sloping line up and to the left of the cottages is Brock Mill Lane. The photo was taken from Leyland Mill Lane, just after Wingates Road, which leads up to Wigan RUFC

Sadly the state of the pathway where the cottages were is now a muddy mess. It was better when the cottages were there. I lived at Sicklefield House and after Sunday lunch, my mother use to send me to Mrs Brookwell, who lived in one of the cottages, for Gold Leaf cigarettes and a Kit Kat. Mrs Brookwell use to sell these from her front door. Oh happy memories. Once lost half a crown on the seventy steps, bet its still there in the undergrowth.

lovely picture of where my father was brought up. My family were the Brookwells and I remember Grandma Brookwell having cigarettes and sweets in a drawer in the kitchen. As a child I enjoyed playing around the steps and the surrounding woods but life for my Gran must have been hard. Two up, two down no bathroom for the toilet you had to go out the back door, down the garden across a path to the toilet which was a wooden plank with a hole in it and wooden lid there was a rusty nail on the back of the door with squares of newspaper on it. As a child I thought that was great because it was so different from our council house in Shevington.

hi Anne,went to woodfield scool with david and billy brookwell,i remember the area well.

I lived in these cottages as a girl with my grandparents. A wonderfull childhood being there.Very sad the day i left.

As a young lad I lived in Sicklefield House at the top of the seventy steps and played with Peter Brookwell (third cottage from the left) from the steps and Knew David and Billy Brookwell mentioned here.Buying cigarettes for the parents I touched a gas lighting elementthere and it fell to pieces...I was not popular !!

I remember as a child visiting the out side toilet with my auntie and trying to put the pieces of newspaper back into squares as my grandfather Jack Brookwell had cut up to use as toilet paper,as he wouldn’t allow us to read the paper as girls was'sutable! The bridge you can see on the left hand side was where the ‘muck’ wagon came to empty the tin buckets once a week. I could still find the water well to this day which was at the back of the orchard, and the memory of the belly ache we got from eating to many crab apples. What a life!!

My brother are researching our family tree and have found out that our Great Great Grandmother Frances Holland lived there as a child. As a girl she would walk to the mainroad and would watch the Bank Manager of a Wigan Bank ride past on his white horse. I know this because we were given her Obituary notice from the the Observer dated 1929 and she died in her 90's. I have posted this Obituary on WW under the Holland Family.It makes very interesting reading.

Dave brookwell was my dad he always had good times down near the cottages alot of memories

Dave brookwell was my dad he always had good times down near the cottages alot of memories

My mum and her family lived in these cottages. Sheila Tyrer;s family I believed they lived next door to Mrs Brookwell. I visited this area with my mum on several occasions.

I lived there all my life up until I got married & climbed these steps a few times a day & there is definitely 64 steps.

My gran and granddad lived in these cottages for many years. They lived next to the Brookwells and next to 'Hodgesons" For a short time we also lived in the end cottage nearest to Brock Mill Lane, but my mum hated it with avengance - especially the outside loo! As kids we all used to play at the front of the cottages - please may I and British bulldog, and we used to go up to the farm on the milk cart on Saturday mornings. As a child I was playing at the back of one of the big houses - opposite the post and chronicle and I cut my leg open, sliding down an embankment on a disguarded old baked beans tin. I was off school for months! I loved these cottages. Margaret Brookwell was a bit older than me, so too grown up to play with, but I remember Micheal Tyrer who lived next door but one to my grans. I remember being so scared as a child that when it was dark and I needed the loo that the darleks were going to come down the side entry and 'get me' as I spent a penny - I used to be terrified! Those cottages should NEVER have been destroyed. They relocated my gran and granddad in Scholes in one of the tower blocks in the late 1960's - they hated it! In the cottages my gran had a lilac tree/s at the bottom of her garden which she loved - for a number of years I tried to find them, but in vain! Its now just a mess down there - so sad - I remember as children there was a gas light just next to the bridge and on dark nights all the kids - and there were quite a lot of us - used to tell ghost stories! I was petrified! But never let on! Oh happy days!

My Grandad Albert Halsall and brothers Frank and Derek were born in these Cottages in the early 1920s. From there my Great Grandparents Richard and Jane Halsall and their siblings moved to 'Milk House Cottage' in Dean Wood at Gathurst. When my Granda Albert was in his late teens he met my Grandma Martha Stazicker at the top of Shevinton Lane on their push bikes.

I use to play with Peter Brookwell....third door from the left as you go down the steps...until he went into the army I think...we got up to many adventures....also knew Richard and his sister Ann Tyrer....also friends with Billy and David Brookwell .They moved later down Chorley Road...near the Bleach Works.....happy days...

My grandad was Benjamin brookwellwho lived in one of the cottages. My dad bernard brookwell took me too cottages I've many happy memories of the takes me dad used too tell me.

I remember these cottages and I remember exploring them (when I was a young kid) with my mates when the cottages were no longer occupied and obviously due to being demolished - although, at the time, we didn't know it.
'posty' states: "go down leyland mill lane, turn right...". These cottages were not near Leyland Mill Lane - although, you could get to them by going down Leyland Mill Lane, then heading left where the Lane splits, which becomes Wingates Road and then carrying on until you came/come to Sicklefield (where the Post & Chronicle works once stood)

The cottages were very close to the bottom of the steep steps (Sicklefied) and close to the footbridge, as 'dave c' described.

To the left of the cottages (looking at the photograph), you can see part of a wall under the trees and the line created by light and dark goes up to the left edge of the photograph to, what looks like, a large bush, this is the lower end of Brock Mill Lane. Beyond that large bush (off the photograph) are houses which I believe are still standing; just past these houses - on the left as you are leaving Brock Mill Lane - was the large detached house which became Woodfield School - this house was demolished along with the classrooms etc which had been built at a much later date and a new Woodfield School, which now faces Wigan Lane, was built.

These cottages were demolished sometime around 1970. Possibly, these cottages were demolished because they stood on low flat ground which was often wet and proned to flooding. Also, I vaguely recollect that this area had problems with rats and these cottages were very close to the River Douglas, which was known for attracting rats.

By the way, wonderful photograph. It is quite amazing how sharp the images are and how clear the photo is.

I remember visiting these cottages with my Dad (Percy Waldron), to visit his uncle Jack. My Grandmother was Frances Gertrude Brookwell. I also used to visit his uncle Fred, who lived in (what we called “top” Brockmill cottages) where he lived with daughters Margaret and Jessie. I also recall visiting his cousins at Red Rock, just behind the bleachworks.
Times gone by, but never forgotten!

i lived in brock mill lane cottages ,with my family ,till we were relocated ,and our cottages were demolished .we lived next door to brook wells .It was lovely growing up down there ,even though we only had basic amenities ,my family and I have never forgotten our time down there ,and would have gone back tomorrow if we could .My sister and I used to make regular visits ,to were our cottages once were ,and surrounding areas .we used to visit my cousin ,ANN TYRER ,who still lived down there ,happy days ,,.