Wigan Album

is that the queens pub on left ,wi chap cleaning step .ste s

Yes it is the 'Queens' pub, and you can also see the 'tram lines' in the road.

My dad, William Miller was born in the short row of houses just next door to The Queens Arms... his parents were Willum and Alice Miller (nee Walls)

John and Bessie Meadows and his 6 children lived on Walthew Lane in the mid 1900s. On January 30th 1954 he lost his 4 sons Frank 13, William 11, Kenneth 10 and Arthur 9 in a terrible accident. They were playing on a frozen pond near their home when the ice gave way. They were all drowned, it is believed kenneth died trying to save his three brothers. They are buried together in Hindley cemetery. Tragically, on the very same day 15 other children and 1 adult died in Lancashire under similar circumstances.

I witnessed this tradegy,I was playing with my mates near the perch pit when a lad called Peter Gorton who lived in fairfield avenue ran over shouting the meadows brothers had fallen through the ice,we ran over and could see the brothers just under the water,there was nothing we could do, the police and firemen arrived and moved us away.I went to the funeral representing our school,St Nahaniels.After all this time it is still fresh in my mind, it is something you can never forget.

Tracing my family tree,I found that my grandma,Jane Ellen Evans,(nee Kelly)may have been fostered by,or simply lived with, Amelia Bradshaw on Walthew lane.,Platt Bridge
Jane Ellens' daughter,my aunty Elsie(who lives Atherton,aged 90),remembers being taken as a child,to visit her "aunty" Amelia.

Anyone on here rem Amelia Bradshaw or Jane Ellen(also known as Ellen Jane,or Nellie),or even Jane Ellen's mother,Mary Ann Kelly,who later married a Richard Cooper?
Thnx for taking the time to read this.
Elaine
Lane.,Platt Bridge

That story about those poor brothers is always told in my family one of my uncles was there that day ,was St Johns ambulance trained ,tried his best but wasn't sable to save any of the lads ,my dad talks about it often

carl i was there on that day did your uncle have red hair

John and Bessie Meadows - my maternal grandparents - did indeed live on Walthew Lane before moving to the old Library on the corner of Liverpool Road and Syresham Street and often talked of their time living there - Bessie's mum continued to live there until her death.

The 4 boys who died were brothers to my late mum, and 2 of them (and my mum!) had red hair - they say this is because Bessie was of partial Scottish descent. There's a photo of the grave (which we visited frequently when my Mum and Grandma were alive) elsewhere on the site.

I went to St. Nats from 1949 to 1955 and went to school with all the Meadows boys. Kenneth was in my class. I went down to the area after the drowning and remember the Doctor--Murphy I think, trying to determine which body to try and revive-to no avail. A very tragic day.

What number walthew lane did the family live at

Baby’s,
The address is 103 Walthew Lane. Sorry for the delay but we have only just re-visited the site.

I lived at 110 walthew lane from the age of 12 to 25 the house is in the middle of the picture just before the robes dip. It was a pit managers house then as it had a bat window. My mum always told us the story of the brothers to warn us not to go on the ice. So tragic.