Wigan Album
Winstanley
11 CommentsPhoto: fred foster
Item #: 6041
hi you dont happen to have anymore photos of this area as i would love to see them .i vaguely remember the area but in the early 60s
I remember the area very well there was a farm with a duck pond. to the left of the small wood. If I remember correctly?
the farm with the duckpond was Holmes House farm and was run by the Kearsley family. That is where Holmes House Drive gets its name from
This was our weekly walk after Sunday school,im sure we used to go down Foundry Lane and round the back of May mill.Then up to the duck pond.
Jim, the other pic of Watkins brow is the way that you would go from foundry Lane. you would walk past some cottages calles Wildes Houses and then over the bridge and up the brow.It was also a favorite walk of ours. We used to pick blackberries in the old line and Ma would make blackberry jam and pie.
One of my best friends was Paula Kearsley, it was her uncle who had the farm. I remember many a time walking up to the farm although I think by then parts of Winstanley had started to be developed. It was a 'proper' farm as it had a duck pond!
i believe the bridge is still there , it was 6 years ago
Oh yes, the bridge is still there shiny, you would be surprised at how many people use it. Although it isn't the same as the path is tarmac'd with new houses on the Foundry Ln side
my alker family lived at Mellings farm.now gone, and Tan pit cottages, these are still there, although hidden by houses. lots of happy times in and around these country lanes. we lived on pemberton road.
I spent many happy hours feeding the ducks hre on Sundays .
I used to live at 3 wildes houses. Spent many happy times round watkins brow and the stream at the bottom. Went to school with gillian kearsley from that farm.