Wigan Album

The road going from Scowcroft's lodge to the left middle distance is now Maple Avenue and on the other photo, the black building with tower to the left of photo is Kirkpatrick Mill,or Hindley-Green Factory.During the War it had been RAF Depot,Hindley Green, not a lot of people know that. E.T.

Scowcroft Street & Scowcroft Farm Facts and theories: On a small scale 1867 map (No names unfortunately) Scowcroft Farm building is shown with no other farms over the other side of Close Lane. Scowcroft Street is just a track with no terraced houses on. (At this time I suspect it was unnamed) There are no terraced houses either on Atherton Road both sides of Scowcroft Street. Fast forward to 1906 Terraced houses in all these locations. I think that John Scowcroft bought the farm for the land that his pits were on. Then built the terraced houses for his workers. Both on Scowcroft Street and on Atherton Road. His surname was then given to the street, the Post Office (Scowcroft St. Post Office was on Atherton road. In one of his houses?) His Farm and the Railway sidings on the main line Scowcroft Sidings. I think that the farm was the original "Close Lane Farm" Close Lane passed the front then down the side as in the left hand photograph. If John Scowcroft changed the farm name to his then this freed up the name to be used across the road when the present Close Lane Farm was built. Maybe the owner kept the land over the other the side of Close Lane, built a farm and took the name with him ?

As can be seen in LH photo Scowcroft Street (Maple Avenue) was still a dirt road after it left the houses. It was exactly like this when I remember it in the 1950s. The first building work started about mid 50s where Willow Drive and Cedar Avenue are now. I also remember the Large Pit lodge being filled in. At the building site mentioned they had a bulldozer and one evening when the workmen had gone we rooted around and found some cartridges in a metal box on the Bulldozer.(These were used for starting the big diesel) We took them home then went to a pond behind our house armed with a sheet of newspaper and a box of matches. We pored out the gunpowder particles on to the newspaper then lit it. there followed a mighty whoosh and what can only be described as a mini atomic mushroom cloud. Great fun! Does that make us the first Hindley Green urban terrorists?

Hi Mike
The pond that you chose to conduct your experiment (with the gunpowder),do you recall the location of the pond or it’s name ?