General   (General discussion, talk about anything.)

Dear Ned

Email received earlier.


The photo in question must have been very old indeed. In the book "Ancient crosses and wells of Lancashire" on page 220 the writer Henry Taylor quotes :-"FOUR FOOTED CROSS- The site of this cross, which has long since disappeared, is three miles south of Wigan, on the Roman road between that town and Warrington, in the midst of an old hunting district. Several other Lancashire crosses are known by this appellation, which means that the cross had four footings or steps, that is, the three steps or calvary, and the pedestal."

The post at Orrell was not a cross and has been variously described as a boundary marker for 3 manors,a marker post for foot races, a post for tethering horses

of the stage coaches at the Stag Inn and even possibly a monument devoted to the victory at Waterloo donated by the Holts of Bispham Hall. No one is really sure. Various newspaper clippings show different stories. In one dating from 1951 an 80 year old says he remembers the post standing in the middle of the road and can attest to the foot races. The post was 12 feet high and had a ball on top with the initials TN. The date associated with the column is 1750. TN is possibly the initials of Tom Nixon who was licensee at The Stag for a good while. The Nixon family farmed the land also at the back. One of the most plausible explanations is from AJ Hawkes who was Wigan's Librarian for a long time and was particularly interested in local history. He believed that there was a hall called Orrell Post in the 16th century and the post could have belonged to that but possibly marked the manor boundaries.



Many records for both Ashton and Orrell are lodged with our archive at Leigh town Hall and at Lancashire Record Office at Preston. The cuttings books and books I quote are available here at the Museum and are readily available for you to see.