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WIGAN'S HERITAGE Astride the ancient highway north lies Wigan's one time neighbour village of St.-Mary-the-Good, which is a literal translation of its ancient name of Mariebonne, and its more modern title, Marylebone. It is still quiet, sylvan, secluded, though Wigan's environs have absorbed it. Here is the entrance to Haigh Plantation, magnificent and austere, here is a lovely park, and Old Brock Mill Lane winding away down to the Douglas Valley and the cradle of Wigan engineering Haigh Foundry, birthplace of the Laxey Wheel, many early locomotives for the then new Great Western Railway. This picture shows a corner of quiet Marylebone, with the disused schoolhouse now supplanted by nearby Woodfield School. It was near this spot in 1651 the Battle of Wigan Lane was fought, and gallant Sir Thomas Tyldesley was slain. |
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