Wigan Album

I think it's more likely to be early 1950s, but the date might be better estimated if we had the date when the names for WW2 casualties were added to the War Memorial. They were installed over the steps between the WW1 name plaques and the base of the cross - after this pic was taken.

It's so clean and tidy. You can tell its the fifties with the smartly dressed folk and the cars and van. It was a town to be proud of then.

Is there no clue as to the period, from the registration numbers on the shown vehicles?.

The date has to be after February 1952 as the white car is an Austin Somerset or Hereford which were introduced at that time.

Albert, the practice of adding a suffix to vehicle registration nos. didn't start until 1963 with A. the Austin reg no. letters appear to end in DJ which would have made it be a St. Helens registered car.

I agree Veronica, also no litter and chewing gum.The pavements are a disgrace now with that.Even on newly laid flags.

I would like to go back in time ( to the 1960s in my case) as anyone, but taking off my rose tinted glasses, I suspect while there was less obvious litter there would have been many discarded cigarette ends, also the air quality would have been poor - more coal (and fag) smoke rather than car exhausts though.

A photo of Wigan is quite rare on here these days.

Carolean. In 1959 masks were issued to the police officers’ of Wigan Borough. It consisted of a metal plate(tin). There were two holes in the plate, one for the mouth, and one for the nostrils. The plate held in place a medicated gauze. After four hours, it had to be changed. Where the gauze had covered the mouth, and nostrils, it was covered in a black sticky tar like substance, which had been destined for your lungs.

I remember the traffic in the late '50s, there was no M6 so vehicles travelling north or south used the A49 which ran through the town centre, in addition to local traffic. On rugby match days it was often gridlock.

Late fifties, early sixties, having been on point duty, Kenee, at the Wallgate / Library Street junction. Your face needed a good scrub.