Wigan Album

If you take away the electricity poles, the gas light poles, the tram lines, and a bit of foliage, then it’s pretty much how it is know.

Please excuse the K on now, my little pinky slipped.

It looks like a Sunday afternoon in spring, ladies dressed up having a stroll, or perhaps Easter.

My aunt Nellie and uncle Ernie lived on the right hand side of the photo. I remember those concrete steps going to their house! How fun to see this!!

Trams in Ashton disappeared long before my time, but I do have a vague recollection of seeing trolley buses…..
Just.

Half way up the photo, on the left , back in the 50s , possibly into the early 60s , was a shop named Cholmondeleys.
It came as something of a surprise to me at that time to learn that the correct pronunciation is actually Chumley….
….who on earth comes up with these barmpot spellings ?

And a couple of my late pals, whose images appear in the “Skitters” section of the album were born and lived in close proximity to each other in the middle row of those houses on the embankment .

As John G rightly points out though, nothing much else has changed.

The surname will originate from 'Cholmondeley', a civil parish in Cheshire, England, north east of Malpas and west of Nantwich. It includes the small settlements of Croxton Green and Dowse Green. The name is of old English or possibly Norman origin, note the accent.

The shop is now a chemist