Wigan Album

this photo must have been taken from the old fountain

Yes it would have been. I used to play on the ruins of the fountain when I was little - in the late 60's early 70's. I thought the little park across the other side of Wigan Road which backed on to Pretoria Road was called Jubilee Park though? Does anyone remember the chapel/hall that used to exist on Pretoria Road before it was demolished and the two newer houses were built on the site in the late 1970's?

The land that the two parks occupy was owened by Lord Gerard he donated it to the town council to create a leisure area the people of Ashton this was around the time of Queen Victorias Silver Jubilee enc the name, the land was very wet and boggy and unsuitable for building on so he didn't give much away

They were both called Jubilee Park and they both had lakes in at one time.The land used to be called the wambs.

We used to play cricket on the green to the left of this photo using a tree as the stumps. Also played hide and seek in the woods and rhodedendrons on the right using the old fountain as base. I remember the summer of '76 heatwave the park was packed with sunbathers.