Coal mining in Wigan

When did Wigan first become associated with coal mining?

It wasn't Wigan that became associated with coal mining. It was coal mining that became associated with Wigan!

Before the visitors from Rome arrived!

Depends on your interpretation of Wigan. If we are talking Wigan Borough then there is evidence to suggest coal mining took place in Roman times with the burning of coal in arley. As there are a number of seams that outcrop in the town centre then it is a fair chance these will have been mined sporadically through a number of different times.

Wigan town wise you would be looking at around the the 16th century for mining. Peter Platts mines were in the 17th century at 1634 he ceased mining.

"..... coal mining took place in Roman times with the burning of coal in Arley."?

Regardless of what anybody's 'interpretation of Wigan' might be, Arley isn't in Wigan. In fact, nowadays it's in Bolton Metropolitan Borough!

"As there are a number of seams that outcrop in the town centre"???????? Of Wigan????????

Herewegoagain...Down the honkeytonk road...YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWN

Take it as you will. As much as you want Wigan to be full of coal seams just below the surface, it's not true. You can't get behind geological fact.

Hmmmmmm........

Hmmmmm off! It's rubbish! As I said, there's only lygnite and cannel near to the surface in Wigan.
Ok, it's coal, and, if it's dug up it's mined, but don't think of 'proper pits' in Wigan mining commercially viable coal seams 'under Wigan'. Because there is none!

yep you have something there tonker ,explains why most of my ancestors coalminers, moved to durham where coal was flourishing

Why should they move to Durham? Coal mining was flourishing in Ince, Orrell, Standish, Pemberton, Leigh, Golborne, Ashton in Makerfield, Haydock, etc..
All those places would have been 'closer to home' than Durham!

well it must have been sumat, more money ?

Doesn't anybody remember when the dug the foundations for the Wigan baths in the 1960's,opened up a complete tunnel with timber supports,and coal?

mentioned here
Jemmie H gets around

I taught him all he knows!

Yes, his words had a familiar ring to them

Herewegoagain...Down the honkeytonk road...YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWN
HAHAHAHAHA

hahahaha

For your information Tonker

Wigan 6 feet mine outcrops along library street, Market Street , The middle of Mesnes Park heading off up through Gidlow Works.

Wigan 4 feet mine outcrops along Bridgeman terrace, Mesnes Street and then along crompton street and passing close to the end of sovereign street where it crosses darlington street.

Wigan 5 foot mine outcrops along diccoson terrace and passed the bottom of what was central park

Ince 4 foot outcrops just above the dougie opposite central park

Ince 7 foot is round great acre in the township that is Wigan

By the way these are on the 1934 Geological Survey Map of Wigan Sheet 93NE.

I must be mad as I thought that there wasn't any coal in Wigan.

remember the disappearing newsagents.

one day it was there, the next it had gone.

It wasn't the paper shop belonging to that Irish feller was it?

I think his name was Cairns. The shop had to be pulled down cos it was in danger of disappearing cos of mining subsidence.Not sure if he was Irish

kenee; I thought it was the old joke about the irishman who bought a papershop and it blew away.

Obviously not.

i-spy; where was the shop?

As kids we used to count the number of houses on each side of the road that had the metal bands around them as a game. On long car trips this is what our parents got us to do to keep us occupied.....we as children had not understood the significance of these. They were keeping the houses together......

shop was on Mesnes Road - it would have been next to the hairdressers winder.
there's just a gap now.there's another thread about it somewhere from years back.

I remember there was something on here awhile back about it, i spy.
I've marked a pit shaft with an arrow in the area where the shop used to be.
It was one of the old Swinley COLL pits.

PIT

Wasnt there a shaft behind mesnes park on the gidlow side seem to remember it had a iron fence aeound it.

Where they have built the college there were two shafts of Swinley/Rylands Colliery. There was also a shaft within the park just north of the bandstand. I would imagine the shaft you were thinking of is one of the two where the college is sited.

I think the shaft near the bandstand was one of the Gidlow Lane pits.

Glad to hear that the shafts were there I heard it said that there handnt been any pits in Wigan!

My Great Grandad was Undermanager at Gidlow Pit, up at Gidlow Houses (which is in Standish), & his bro' my Great Uncle was a fireman..

Artichokes three for a pound in Tesco!

I remrmber shafts being found in the 1960's when yhe old Victorian baths were demolished.I couldn't say ehen mining first started but it is known that there wad mining in and around the toen in the 14th century.