Photo-a-Day  (Tuesday, 26th August, 2025)

To Kath H,
You being a good friend of Maria Simm will know
I always thought that Maria had a brother called Bob
Not Stanley,could you please confirm if l am correct
Thanks Eddie.m7kgf

Very colourful indeed Colin, going to rain today, all our gardens want this much needed water.
Good photo.

A much loved church and well cared for gardens, this is a really good photo Colin, are they geranium plants?
A sea of red.

Lovely display, and the flowers are going to enjoy rain today, so I'm I.

I just love red Geraniam plants, they look so lovely in mass. The Church gardeners deserve praise and so do you Colin.

A wonderful display Colin, thanks for taking the photo so we can all enjoy it.

I don't understand why there is no memorial showing where the victims of the Black Death lie. A stone tablet somewhere would be something. I don't think people realise in this day and age what happened all over the country during that time. .
The garden is well kept. The grass is very dry due to lack of rain. A peaceful part of the gardens. I remember sitting around here when I worked at the Court for a time in the 90’s. I knew about the graves but not the poor souls from the Plague.
A photo to stir memories. Thanks Colin.

A different angle of the Parish Church - I always think that churches emanate calm and a sense of timelessness - lovely photograph, and the geraniums are gorgeous. Thank you Colin.

What a beautiful photo. The church and the smaller central building , together with the turreted roof of the Crawford Street building, give a sense of timelessness, as Pat McC so truly says. A gentle ghost from a Wigan long ago, dressed in Medieval/Victorian or any period of fashion could suddenly appear there and not look out of place. It would be nice to think that perhaps they do.

I once read a book all about the Parish Church ..and it was so interesting..I used to take my little lad..I know it isn’t the ideal subject for little ones,but we explored everything,at the back of the church was tiny rooms where prisoners were kept..they’re at floor level if I remember rightly..there’s so much history I’ll have to find a book all about it again..and when I first joined Wigan World.. Brian took a few of us inside, I loved looking at the effigies in marble laid down with their hands in prayer..as I said I would have to read up again to refresh my memory.
I called again last year on my way to town centre,the man and woman that looked after things in general were saying if there were many more names in the visitors book that it might have to be demolished..frankly I can’t see that happening but that’s what the couple said..wouldn’t that be awful..a modern day sin…I must have another peep in next time I go to town…it’s so interesting.

First of all many thanks for the kind comments today, as King Charles would say 'One tries one's best'.
The flower are actually Begonias although they do look a bit like Geraniums. I went past again this morning, the warm dry weather unfortunately has taken its toll, being succulents most are now shrivelled and dead.

Veronica, there is a plaque at the entrance to the much larger main Church Garden with all the details, I'll email a photo to you.
For many centuries the population of Wigan was small and stable and the Parish Church needed only two grave yards, one at the front and this one at the back. The one at the front (now with the Cenotaph) was for the wealthier people bathed in sunshine, the one at the back mostly damp and in the shade was for the less worthy.
It was also customary to reuse graves in those days, so old boned would be removed and placed in in a box or casket know as 'An Ossuary' to make room for a new burial.
The Ossuary's of the wealthy would be kept in the vaults beneath the church, some I believe are still there. What happened to the bones of ordinary people I've not a clue but can guess.

I was told by one of the vicars that the plague pit was located in the corner of the grounds near the entrance to King of Prussia Yard. You can see the hump in the grass where they are all buried, and now a big healthy tree is growing on top of the bodies; maybe it's to do with all that bonemeal it's feeding on.

Don’t forget Bonnie Prince Charles paid a visit to the tower..according to the ‘White Cockade Passes’.. I hope he was made comfortable as Wiganers were very welcoming in those days…(still are looking at Market Place).

WHAT A BEAUTIFUL PHOTO, thank you Colin.
I was told by one the vicars that those Wiganers who died from the plague, which wasn't so many, were buried in the corner where that big healthy looking tree is growing, maybe because it's being fed by all that bone meal.

My Begonias are withering before my very eyes especially my left one even though I have been watering them constantly! Make of it what you will…..
I am forever pulling seedlings up that would be growing into trees perhaps there’s bones under the garden where I live. Everything that has ever lived over thousands of years must be buried underground. That may be why we have such rich soil ( not counting the rubbish from plastic though.)

How are your begonias doing DTease ? … Any problems ?
Veronica’s appear to be withering before her very eyes evidently … her left one in particular it seems .
And are you aware of any skeletons living under your garden ?
Good God ! ….
I’ll not get sleep terneet me .

there is a memorial plaque to dacre brown over a rear doorway somewhere on the north sidehe was mygeogray teacher at thethomes linacre grammar school

The Black Death reached Wigan in 1349 and Mick is right about the tree and the burial site.

My begonias have long begone Ozy. The only things buried in my garden are a dog, a cat, a parrot (may he rest in peace) and a big lump of concrete post that I couldn’t get rid of any other way.
Mind you, if anyone wants to get rid of them in the future they will have to shift a small mountain of old beer bottles and cans first. These being the remains of many lazy summer days in the past.
I should think Ozy, that just one glance from that offset eye of Veronica’s would be enough to wilt the sturdiest of plants that nature can muster.
I reckon an upset Veronica would be more scary than anything the Graveyard could come up with and if Veronica was joined by Irene well, it don’t bear thinking about!

I’m soft really Dtease my ‘bark’ is definitely worse than my bite. Humour is my ‘saving grace’.
Although I only had to stare at the grandchildren a few seconds with my left eye and they knew they had to behave.. it doesn’t work now though..either my eye or them! ;o))

"When shall we two meet again, in thunder , lightning or in rain?"( to misquote from Macbeth's Witches)..... I too have various animals interred in our backyard, DTease....budgies Peter and Ollie, goldfish "Glug", and tortoise Topsy.....all had a very respectful send-off when Jamie and Ashley were children! And the ashes of three much-loved dogs in the kitchen. But Cross Veronica and I AT YOUR PERIL, DTease and Ozy....we cast a spell like no other, especially after a Carlsberg or six!...(only joking, it's ME who's the Carlsberg fan not Veronica). But isn't it nice to have a laugh and a bit of banter? A nice p-a-d today.

You have just ruined your reputation Irene. How can I believe that anyone who calls her Goldfish “Glug” can throw a telling punch?

I think Glug is a very fitting name for a goldfish, DTease! He was won on the fair, and fairground goldfish tend to live for about a day, but he was a Champion and lived happily for many years, spoiled rotten by the Roberts family, as all animals are! I have currently got Jamie's dogs Wilson and Rudy whilst Jamie and family are on holiday and they are equally spoiled. (I think they like the Carlsberg Specials!.... Wilson is singing "Show me the way to go home" and Rudy says "hic!"). Oh dear, I hope Colin doesn't mind us having a bit of fun at the end of the day on his lovely photo....we haven't stopped anyone from adding further comments on the churchyard photo, and it's better than the bickering that sometimes goes on on p-a-d. No harm done, and it's nice to unwind at the end of the day, Goodnight Dtease and Goodnight everyone. xx

“And so to bed “ as Sam Pepys would often say….

Yes and we know who keeps bickering at every possible chance, don't we!

Yes definitely you two and your idol…

Come on stop bickering....your like a dog with a bone, you won't let go.

Hello Peter, glad to see you posting, your historical maps and knowledgeable comments have been missed of late. The memorial plaque that you mentioned, there's a photo of it is in this link:
https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/5355534