Bimble: Wigan #2: Iron Hills and French Domains

I return to Wigan for a look at some more curiousities.

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Good morning, Bimblers. Can you join me halfway up the Wigan flight? I thought considering we’re coming back to Wigan in the next few weeks for Bimbleism live on Thursday the 21st of August at Wiggin Sports Club. We should probably do a Wigging Bimble. I think this is Wigging 2. So, let’s stop messing about and let’s bimble up the rabbit rocks. Let’s bimble [Applause] [Applause] around the rabbit rocks, the ragged rascal bimbold. And these are indeed the rabbit rocks. Some people call them the Rockies or the Slaggies or the New Slaggies. All brilliant names for punk bands. But this big hill hasn’t always been here. It’s actually a big pile of iron slag. Around here would have been the largest iron and steel works in the whole of Europe. It was opened in 1858 and it was called the Kirkless Iron and Coal Company. But in 1868, it became Wigan Iron and Coal. At the end of the 19th century, they were making 1,300 tons of iron here every week. And all the waste product they would just wheel up this big hill and dump out. Some of the rocks here are still in the shape of the crucible where they would have been melted in the furnaces. And because they had those furnaces running 24/7, they used to make other things here like tarmac bricks and concrete. They used to make 3,600 tons of coke here every week. Coke is when you get coal and heat it without oxygen. It’s the same way that they make charcoal, but they just make charcoal out of wood. After the First World War, they didn’t quite need as much iron and steel. So, in the 1930s, they moved operations to erm at the banks of the Manchester Ship Canal. This land was taken over by the NCB, the National Coal Board. Then in the 1980s they closed all the coal mines. So it was left derelictked and it was reclaimed by nature because the soil is so rich in iron cuz it’s all iron slag. You get plants that don’t usually grow in wigan. They usually grow at the seaside or at the base of volcanoes. And as the name the rabbit rock suggests, there were lots of rabbits here. Although I haven’t seen any this morning. Nice bin. [Music] Washed in clean by a riverside. They told you. They told you. The news kept so cold in the blackest tide. If only if only you knew. I’ve heard what they said. ignored what I read and looked to the bright sides. So here’s to the bad times forgotten in good life. I will I will I will let you down. I will I will I will let you down. I’ll take off my shoes and dance to the good news. Broken smiles and they will turn it brown. Broken smiles and they will turn it around. Take off your shoes and dance to the good news. Left too long in the passing time. You know what you know to be true. Dimlet scenes of a better life spoken in loud toes to you. Well, I’ve heard what they’ve said, ignored what I read and looked to the bright side. So here’s to the bad times forgotten in good lives. I will I will I will let you down. I will I will let you down. Take off my shoes. Dance to the good news. Broken smile and they will turn it around. They will turn it. Take off your shoes. Dance to the good news. Take off your shoes. Dance to the good news. [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] to the bad times. I will I will let you down. I will I will let you take off my shoes. Dance to the good news. Broken smile. They will turn around and smile and they will turn around. Take off your shoes and dance to the good news. Take off your shoes and dance to the good news. Take off your shoes and dance to the good news. [Music] This is 20 bridges or the Douglas Valley vioaduct and it does in fact go over the river Douglas. The river Douglas gets its name from the same place as Douglas on the aisle of man where we were last time. It means black water or dub glass in Celtic. 20 bridges here in Wigan has 13 brick archways and six concrete and iron archways which adds up to 19. Still trying to get my head around this. Why is it called 20 bridges? It used to carry the Lancaster Union Railway in between Blackburn and Staint Telins. We spoke about that in me Rainford Bimble and it was opened on the 5th of June 1882. It cost them £45,000 which in today’s money is about £4.5 million. The whole thing closed in the 1970s and this big vioaduct has laid dormant ever since. There was talk of it becoming a cycle way. It would make up part of National Cycle Route 55. We’ve been down National Cycle Route 55 in the past. That’s the Middlewood Way and between Marple and Macklesfield. We could bimble right down National Cycle Route 55 back to the rabbit rocks, but we’ve got other things to see. Let’s bimble. Life was left alone in days that felt so long. Being on our own was irresistible. Thoughts kept to myself, shared with someone else, silently replied to most inaunderable. Quiet imagination running away with me. Secrets [Music] between you and me. Sometimes it was nice for a change. Make believe this wasn’t so strange. I’m telling you my secrets again. Imagine that you’re still here with me. Imagine just how good that could be. I’m telling you my secrets again. I know it’s just pretend, but I’m telling you my secrets again [Music] [Applause] in Warrington. We have a monument to Oliver Cromwell. big statue of him. But here in Wigan, they have a monument to somebody on the other team, Sir Thomas Tillsley. He was born in Wood Plumpton near Preston. The Tillsley family were Catholic recusants, which means they were not so secret secret Catholics. Thomas bought all of his titles from the Mr. family and you’ll find that everybody to do with him has a surname. That’s a place name. His mother was Elizabeth Preston of Hoka Hall in Car and his wife was Francis Stish as in Standish near Wigan. Thomas Tilsley became Sir Thomas Tildsley when Charles the first knighted him and he fought in every one of the civil wars right up until 1651 when he died where this monument is here on Wigan Road at the Battle of Wigan Road and he was buried at St. Mary the Virgin’s Church in Lee, which we’ve bimbled to in the past. Speaking of bimling, but all controllable, of course, you’re unaware of all this time we share. And though you’re never there, it’s unstoppable. [Music] Quite imagination running away with me. Private conversations made secretively. Sometimes it was nice. You might call this Mess Park or Maine’s Park. The name actually comes from French. It’s demen or demain. The reason for the French origin comes from the Frenchy Normans. You see, they had jukes and ears. The king would give lands to the jukes and ears and the dukes and ears would rent it out to the common folk to farm on or just to live on. And they would also keep some of the land for themselves to farm on. or a domain or a demon or however you want to pronounce it. It’s some land set aside for recreational purposes just to look nice and that’s why you have so many parks called mezzes or mains. We’ve got one over in Newton. They have one in Worley here in Wigan. Mains Park is a hot bed for listed buildings. There’s seven in Mains Park and the park itself is listed. So that makes eight. According to my big book of bimble, you have the entrance that’s grade two listed along with the band stand. Both sets of steps leading up to the pavilion which is also grade two listed, very good for an ice cream. And the entrance lodge, which is great for a wedding. You also have a statue to Sir Francis Powell. He was the Conservative MP for Wigan between 1865 and 1868 and then again from 1881 up until 1910. They must have liked him. It’s supposed to be good luck to rub his foot as you go past. So I give it a quick rub. So we’ll sell some tickets to Bimbleism Live at Wigan Sports Club on Thursday the 21st of August. Speaking of which, let’s bimble. Imagine that you’re still here with me. Imagine just how good that could be. I’m telling you my secrets again. I know it’s just pretend, [Music] but I’m telling you my secrets again. [Music] [Applause] And so here it is. Bindles Wigan Sports Club aka Wigan Cricket Club. It was founded in 1848 and it was one of 13 clubs that amalgamated together to form the Lancaster Cricket Club. They’re the chaps who play at Old Trafford, aren’t they? Less we forget that they played their first match at Bank Hall in Warrington. That’s Warrington Town all these days. It was the players at Wigan Cricket Club that started Wigan Football Club. That’s Wigan Rugby League football club. We call them Wigan Warriors these days. They just wanted something to do in the winter months. And if you’re looking for something to do on Thursday the 21st of August, you can come to Bimbleism Live here at Wigan Cricket Club. The doors open at 8:00. The show starts at 8. Tickets are £10 plus a small booking fee and you can only get through [Music]