Wigan
Wigan is a town in Greater Manchester, England. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. It is the largest settlement in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan and is its administrative centre. The town has a population of 107,732 and the wider borough of 330,714. Wigan is part of the historic county of Lancashire.
Wigan was in the territory of the Brigantes, an ancient Celtic tribe that ruled much of what is now Northern England. The Brigantes were subjugated in the Roman conquest of Britain and the Roman settlement of Coccium was established where Wigan lies. Wigan was incorporated as a borough in 1246, following the issue of a charter by King Henry III of England. At the end of the Middle Ages, it was one of four boroughs in Lancashire established by royal charter. The Industrial Revolution saw a dramatic economic expansion and rapid rise in population. Wigan became a major mill town within a large coal mining district; there were estimated to be 1,000 pit shafts in total within of Wigan town centre. Coal mining ceased in the later 20th century.
Wigan Pier, a wharf on the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, was made famous by the writer George Orwell. In his book The Road to Wigan Pier, Orwell highlighted the poor working and living conditions of inhabitants in the 1930s. Following the decline of heavy industry, Wigan Pier's warehouses and wharves became a local heritage centre and cultural quarter. The Brick Community Stadium is home to Wigan Athletic Football Club and Wigan Warriors Rugby League Football Club.
History
Toponymy
The name of the town has been recorded variously as Wigan in 1199, Wygayn in 1240, and Wygan in numerous historical documents.The name Wigan is probably a Celtic place-name: it might be a diminutive form of Brittonic wīg 'homestead, settlement", plus the nominal suffix -an ; the place name may refer to a Latin vicus. It has also been suggested directly a Celtic personal name Wigan, a name corresponding to Gaulish Vicanus, Old Welsh Uuicant or Old Breton Uuicon.
Similar place-names to the English Wigan exist in France, such as Le Vigan, Gard of unknown origin and Le Vigan, Lot, from Latin vicanum, derived form of vicus 'town' + suffix -anum, and the hamlets in Normandy such as Vigan and Manoir du Vigan that derive from a Celtic given-name *Wigan, found as feodum Wigani in the 12th century or turres Wiguen at Thaon and survives in the Norman surname Vigan.
Romans
There is very little evidence of prehistoric activity in the area, especially pre-Iron Age. In the 1st century, the area was conquered by the Romans during which time, it was in the territory of a Celtic people known as the Brigantes. The late 2nd-century Antonine Itinerary mentions a Roman settlement called Coccium from the Roman fort at Manchester and from the fort at Ribchester. Although the distances are slightly out, it has been assumed that Coccium is Roman Wigan. Possible derivations of Coccium include from the Latin coccum, meaning "scarlet in colour, scarlet cloth", or from cocus, meaning "cook". Over the years chance finds provided clear indications that a Roman settlement existed at Wigan, although its size and status remained unknown. In 2005 investigations ahead of the Grand Arcade development, and in 2008 at the Joint Service Centre development, have proven that Wigan was a significant Roman site in the late first and second centuries AD. The excavated remains of ditches at Ship Yard off Millgate were consistent with use by the Roman military and possibly formed part of the defences for a fort or a temporary camp. More remains were excavated to the south, in the area of McEwen's Yard, where foundations of a large and important building were discovered, together with many other Roman features. The building is in size with stone walls and a tiled roof. It contained around nine or ten rooms including three with hypocausts. It had a colonnaded portico on the northern side, which presumably formed the main entrance. The structure's ground-plan and the presence of the hypocausts show it may have been a bath-house. A timber building excavated at the Joint Service Centre has been interpreted as a barrack block. This suggests a Roman fort occupied the crest of the hill, taking advantage of the strategic position overlooking the River Douglas. The evidence gained from these excavations shows that Wigan was an important Roman settlement, and was almost certainly the place referred to as Coccium in the Antonine Itinerary.Anglo-Saxons
In the Anglo-Saxon period, the area was probably under the control of the Northumbrians and later the Mercians. Celtic names in the area around Wigan—such as Ashton in Makerfield and Ince—indicate a continued Celtic presence in the area in the face of Anglo-Saxon incursions. In the early 10th century there was an influx of Scandinavians expelled from Ireland. This can be seen in place names such as Scholes— a part of Wigan—which derives from the Scandinavian skali meaning "hut". Further evidence comes from some street names in Wigan which have Scandinavian origins.Domesday Book
Wigan is not mentioned in the Domesday Book, possibly because it was included in the Neweton barony. It is likely that the mention of the unnamed church in the manor of Neweton is Wigan Parish Church and not the church of St.Oswald which is specifically named in the Domesday Book. The rectors of the parish church were lords of the manor of Wigan, a sub-manor of Neweton, until the 19th century. Wigan was incorporated as a borough in 1246 following the issue of a charter by King Henry III to John Maunsell, the local church rector and lord of the manor. The borough was later granted another charter in 1257–1258, allowing the lord of the manor to hold a market every Monday and two annual fairs. The town is recorded on the earliest-surviving map of Britain, the Gough Map made around 1360, which highlights its position on the main western north–south highway with distance markers to Preston and Warrington.Edward II visited Wigan in 1323 in an effort to stabilise the region which had been the source of the Banastre Rebellion in 1315. Edward stayed in nearby Upholland Priory and held court in the town over a period of several days. During the medieval period Wigan expanded and prospered and in 1536, antiquarian John Leland described the town, saying "Wigan paved; as big as Warrington and better builded. There is one parish church amid the town. Some merchants, some artificers, some farmers".
Civil War
In the English Civil War, most people in the town were Royalists and James Stanley, 7th Earl of Derby, a prominent and influential Royalist in the civil war, made Wigan his headquarters. His forces successfully captured Preston but failed in assaults on Manchester and Lancaster and two attempts to capture Bolton. Abandoning attempts to secure Lancashire, he took his forces to the Isle of Man to secure his holdings there. The Earl of Derby was absent when Wigan fell, despite fortifications built around the town, Wigan was captured by Parliamentarian forces on 1 April 1643, the takeover was complete in two hours and the town was pillaged before the defences were broken down and the Parliamentarians retreated. In 1648, Royalist forces under James Hamilton, 1st Duke of Hamilton, occupied Wigan after they had been defeated by Oliver Cromwell at the Battle of Preston. The soldiers looted the town as they retreated to Warrington, and afterwards, it experienced pestilence. Cromwell himself described Wigan as "a great and poor town, and very malignant".The Battle of Wigan Lane was fought on 25 August 1651 during the Third English Civil War, between 1,500 Royalists under the command of the James Stanley, Earl of Derby marching to join the King at Worcester and 3,000 of the New Model Army under the command of Colonel Robert Lilburne hunting them. Lilburne arrived at Wigan to find the Royalists leaving to march towards Manchester but with his force consisting mostly of cavalry recognised it would be dangerous to engage in the narrow lanes around the town and decided to wait for his foot soldiers to arrive and flank the town. The Royalists seeing an opportunity to engage the divided force turned around to engage but Lilburne decided to hold his ground deploying cavalry on Wigan Lane and infantry in the hedgerows to the sides, The Royalists made several charges but after two hours were unable to break the Parliamentarian line and were forced to flee after being overwhelmed by superior numbers. Although Stanley was injured he managed to find refuge in the town. David Craine states, "those who did not fall in the fighting hunted to their death through the countryside". A monument on Wigan Lane marks the place where Sir Thomas Tyldesley a Major General commanding the Royalist troops fell, it was erected 28 years after the battle in 1679 by Alexander Rigby, Tyldesley's standard bearer.
Industrial Revolution
In 1698 Celia Fiennes described Wigan as "a pretty market town built of stone and brick". In 1720 the moot hall was rebuilt, funded by the members of the borough. It was used as the town hall, and the earliest reference to it dates from the 15th century. Prior to its final destruction in 1869, the hall was rebuilt in 1829. Wigan's status as a centre for coal production, engineering and textiles in the 18th century led in the 1740s to the Douglas Navigation - the canalisation of part of the River Douglas, and later to the Leeds and Liverpool Canal. The canal from Liverpool to Leeds was originally to serve Wigan on a spur, transporting cloth and food grown on the West Lancashire Plain to the Port of Liverpool. Construction restarted in the 1790s, after a pause of some decades, as coal was rising in importance due to the progress of the Industrial Revolution. The route was altered at the request of mill-owners, with the spur becoming the primary route and Wigan a hub for transport of coal from the Lancashire coal pits to Liverpool and Leeds.As a mill town, Wigan was an important centre of textile manufacture during the Industrial Revolution, but it was not until the 1800s that cotton factories began to spread into the town. This was due to a dearth of fast-flowing streams and rivers in the area, but by 1818 there were eight cotton mills in the Wallgate part of Wigan. In 1818 William Woods introduced the first power-looms to the Wigan cotton mills. These mills swiftly became infamous for their dangerous and unbearable conditions, low pay and use of child labour. As well as being a mill town, Wigan was also an important centre for coal production. It was recorded that in 1854 there were 54 collieries in and around the town, about a sixth of all collieries in Lancashire.
In the 1830s Wigan became one of the first towns in Britain to be served by a railway; the line had connections to Preston and the Manchester and Liverpool Railway. This was the first in a network of public and industrial railways which served the town during the period, much of which has since closed. Wigan began to dominate as a cotton town in the late 19th century, and this lasted until the mid-20th century.