Places to see in ( Leigh - UK )
Places to see in ( Leigh - UK )
Leigh is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan, Greater Manchester, England, 7.7 miles southeast of Wigan and 9.5 miles west of Manchester city centre. Leigh is situated on low-lying land to the north west of Chat Moss.
Historically a part of Lancashire, Leigh was originally the centre of a large ecclesiastical parish covering six vills or townships. When the three townships of Pennington, Westleigh and Bedford merged in 1875 forming the Leigh Local Board District, Leigh became the official name for the town although it had been applied to the area of Pennington and Westleigh around the parish church for many centuries. The town became an urban district in 1894 when part of Atherton was added. In 1899 Leigh became a municipal borough. The first town hall was built in King Street and replaced by the present building in 1907.
Originally an agricultural area noted for dairy farming, domestic spinning and weaving led to a considerable silk and, in the 20th century, cotton industry. Leigh also exploited the underlying coal measures particularly after the town was connected to the canals and railways. Leigh had an important engineering base. The legacy of Leigh's industrial past can be seen in the remaining red brick mills – some of which are listed buildings – although it is now a mainly residential town, with Edwardian and Victorian terraced housing packed around the town centre. Leigh's present-day economy is based largely on the retail sector.
Leigh is low-lying; land to the south and east, close to Chat Moss, is 50 feet (15 m) above mean sea level. The highest land, to the north and west, rises gently to 125 feet (38 m). Astley and Bedford Mosses are fragments of the raised bog that once covered a large area north of the River Mersey and along with Holcroft and Risley Mosses are part of Manchester Mosses, a European Union designated Special Area of Conservation.
Major landmarks in Leigh are the red sandstone parish church and across the civic square, Leigh Town Hall and its associated shops on Market Street. The Grade II listed Obelisk that replaced the original market cross is also situated here. Many town centre buildings including the Boar's Head public house are in red Ruabon or Accrington bricks, often with gables and terracotta dressings. There are several large multi-storey cotton mills built along the Bridgewater Canal that are a reminder of Leigh's textile industry but most are now underused and deteriorating despite listed building status. Leigh's War Memorial by local architect J.C. Prestwich is at the junction of Church Street and Silk Street and is a Grade II listed structure. St Joseph's Church and St Thomas's Church on opposite sides of Chapel Street are both imposing churches using different materials and styles.
Historically Leigh was well connected to the local transport infrastructure, but with the closure of the railway in 1969 this is no longer the case. Public transport is co-ordinated by the Transport for Greater Manchester. There are bus services operated by First Greater Manchester, Jim Stones, Maytree Travel, Diamond Bus North West, Stagecoach Manchester and Network Warrington from Leigh bus station to many local destinations including Wigan, Bolton, Warrington, Manchester and St Helens.
( Leigh - UK ) is well know as a tourist destination because of the variety of places you can enjoy while you are visiting the city of Leigh . Through a series of videos we will try to show you recommended places to visit in Leigh - UK
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Leigh, Lancashire Then and Now
A short compilation of photographs reflecting how parts of my home town have changed since I walked around with a camera almost forty years ago.
Haigh Hall Wigan
Haigh Hall Wigan
Preparations ahead of Wigan | Training
. . . The Swans train ahead of their Championship fixture against Wigan Athletic at the D.W Stadium
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Swansea City Association Football Club is a Welsh professional football club based in the city of Swansea, South Wales that plays in the Championship. Swansea City represents England when playing in European competitions, although they have represented Wales in the past. They play their home matches at the Liberty Stadium.
The club was founded in 1912 as Swansea Town and joined the Football League in 1921. The club changed their name in 1969, when it adopted the name Swansea City to reflect Swansea's new status as a city.
In 1981, the club were promoted to the original Football League First Division. It was during the following season they came close to winning the league title, but a decline then set near the season's end before finishing sixth, although a club record. It was from here the club suffered a relegation the season after, returning to the Football League Fourth Division a few seasons later, then narrowly avoided relegation to the Football Conference in 2003. Prior to playing home matches at the Liberty Stadium, the team had previously hosted at the Vetch Field. The Swansea City Supporters Society Ltd owns 20% of the club, with their involvement hailed by Supporters Direct as the most high profile example of the involvement of a supporters' trust in the direct running of a club.
In 2011, Swansea were promoted to the English Premier League, becoming the first Welsh team to play in the top division since its formation in 1992. On 24 February 2013, Swansea beat Bradford City 5-0 to win the 2012-13 Football League Cup (the competition's highest ever winning margin for the final), winning the first major English trophy in the club's history and qualifying for the 2013-14 UEFA Europa League.
Wigan 2009 (YouTube)
Memories of Wigan filmed during my visit to UK to attend my nephew Marc's wedding.
Bradford vs Swansea (0-5)
Final de la Capital One Cup (Copa de la liga inglesa)
5 inch Gauge BR Standard Class 7 70000 Britannia Live Steam Locomotive
Eleven long years in the making but Jack's Lovely fine scale scratch built Britannia makes it's inaugural run at Walton Park.
This is a highly detailed but functional model, all the detail is scratch made with no use of lost wax castings or shop bought fittings.
FINAL DAWN by Heaven's Edge
The opening track of the Final Dawn EP recorded by Wigan band Heaven's Edge in 1976. After months of rehearsal at the Swan And Railway pun in Wigan, the band travelled all the way down to Woodstock in Oxfordshire to record at Acorn Studios. Listen out for the Mellatron on this track (and also features on Nahl Lantern)
Phil Howard (bass) Bernard Eccles (vocals) Paul Turner (lead guitar) John Cochran (guitars) John Ward (drums)
67005-020 London Euston-Southport 37259/20302/20312 Wigan 21/07/2017
Sorry about the sound very windy day ...
67s London to Southport ..
90s Mossend to Daventry ...
66009 Knowslet to Wilton ...
Civil Engineer Guide Bridge to Carlisle ...
Civil Engineer Rugby to Oxenholme ...
Civil Engineer Rugby to Carlisle ...
37259 20302 20312 Crewe to Carlisle .......
Bolton and Leigh Railway Daubhill Main (second) alignment
The Railway Children - In The Meantime
The Railway Children are a British alternative rock band, formed in Wigan in 1984, by Gary Newby, Brian Bateman, Guy Keegan, and Stephen Hull.
Wigan and district model engineering society
Wigan and District Model Engineering Society was founded in 1937 to foster and encourage the hobby of Model Engineering in and around the Wigan area. Fundamentally providing forums and facilitating the meeting of like minded people to provide encouragement, support and mutual cooperation between interested parties.
Whilst all forms of models are supported within the society, a large proportion of interest is in model steam locomotives – predominantly 3.5″ and 5″ scale. In order to facilitate live running of the model locomotives an above ground track of approx 530 metres (0.33 mile) is provided at the Haigh Hall Country park in Wigan. Full details of the track, location, use and facilities are detailed on the ‘Track Information’ page. Wednesday and Sunday are our normal track days where we meet up at our track – weather conditions permitting. In addition to trains our current members are involved with making clocks, stationary engines, steam wagons, artillery pieces workshop tooling and myriad of other small engineering articles.
Monthly society meetings to discuss and debate model engineering topics and presentations from various local and national speakers are held on the last Tuesday of every month at the Wigan Investment Centre,Waterside Drive, Wigan. WN3 5BA – 19:30pm start for discussions, lectures and presentations (from both members and guest speakers) and film shows.
5 inch Gauge LNER O1 Doing a lap of Ribble Valley Live Steamers Track
5 inch Gauge LNER Nigel Gresley O1 passenger hauling at Ribble Valley Live Steamers.
7 1/4 inch Gauge BR Standard Class 2 2-6-2T running at Brighouse & Halifax Model Engineers
British Standard Class 2 Tank locomotive in 1.54 inch scale (7 1/4'' Gauge) Built by John Britton doing a couple of laps at Brighouse and Halifax Model Engineers track, Ravensprings Park, Cawcliffe Road, Brighouse.
The British Railways standard class 2 2-6-2T was a class of steam locomotive, one of the standard classes of the 1950s.
The class was designed at Derby Works and introduced in 1953. The design derived from the LMS Ivatt Class 2 2-6-2T which BR had built after nationalisation. Modifications were made to the Ivatt design including a reduced cab to reduce the loading gauge and some standard fittings. BR classified them 2MT, emphasising a mixed-traffic role.
As most services which required 2MT 2-6-2Ts were already served by the 130 Ivatt engines, B.R. only ordered 30 engines, which eliminated pre-grouping steam locomotives as much as possible on local services.
The first 20 engines were outshopped at Crewe Works, and intended for use on ex-London Midland and Scottish Railway routes, then known as the London Midland Region. The second batch, this time built at Darlington Works, were numbered 84020–84029, and intended for Southern Region lines.
Only two liveries were carried by the 2MTs- British Railway lined black with the earlier and later emblems. Although all locomotives received the latter, only 84000–84019 received the early emblem as the Darlington built locomotives were constructed in 1957, following the 1956 changeover to the late crest. The Darlington engines carried large 10-inch (25 cm) high cab-side numerals, whilst the Crewe engines carried standard 8-inch (20 cm) high numerals.
The LMR locomotives were used on push-pull routes, and were often allocated alongside the Ivatt 2MT 2-6-2T engines with which they shared most of their origins. Numbers 84021–84029, the Southern Region locomotives were all allocated to the Eastern Section depot at Ashford for use on the lines over Romney Marsh and local trains on the Margate via Canterbury West route. Most were transferred away to the North Eastern Region in the early 1960s following electrification, but several locomotives (including some of the LMR allocation) were re-allocated to Eastleigh in 1965 for possible use on the Isle of Wight replacing life expired ex-London and South Western railway O2 0-4-4T engines, which dated from the turn of the century. However, this did not cover coaching stock replacement, and thus the locomotives were scrapped.
None of the class survived the cutter's torch, although their size and configuration would have made them an ideal choice for use on heritage railways. However, four BR standard class 2 2-6-0 locomotives – the tender-equipped equivalent – did survive, and one of these, 78059, is being rebuilt into 2-6-2T 84030. This takes the next number in the original series. 78059 was chosen primarily because it lost its tender while at Woodham Brothers scrapyard, Barry. Further reasons cited by the Bluebell Railway, where 78059 is based, are the suitability of the locomotive class for the railway's service trains, and because the tender version of the class was never allocated to the Southern Region, and hence the tank version (which was allocated there) is far more appropriate for the Bluebell's Southern Region location. As of 2013, 78059 was considered no more, as the fitting of the hind engine frame extensions have turned it into 84030.
5 inch Gauge Ex-GWR 4-6-0 No 5955 'Garth Hall' Live Steam Locomotive
A Lap of Walton Park on Steve's lovely 5 inch Gauge Ex-GWR 4-6-0 No 5955 'Garth Hall'
The Great Western Railway (GWR) 4900 Class or Hall Class is a class of 4-6-0 mixed traffic steam locomotives designed by Charles Collett. A total of 259 were built, numbered 4900–4999, 5900–5999 and 6900–6958. The LMS Stanier Class 5 4-6-0 and LNER Thompson Class B1 both drew heavily on design features of the Hall Class. After nationalisation in 1948, British Railways gave them the power classification 5MT.
The prototype was rebuilt from GWR Saint Class number 2925 Saint Martin in 1924 with smaller driving wheels. Additionally the cylinders were realigned in relation to the driving axle and a more modern 'Castle'-type cab was fitted. The rebuilt Saint Martin emerged from Swindon in 1924 and, renumbered 4900, embarked on three years of trials. During this period Collett introduced other modifications. The pitch of the taper boiler was altered and outside steam pipes were added.
Satisfied with no.4900's performance Collett placed an order with Swindon works and the first of the new two-cylinder Halls entered service in 1928. They differed little from the prototype; the bogie wheel diameter had been reduced by two inches from 3 ft 2 in (0.965 m) to 3 ft 0 in (0.914 m) and the valve setting amended to give an increased travel of 7.5 in (191 mm). The overall weight of the locomotive had increased by 2 long tons 10 cwt (5,600 lb or 2.5 t) to 75 long tons 0 cwt (168,000 lb or 76.2 t) but a tractive effort of 27,275 lbf (121.33 kN) compared favourably with the 24,935 lbf (110.92 kN) of the 'Saint'.
In what amounted to a trial run the first 14 were despatched to the arduous proving grounds of the Cornish main line. However they were so successful here and elsewhere on the GWR system that by the time the first production batch of 80 had been completed in 1930 a further 178 were on order. By 1935, 150 were in service and the 259th and last Hall, No. 6958 Oxburgh Hall, was delivered in 1943.
prescot lancashire
A slide show of the historic market town of prescot lancashire
many pictures courtesy of stephen nulty
with thanks also to
Joe Devereaux Marnik Vanderper
Adrian Wright Stephen Mawdlsey
Ken Lees Ann & Martin Harvey
Alan Curragh Roy Sellstrom
Gareth Morgan Max McEvoy
Andrew Johnson Russ Gore
Chris Baker Michel Knockaert
Andy Pay Sabine Declerq
John Hartley Mick Brand
Anthony Bagshaw Scottie
Bill (Old Chap) Mike Booker
Aurel Sercu Steve Morse
Chris Collier Neil Mackenzie
Avalon Eastman TedSp
Andrew Hesketh Phil W
Chris Collier Tom (ww1_dale_boys)
Anthony Bagshaw Ralph (rjaydee)
Gary Nelson Tony Hogan
Herbert Eden Steven Broomfield
Geoff Allen Jim Smithson
John Robinson Dave O'Mara
Graham McAdam Peter Bennett
Mark Abbott Clive Alexander
Hans Lesage Phil (Blueblood)
John Yates Steve Eeles
Harry Fecitt Rian Wilmott
John Henry Paul Griffin
James Munden David Smith
Neville Walker Dave O'Mara
Jean-Francois le Compt Ponte Fractus (GWF)
Victoria Burbidge Kathy Donaldson
John Knight Dale Heighway
Ralph (rjaydee) Stephen Tuck
John Yates Michael Jack
Trevor Powell Phil W
Keith Fazzani Tom (ww1_dale_boys)
Paul Wyatt Ralph (rjaydee)
Liam Duggan Tony Hogan
Pierre Vandervelden Steven Broomfield
Marco Hoveling Jim Smithson
Revd. John Taylor Dave O'Mara
Sparky Peter Bennett
Steve Beeby Clive Alexander
Marnik Vanderper Phil (Blueblood)
Stephen Mawdlsey Steve Eeles
Ann & Martin Harvey Rian Wilmott
Roy Sellstrom Paul Griffin
Max McEvoy David Smith
Russ Gore Dave O'Mara
Michel Knockaert Ponte Fractus (GWF)
Sabine Declerq Kathy Donaldson
Mick Brand Dale Heighway
Scottie Stephen Tuck
Mike Booker Michael Jack
Steve Morse TedSp
Neil Mackenzie
Shirebrook - A Living Heritage
46115 Scots Guardsman Cotton Mills Express Wigan North Western 13/2/10
Ex LMS/British Railways Royal Scot No. 46115 Scots Guardsman is steaming through Wigan pulling the Cotton Mill Express on the 13/2/10. Sorry about the shaking camera part way through, I was running! Good quality non the less in places.
Mansfield to Shirebrook - England 2016
Bus ride