Leigh, Greater Manchester

Leigh is a town in Greater Manchester, in north west England. Lying within the historic county boundaries of Lancashire, it is the second largest town in Metropolitan Borough of Wigan and is located about six miles north east of Warrington and the same distance south-east of Wigan. Leigh comes from the word lea meaning meadow.

1 History
2 Communications
- 2.1 Canals
- 2.2 Railways
3 Other facts
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] History

[edit] Early history

In the 12th century the town was made up of six townships, including Chowbent, Lowton and Pennington, where the weekly markets were held; a cattle fair was held twice-yearly.

Leigh was divided in its allegiance during the English Civil War, some being Royalists and others Parliamentarians. A battle was fought in the town on 2 December 1642, when 3,000 Chowbenters beat back the Cavalier troops under James Stanley, 7th Earl of Derby from Chowbent to Lowton Common, where Derby's forces were put to rout. The Earl of Derby passed through Leigh again in 1651, when he spent his last night in the King's Arms in Leigh, before going on to his execution in Bolton.

Before the Industrial Revolution, Leigh was famed for its dairy industry (the town's name comes from the word Lea meaning Meadow) and production of Lancashire cheese - reputed to be the best toasting cheese in the world. The marooned pirate Ben Gunn, a character in the Robert Louis Stevenson novel Treasure Island, craved Leigh Toaster during his three-year exile.

[edit] Textile industry

In the 18th century Leigh had a thriving domestic textile industry, mostly by hand-loom weavers in their own homes, but with one or two factories also. It is a tradition in the town that a local man, Thomas Highs, was the inventor of a spinning jenny and the water frame in the 1760s, the latter invention being pirated by Richard Arkwright, who subsequently made a fortune from the patent royalties. The link is commemorated in the town's Spinning Gate Shopping Centre and the town centre bypass known as Spinning Jenny Way.

Later more factories opened, so that by the latter part of the 19th century there were at least a dozen mills in the town. Silk and rope-making were also among local industries.

[edit] Coal mining

In the second half of the 19th century coal began to be an important industry and coal mining became the largest user of labour after the textile industry in Leigh. Parsonage Colliery was one of the deepest mines in the country going down to over 3000 feet. The entire Lancashire coalfield is now closed.

[edit] Other industry

The tractor factory of David Brown Limited was located here following the acquisition in 1955 of Harrison, McGregor and Guest Ltd. who produced the Albion range of farm machinery products in Leigh.

British Insulated Callender's Cables (BICC), formerly Anchor Cables and later renamed Balfour Beatty, had one of its largest factories in Leigh.

Leigh also has a Pataks factory next to Asda.

[edit] Local government

In 1875 the Leigh Local Board of Health was established, consisting of the areas of the former Bedford, Pennington and Westleigh Local Boards of Health; and a Poor Law Union (administering the Workhouse). In 1894 the area of the Local Board, together with part of Atherton township, became the Leigh Urban District of Lancashire. In 1899 the Urban District became a municipal borough. In 1974 the borough was abolished and its former area became part of Metropolitan Borough of Wigan. In 1998, an area (Lately [sic] Common) was further ceded to Warrington - one of the few parts of England to have been in three different counties in the last 35 years: Lancashire, Greater Manchester, then Cheshire!

A rural district council named Leigh, which included Astley, Culcheth, Kenyon, Lowton parishes, was dissolved in 1933.

[edit] Communications

[edit] Canals

The Bridgewater Canal was extended from Worsley to the middle of Leigh in 1795, and in 1819 the Leigh branch canal was cut from the Leeds-Liverpool Canal at Poolstock, Wigan to meet the Bridgewater at Leigh Bridge, giving access from Leigh to all parts of Lancashire, Yorkshire and the Midlands.

[edit] Railways

Leigh was the southern terminus of the Bolton and Leigh Railway (7.5 miles: 12km). George Stephenson carried out the survey for the line. It opened for freight on August 1st 1828 and for passengers on June 13th 1831. The first locomotive on the line was an 0-4-0 called The Lancashire Witch. The town station was at West Leigh. Later the line was extended southwards to Pennington. The line was closed to passenger traffic on 29th March 1954, and later closed completely.

The second railway to serve the town was a branch line from the Manchester - Eccles - Wigan line. It joined the earlier railway at Pennington: there was a station, originally named Leigh and Bedford to serve the town. It was closed in May 1969, leaving the town without a passenger railway. Numerous freight-only lines crossed the town, but with the closure of the collieries these were no longer required.

Today the nearest railway station is at Atherton, three miles to the north. Leigh is the second largest town in Great Britain without a railway station, second only to Gosport in Hampshire.

The large bus station is now the town's main public transport link.

[edit] Other facts

Leigh's famous residents have included:

Oliver Lee, actor
Leah Hackett, actress
Tracie Bennett, actress
Tom Burke, opera tenor
Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, composer
Sarah Jayne Dunn, actress
Georgie Fame, singer
Harold Hassall, footballer
James Hilton, author
Shaun Keaveny, radio presenter
Harry Pennington, 1926 British Champion of Catch Wrestling
Joe Reid, Commonwealth Games medallist for Wrestling in 1930 & 1934
Lynda Lee Potter, newspaper columnist
Pete Shelley, lead singer and songwriter of the Buzzcocks
Nigel Short, chess player
Dangerous Damon Leigh, European Professional Wrestling Champion
Colin Welland, BAFTA winning actor, Playwright & Oscar winner in 1981 for the multi award-winning, box office smash Chariots of Fire.
Ronnie Irani, English Test and ODI cricketer. Currently plays for Essex CCC. Holds the record as the 1st englishman to take 5 wickets and score 50 runs in a single ODI for England.

Leigh has a professional rugby league team - Leigh Centurions - whose main claim to fame is beating Leeds 24-7 in the 1971 Challenge Cup Final. More recently they played in the Super League in the 2005 season. It also has a football team, Leigh RMI, who play in the Conference North division as of 2005–06.

Leigh once had separate boys and girls grammar schools, which thrived until they were abolished by the then Secretary of State for Education, Shirley Williams in the 1976 Education Act. Leigh Boys Grammar School educated many of the famous people in the list above including Pete Shelley and Sir Peter Maxwell Davies for whom a mini grand piano was specially purchased.

[edit] See also

Pennington Flash - country park on the outskirts of Leigh

[edit] External links

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Categories: Towns in Greater Manchester | Wigan