Leigh, Greater Manchester
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Leigh | |
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  Leigh shown within Greater Manchester |
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| Population | 44,122[1] |
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| OS grid reference | |
| Metropolitan borough | Wigan |
| Metropolitan county | Greater Manchester |
| Region | North West |
| Constituent country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | LEIGH |
| Postcode district | WN7 |
| Dialling code | 01942 |
| Police | Greater Manchester |
| Fire | Greater Manchester |
| Ambulance | North West |
| European Parliament | North West England |
| UK Parliament | Leigh |
| List of places: UK • England • Greater Manchester | |
Leigh is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan, in Greater Manchester, England. It is 11 miles (18 km) west of Manchester, and 6 miles (10 km) south east of Wigan.
Historically a part of Lancashire, Leigh has a population of 44,122 according to the 2001 census.[1]
Contents |
[edit] History
[edit] Toponymy
The name Leigh is attributed as deriving from the Old English word lea or the Middle English word of legh. The meaning of the earliest version of the word, lea, varies between meaning a woodland clearing or a meadow depending on the source of its definition.[2] See also List of generic forms in British place names for more information.
[edit] Early history
In the 12th century the town of Leigh was made up of six townships, including Chowbent, Lowton and Pennington, where weekly markets were held and a cattle fair held twice-yearly.
Leigh was divided in its allegiance during the English Civil War, some of the population supporting the Royalists cause while others supported the Parliamentarians. A battle was fought in the town on December 2, 1642, when 3,000 Chowbenters beat back and then routed Cavalier troops under the command of James Stanley, the 7th Earl of Derby. The Earl of Derby passed through Leigh again in 1651, when he spent his last night in the King's Arms, before going on to his execution in Bolton.
Before the Industrial Revolution, Leigh was famed for its dairy industry 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 as a result of the large number of by hand-loom weavers manufacturing in their own homes, however one or two factories also existed. Over time 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-manufacture were also among local industries.
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.
[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 3,000 ft (900 m). The entire Lancashire coalfield is now closed to deep mining, although several open-cast mining activities are still in operation. In 1974 Parsonage colliery was linked underground to Bickershaw Colliery. All coal was wound up at Bickershaw and Parsonage was used for supplies. The extent of the mining in Parsonage Colliery was increased in the 1960s with the driving of a tunnel (The Horizon Tunnel) which accessed new supplies of coal that had been previously inaccessible to collieries in the surrounding area. The new coal resources were high seams of coal around 6 ft (2 m) high and these were easy to work on compared to the previous seams of coal which were 3 ft (1 m) or less. As Bickershaw had superior winding facilities and Parsonage had access to the coal, the decision was made to link the 2 collieries. The seams were wet and a series of pumps were used to remove the water into underground canals, at Parsonage, on about 3 levels before it was finally pumped into the canal at Leigh. The winding engine at Parsonage was a steam engine, Bickershaw was an electric system. A methane extraction system was used to fuel the boilers which produced the steam for the Parsonage winding engine.
[edit] Other industry
The tractor factory of David Brown Limited was located in Leigh following the acquisition by David Browne in 1955 of Harrison, McGregor and Guest Ltd. who produced their Albion range of farm machinery products in Leigh.
British Insulated Callender's Cables (BICC), formerly Anchor Cables and later renamed Balfour Beatty, also had one of its largest factories in Leigh.
[edit] Governance
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 the administrative county 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, Greater Manchester.
In 1998, an area (Lately Common) was further ceded to the Warrington borough - one of the few parts of England to have been in three different counties in the last 35 years; Lancashire, then Greater Manchester, followed by Cheshire.
[edit] Transport
[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 7.5 miles (12 km) long Bolton and Leigh Railway. George Stephenson carried out the survey for the line. It opened for freight on 1 August 1828 and for passengers on June 13, 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 March 29, 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 West 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, 3 miles (5 km) miles to the north. It is cogently argued that Leigh (Mansfield in Nottinghamshire having had its station reopened) is the largest town in Great Britain, perhaps Europe, without a railway station,[3] although Corby, Gosport and Peterlee may contend for this "award". The large bus station is now the town's only public transport link. Services to Manchester (even by limited stop bus services) are painfully slow (up to an hour to Manchester), preventing Leigh becoming a commuter town: a guided bus way has been suggested as a solution: http://www.gmpte.com/content.cfm?subcategory_id=409693.
[edit] Education
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. Notable pupils include Pete Shelley and Sir Peter Maxwell Davies for whom a mini grand piano was specially purchased. Bedford High School, which has specialist Business and Enterprise College status, was founded in 1976 by merging Leigh Boys Grammar School with neighbouring co-educational Bedford Secondary Modern School.
[edit] Re-development
In modern times the former site of the Parsonage colliery has been re-developed and a retail estate and supermarket now provide local employment as well as shopping opportunities.
A major development in the town is gradually taking shape with the development of the Leigh Sports Village, which will include a 10,000 capacity stadium to be shared by Leigh RMI and Leigh Centurions, while there will also be a new athletics arena for Leigh Harriers athletics club, new facilities for Leigh East Amateur Rugby League Club, a new college campus along with leisure and business facilities for the community.
[edit] Sport
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. Leigh has amateur rugby league clubs such as Leigh East and Leigh Miners Rangers. It also has a semi-professional football team, Leigh RMI, who play in the Conference North division as of the 2006–2007 season, with both Leigh RMI and Leigh Centurions sharing the town's Hilton Park stadium. Another football team is Leigh Athletic (see below)
Leigh Athletic [1] is the premier amateur football club in Leigh and currently play in the Manchester Football League. Leigh has an athletics club Leigh Harriers AC , which was founded in 1909 and has been providing athletic opportunities for people from Wigan and Leigh ever since.
There is also a thriving Rugby Union Club at Round Ash Park. Leigh RUFC 1st Team gained promotion in 2007 into the Miller League, NW2 and they are also the current holders of the Lancashire Trophy which they won in May 2008 for the third consecutive year, something that has never been done in its 100+ year history. The club caters for all age groups both male and female. Attached to the club is a crown green bowling section which runs several teams all in local bowling leagues.
Leigh also has a cricket club, Leigh Cricket Club, who play in the ECB Premier League Liverpool Competition.
[edit] Notable people
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Leigh's notable residents past and present include:
- Matt Aitken, record producer and songwriter
- Brian Ashton, former coach of the England Rugby Union team
- Tracie Bennett, actress
- Tom Burke, opera tenor
- Jason Donohue, rugby league player
- Sarah Jayne Dunn, actress
- Georgie Fame, singer
- Leah Hackett, actress
- Harold Hassall, footballer
- James Hilton, author
- Ronnie Irani, English Test and ODI cricketer. Currently plays for Essex CCC.
- Shaun Keaveny, radio presenter
- Oliver Lee, actor
- Sir John Edward Lennard-Jones, scientist and academic
- Dangerous Damon Leigh, European Professional Wrestling Champion
- Tony Marshall, Rock guitarist noted for playing in the Danny Vaughn band
- Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, composer
- Steven Mullaney, cricket player
- John Pendlebury, rugby league player and coach
- Thomas Pendlebury, Organist and Organ builder. Director of Pendlebury Organ Works. His son, James, and then his son, Stanley, carried out the work until the firm closed in the 80's.
- Harry Pennington, 1926 British Champion of Catch Wrestling
- Lynda Lee Potter, newspaper columnist
- Andy Prior, bandleader, singer and trombonist
- Joe Reid, Commonwealth Games medallist for Wrestling in 1930 & 1934
- Pete Shelley, lead singer and songwriter of the Buzzcocks
- Nigel Short, chess player
- Geoffrey Unsworth, Awarded O.B.E. Won Academy Awards for cinematography on Cabaret and Tess.
- Colin Welland, BAFTA winning actor, Playwright & Oscar winner in 1981 for the multi award-winning, box office smash Chariots of Fire.
- John Woods, Great Britain rugby league player
- Katie White, musician with The Ting Tings
- Phillip Sharpe, first resident to travel abroad on a giant bird of steel (though he did'nt enjoy the experience).
[edit] See also
- Pennington Flash Country Park, a country park with a large lake on the outskirts of Leigh.
[edit] References
- ^ a b 2001 Census Statistics (pdf). Wigan Council. Retrieved on 2007-03-22.
- ^ Baby name finder. iVillage. Retrieved on 2007-03-22.
- ^ Rail Services (North-West). Hansard (23 October 2003). Retrieved on 2007-08-21.
[edit] External links
- LeighLife: The Leigh community website
- Leigh Ornithological Society, formed 1972
- Photographs of Leigh
- This is Leigh; News and Community
- LeighRMI.Net: the unofficial internet home of Leigh RMI FC
- Leigh Centurions Rugby League Club
- Leigh Cricket Club who play in the ECB Premier League Liverpool and District Competition
- Brief History of Leigh
- History of Leigh
- The “Lancashire Witch” locomotive
- Lowton Explorers and Leigh Network Scouts 14-25yrs
