WIGAN, a parish, in the hundred of WEST-DERBY,
county palatine of LANCASTER, comprising
the borough and
market-town of Wigan
(which has separate jurisdiction),
the chapelries of
Billinge (Chapel - End),
Hindley, and Upholland,
and the to wnships of Abram,
Billinge (Higher-End),Daiton,
Haigh, Ince, Orrell,
Pemberton, and Winstanley,
in the hundred of
WEST-DERBY, and the
township of Aspull, in the hundred of SALFORD,
county palatine of LANCASTER, and containing 38,318
inhabitants, of which number, 17,716 are in the town
of Wigan, 18 miles (W. N. W.) from Manchester, and
199 (N. W. by N.) from London. This place is stated
by Camden to have been originally called Wibiggin;
the vicinity is said to have been the scene of some
sanguinary battles between the Britons, under their
renowned King Arthur, and the Saxons; and the discovery,
rather more than eighty years since, of a large
quantity of human bones, and the bones and shoes of
horses, over an extensive tract of ground near the town,
tends to confirm this opinion. During the great civil
war, several battles were fought here by the contending
parties, it being the principal station of the king's
troops commanded by the Earl of Derby, who was
defeated and driven from the town by the parliamentary
forces under Sir John Smeaton, early in 1643, and
shortly afterwards, in the same year, he. was again
defeated by Col. Ashton, who, in consequence of the devotion
of the inhabitants to the royal cause, ordered
the fortifications of the town to be demolished. From
this time Wigan remained tranquil (with the exception
of Oliver Cromwell pursuing through it, in 1648, the
Scotch army under the Duke of Hamilton, whom he
had driven from Preston) until 1651, when the Earl of
Derby, having been summoned from the Isle of Man by
King Charles II., was again defeated here by a very
superior force under Col. Lilburne. To record the
courage and loyalty of Sir Thomas Tildesley, who was
slain in this action, a monumental pillar was erected,
in 1679, by Alexander Rigby, Esq., then high sheriff
of the county, on the spot where he fell, at the northern
end of the town; in 1745, Prince Charles Edward
marched through Wigan on his route from Preston to Manchester.
The town is situated on the eastern bank, and near
the source, of the river Douglas, and is, described by
Leland as " a paved town, as big as Warrington, but
better builded;" a patent for paving it and building a
bridge over the Douglas was granted so early as the 7th
of Edward III. The old and greater part of the town
consists of irregular streets and mean, houses, but great
improvements have recently been made, and two new
streets formed, which contain some well-built houses.
It is lighted with gas by a company established in 1823,
and supplied with good water by works erected by a
company formed under the authority of an act in 1761.
The manufacture of calicoes, fustians, and other cotton
goods, linens, and checks, and the spinning of cotton
yarn, are extensively carried on; and there are brass
and iron foundries, pewter-works, several manufactories
for spades and edge-tools, and some corn-mills, on the
river. The steam-engines employed are equal in power
to that of six hundred horses; and an increase of more
than two thousand inhabitants; since 1821, may convey
some idea of the improvement of the trade and manufactures.
The Douglas, under the authority of an act
obtained in 1720, was made navigable to its junction
with the Kibble. The Leeds and Liverpool canal passes
the town, and, by its branches and various communications
with Manchester and Kendal on one side, and
the German ocean on the other, affords every facility
for the conveyance of the manufactures and of
the coal abounding in this neighbourhood, among
which is cannel coal, to all parts of the kingdom; fly
boats ply daily upon it to Manchester and Liverpool.
The market is held on Monday and Friday, that on
the latter day being the principal; and there are fairs
on Holy Thursday, June 27th> and October 28th, on
which days the commercial hall, a commodious brick
building in the market-place, erected in 1816, is open
for the use of the clothiers. The first charter of incorporation
was granted by Henry III., and the privileges
which it bestowed have been confirmed and augmented
by succeeding monarchs; but that under which
the corporation now acts was granted by Charles II.,
and vests the government of the borough in a mayor,
justice, two bailiffs, and subordinate officers, all elected
annually. The mayor is a justice of the peace during,
and for one year after, his .mayoralty.  The corporation
are authorized by their charter to try for all
eivil actions, and hold a court of sessions quarterly
for felonies not capital, committed within the borough.
Petty sessions for the Warrington division
of the hundred are held here. The town hall was
rebuilt, in 1720, by the Earl of Barrymore and Sir
Roger Bradshaigh, then members for the borough.
The gaol is used only for temporary confinement, prisoners
being committed to the county gaol. The borough
first sent members to parliament in the 23rd
of Edward. I., and again in the thirty-fifth of the
same reigu, after which period this privilege was not
exercised until the 1st of Edward VI.: the right of
election is vested in the free burgesses, and the number
of voters at the last election was about one hundred
and thirty; the mayor and the two bailiffs are the returning
officers. The corporation have the power of
admitting non-resident and honorary freemen to vote
without limitation, which gives them a preponderating
influence in returning members.
The living is a rectory, in the archdeaconry, and diocese
of Chester, rated in the king's books at £80.13.4.,
and in the patronage of the Earl of Bradford. The
church, dedicated to All Saints, is an ancient and handsome
edifice. St. George's was erected, as a chapel of
ease, in 1781: the living is a perpetual curacy, endowed
with £600 royal bounty, and £2200 parliamentary
grant, and in the gift of the owners of pews and the
rector, alternately; the latter has also the patronage of
the perpetual curacies of Billinge, Hindley, and Upholland,
in this parish. There are two places of worship
each for Baptists, Independents, and Roman Catholics,
and one each for Presbyterians andWesleyan Methodists.
The free grammar school, at Millgate, appears to have
been founded in the early part of the reign of James I.,
but by whom is uncertain; the earliest recorded benefaction
to it is one of £6. 13. 4. per annum, in 1619, by Mr.
James Leigh. A considerable increase in the income
having arisen from various subsequent donations and
benefactions, an act of parliament was passed, in 1812,
incorporating fifteen members of the. corporation governors
of the institution, who appoint a master, with a
salary of £130 per annum and the privilege of receiving
boarders, and an usher; the number of scholars is
limited to eighty. A Blue-coat school, wherein forty
boys were clothed and instructed, was established in
1773, but a building for a National school having been
erected in 1825, partly by a grant of £350 from the
National School Society in London, and partly by subscription,
the former has been united to it, and about
three hundred boys are taught. A school of industry
was instituted in 1823; and about two thousand five
hundred children receive instruction in the various
Sunday schools connected with the dissenting places of
worship. The dispensary was established in 1798, and the
building erected in 1801: it is supported principally by
annual subscriptions, and has extended its benefits to a
great number of sufferers. There are also many minor
bequests and benefactions for the poor, amounting
in the aggregate to a considerable sum annually. A
clothing society, for furnishing them with warm clothing
and bedding during the winter months, was formed in
1817; a savings bank was established in 1821; a Bible
society in 1825; and a mechanics' institute and library
in 1825. A spring was discovered near Scholes bridge,
some years since, the water of which possessed nearly
the same medicinal properties as those at Harrogate,
and a handsome building was erected for the convenience
of persons who wished to drink, or use it for
a bath; but it has ceased to be resorted to, the water
having lost much of its medicinal virtue, owing, it is
supposed, to its being mixed with the produce of the
neighbouring coal-pits.