Archive Collections

The document reference codes are given in brackets. Please quote these codes if you have an enquiry concerning the listed collections.
More detailed information concerning the Wigan Archives Collections is available on two online databases:
Access to Archives, http://www.a2a.org.uk/
The Greater Manchester Past Finder, http://www.gmcro.co.uk/gmpf/index.htm

Local Government: Wigan
Charters of 1314, 1662, 1685, 1832, 1836, 1974
Although most of Wigan’s official records were apparently destroyed in the Civil War, the surviving records for the 17th and 18th century are very rich. These include burgess lists and the files of the Court Leet, 1626 - 1834, and the Borough Sessions, 1733 - 1971.

Local Government: Leigh
Leigh town was divided between the separate townships of Bedford, Pennington and Westleigh until Leigh Local Board was formed in 1875. Leigh received its royal charter and became a Municipal Borough in 1899, which it remained until local government reorganisation in 1974 when it became part of the Wigan Metropolitan Borough.
Archives of the former townships, Leigh Urban District Council (from 1894), Leigh Municipal Borough and Wigan Metropolitan Borough can be consulted in the Archive.

Local Government: Other areas
Archives of other townships. Those of Atherton and Abram include poor law records from the late 17th century. Archives of the Local Boards and their successors, the Urban and Rural District Councils.

Boards of Guardians of the Poor
Two Poor Law Unions of Wigan and Leigh covered the Wigan Metropolitan area. (G/Wi – Wigan and G/Lei – Leigh) The bulk of records that are found in the Archive are those that were generated by the daily operations of Poor Law Unions such as minute books and receipt books. These records are of interest to a wide variety of historians; economic, social and political. Family historians are most interested in those records that contain personal information. A separate leaflet of the records of most interest to family historians can be obtained from the Archive if you send a stamped addressed envelope.

Church Papers
The Archives Service acts as the diocesan repository for the records of the churches in the deaneries of Wigan and Winwick. Original records for over 30 churches and 70 nonconformist chapels are held; many of which no longer exist.
Church registers of baptisms, marriages and burials for churches for the whole borough can be viewed at the History Shop in Wigan. Roman Catholic registers are deposited at Lancashire Record Office, although some microfilm copies of Churches in the borough are available at the History Shop. Some earlier church registers have been transcribed and indexed by the Lancashire Parish Register Society. Copies of these volumes are available for reference in the Archives and the History Shop.

Maps
A comprehensive set of Ordnance Survey sheets for the Metropolitan Wigan area is available. The original Ordnance Survey maps were not located on a nation-wide National Grid, but as a series of maps each based on an individual county. They are often referred to as the county series or six-inch maps of c1847.
The 25-inch series was based on the six-inch maps. Each grid was divided into 16 and numbered in the same way. The first edition was published between 1892 – 1894; the second edition 1908 – 1910; the third edition 1927 – 1929. There is also an incomplete, advanced edition of 1936 – 1937.
The 2.5-inch to a mile scale or 1:25000 was brought out c.1952. The National Grid survey references contain letters and numbers. The archive holds later copies (1960s, 1970s, 1980s) of these maps although the collection is not complete.

Diaries
The Archive holds a large, artificial collection of diaries, journals and letterbooks, donated by Edward Hall, a dealer and collector of books. (DDZ/EHC)
The collection is of national and international importance; only a few items concern the Wigan area or even the north-west. People write the diaries from a variety or social backgrounds, who lived all across the country. An index of authors’ names and a comprehensive catalogue are available for use in the searchroom. Subject and place name indices are currently under development.
The Archive also has the original diary of Roger Lowe (DDZ/A58). Mr Lowe was a shopkeeper of Ashton and Leigh in the seventeenth century. His diary is a unique resource and provides an interesting account of life in Ashton.
Schools Records

The earliest school records in the Archive are from Wigan Grammar School and date from 1597 (SR/WGS). The main bulk of school records however, date from the late nineteenth century. Many of the records come from schools that have since closed. Admissions Registers are the documents most commonly used for family history. There are however some restrictions on the information because of personal sensitivity and confidentiality of some management issues.

Family and Estate Papers
Several local landed families have deposited the archives of their estates.
The Standish family papers are particularly interesting (DD/St). The papers, comprising mainly eighteenth century correspondence are of particular interest for the insight they provide into the society of the time. The collection also contains papers concerning the Jacobite Plot, or Standish Plot, of the 1690s, which were hidden in a garden wall for over 60 years.
The papers of the Andertons of Ince (DD/An) include some excellent Civil War papers, whilst the Crawford collection comprises records of the Haigh Estate during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries (DD/Hai). The bulk of the archive of the Earls of Crawford, including the Bradshaigh family muniments is available at the National Library of Scotland.

Business Records
Many local businesses are documented in this collection. Notably the papers of the Leigh cotton spinners J. and J. Hayes (DDY/Ha) dating from the early nineteenth century. Walker brothers of Wigan were for many years leading manufacturers of mining machinery and general engineering products. Contract books and ledgers are held from the 1860s to the early years of the twentieth century (DDY/Pag).
The Wigan Coal and Iron Company, (DDY/WC) was formed in 1865 by the amalgamation of Lord Crawford’s collieries, with those of the Kirkless Hall and Standish companies. This became the Wigan Coal Corporation in 1930 following reorganisation, and remained thus until nationalisation. The majority of this collection is held at Lancashire Records Office and British Steel Records Centre.
Solicitors’ papers are catalogued separately and in many cases the archives are very extensive (DDX). Detailed box lists can be consulted in the searchroom.

Trade Unions and Societies
The collection of Trade Union and Societies papers is extremely varied: from the Wigan Filed Naturalists’ Society and Wigan Field Club (DDS/1); to the Woodworkers’ Union (Wigan Second Branch) (DDS/12); to Atherton Light (Salon) Orchestra minutes (DDS/48). The papers add substance to what we know about people in the past. They tell us more about the actual lives and activities, and remind us that they were more than a birth, marriage and death.

Photographs
The photographic Archive is one of the finest local collections in the country. It includes the famous series made by the Victorian vicar, Reverend William Wickham, of Wigan.
The collection currently stands at around 100,000 photographs, and roughly 250,000 unprinted negatives. The collection is expanding all the time as a result of donations and loans. The photographs compliment the other archival sources here and help us to obtain a much deeper understanding of our past.