Haigh, Greater Manchester

Haigh (pronounced "Hay") is a village in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan in Greater Manchester, England. Historically part of Lancashire, it is located next to the village of Aspull. On the west it is bounded by the River Douglas, and on the north a small brook running into the Douglas divides it from Blackrod.

1 Geography and administration
2 History
3 References
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] Geography and administration

The ground rises towards the east and north, and the village of Haigh, near the middle of the Aspull boundary and 2½ miles north-east of Wigan, is one of its highest points, about 520 ft. above sea level.

It boasts views towards Winter Hill and the West Pennine Moors. St. David's CofE Church, Haigh, was consecrated in 1833; the Rector of Wigan is patron. According to the 2001 census the civil parish of Haigh had a population of 594.

Roads lead from the village, north to Blackrod, west to Standish, and south to Wigan and Aspull. The Leeds and Liverpool Canal also winds (in a straight line) through the western part of the village, near the River Douglas. The woodland and grounds of Haigh Hall, occupy the south-western slopes. The Hall itself commands a fine panorama of Wigan and it's surrounding borough. Haigh was celebrated for its "Cannel Coal"; now exhausted.

[edit] History

[edit] Early history

The early history of the manor of Haigh cannot be traced. About 1220–1230 it belonged to the Marsey fee, sold to Ranulf, Earl of Chester. A Hugh de Haigh, (Hugh le Norreys), to whom the adjacent Blackrod was granted, paid 3 marks in 1193–4 for having the king's good will. Richard de Orrell granted to Cockersand Abbey land in Haigh, adjacent to Hugh's ridding, about 1220; and as a century later Sir Robert de Holland held it of the Earl of Lancaster, together with other manors which had belonged to Richard de Orrell, it might be supposed that Haigh was part of the Orrell family's holding. In 1282, however, Hugh son of Alan le Norreys was lord of Haigh.

[edit] The Bradshaigh Family

In 1295 William de Bradshaigh, acquired Haigh and Blackrod Manors by marrying Mabel le Norreys de Haghe and Blackrode, which were Mabel's right as heir of the last-named Hugh le Norreys. William from his name is supposed to have been a descendant of the Bradshaghs of Bradshaw, near Turton.

In 1302 William de Bradshagh held the twelfth part of a knight's fee in Haigh of the Earl of Lancaster. Sir William absented himself from Haigh, for his share in Adam Banastre's rebellion against the Earl of Lancaster in 1315 and the death of Henry de Bury. He was outlawed for felony and by 1317 his manors of Haigh and Blackrod had been taken into the king's hands and demised to Peter de Limesey, but Mabel de Haigh intruded herself. Sir William appears to have been killed at Winwick in August 1333.

However, according to legend, ten years after leaving, Bradshaigh returned in 1324 - from the wars in Scotland - and promptly killed his wife's new husband, Sir Osmond Nevile, a Welsh knight. She had remarried, thinking Sir William had perished. Sir William made her walk barefoot and dressed in sackcloth from Wigan to Haigh Hall, once a week, for the rest of her life. The account was made into a novel by Sir Walter Scott, and the event is still marked by Mab's Cross, in Wigan Lane.

Mabel's title to the Norreys lands must have been recognized, for in 1336 and 1337, when a widow and childless, she arranged for the succession to the manors as absolute owner, granting them to her husband's nephews; Haigh to William, a son of John de Bradshagh, and Blackrod to Roger son of Richard, who was another son. In 1338 she founded a chantry in Wigan Church for her husband's soul and her own, as also for the soul of Edward II. In 1346 Mabel de Bradshagh, heir of Hugh le Norreys, held the manor of Haigh for the twelfth part of a knight's fee and by the service of 10d., yearly.

Early in 1365 Roger de Bradshagh of Westleigh demanded the manor of Haigh from William de Bradshagh and Sir Henry de Trafford, in virtue of the settlement of 1312. There may have been two Williams in succession, for William de Bradshagh, who died in 1380 seised of the manor of Haigh, left a son and heir Thomas only twelve years of age. Thomas de Bradshagh took part in the Percy rising of 1403 and was present at the battle of Shrewsbury; afterwards he received a pardon from Henry IV.

Apart from the Bradshaw family there do not seem to have been any important landowners. In 1540, an antiquarian called John Leland reported that Sir Roger Bradshaigh had discovered a plentiful shallow seam of smooth, hard, Cannel Coal on his estate. The deposit came to be known as the Great Haigh Fault. The shallow depth of the Cannel meant that it was suitable for the simple surface mining methods available at that time. It could be worked and carved, and was an excellent light fuel which burned with a bright flame, it was easily lit and left virtually no ash. Widely used for domestic lighting in the early 19th Century, before the incandescent gas mantle was available, it gradually lost favour; as the use of coal gas made it obsolete.

Roger Bradshaigh, M.P.,was created Bradshaigh of Haigh, in the Baronetage of England in 1679. The title became extinct in 1779. Edward Bradshaigh, a Carmelite friar – known as Elias à Jesu – was the fourth son of Roger Bradshaigh, of Haigh Hall. Three of his brothers were Jesuits, and one brother was a secular priest. d. Benfold, 25 September, 1652. Sir Roger Bradshaigh was Father of the House in the House of Commons from 1738 to 1747.

[edit] The Lindsay Family

On June 1, 1780, Alexander Lindsay, 6th Earl of Balcarres married Elizabeth Dalrymple. She had inherited the Haigh property on failure of male issue in her maternal family, Bradshaigh. Thus, ca 1787, the Haigh Hall manor passed to the Earls of Crawford and Balcarres and became the seat of Alexander Lindsay the 6th Earl of Balcarres and de jure the 23rd Earl of Crawford. Haigh Hall and grounds were bought by Wigan Corporation in 1947 for £18,000, and now form Haigh Country Park.

[edit] Haigh Foundry

The Haigh Foundry was initially opened in 1810 for manufacturing winding engines and pumping equipment for the mining industry. In 1835 E.Evans and T.C.Ryley took a twenty-one year lease with the intention of adding the production of railway locomotives.

Initially it built 0-4-0 and 2-2-0 types - many being subcontracted from Edward Bury. In 1837, the Ajax was supplied to the Leicester and Swannington Railway, followed by Hector - an 0-6-0.

in 1838 two broad gauge locomotives were built for the Great Western Railway, with upward gearing, but this was not a success and were more successfully rebuilt around 1840. Four more were built to a saddle tank design by Daniel Gooch, for the South Devon Railway. Long boiler locomotives were built for Jones and Potts and three locomotives were built for T.R.Crampton. In 1855 two 0-8-0 locomotives were built for use in the Crimean War - hauling guns up inclines as steep as 1 in 10.

In all, over a hundred locomotives were built until, in 1856, the lease expired and the works ended production.

[edit] References

"Townships: Haigh", A History of the County of Lancashire: Volume 4 (1911), pp. 115-18.
Lowe, J.W., (1989) British Steam Locomotive Builders, Guild Publishing

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

Haigh Country Park [1]
Edward Bradshaigh [2]
Lindsay family at Haigh Hall [3]

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Categories: Villages in Greater Manchester | Wigan

Haigh, Greater Manchester

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