| Wigan Home | Wigan Facts | Wigan Firms | Wigan History | Wigan People | Wigan Pies | Wigan Places | Wigan Sport | Wigan Websites

Wigan History

For Extra Info Hover Your Mouse Where You See A Wigan Pie !

BC ?	Northern England And Southern Scotland Came Under The Confederated Celtic Kingdom Of Brigantia And Wigan Or As It Was Known Then, Coccion Or Cochion, Was One Of The Brigante Settlements.
AD 79	During The Governorship Of Gnaeus Julius Agricola The Romans Finally Conquer The Brigante By Paying Off Their Queen Cartimandua With Gold & An Uneasy Neutrality. The Romans Settled Down In 'Coccium'.
402	Last Romans Leave Coccium Behind. Wigan Enters The Dark Ages.
430 - 490	With The Romans Gone Brigantia Reforms As Rheged- Wigan Falls Under This New Celtic Kingdom.
535	With The Death Of King Meirchion Rheged Is Split Into North And South Between His Two Sons- Elidyr Llydanwyn (The Stout And Handsome) Takes Over The Southern Half And Wigan With It.
613	South Rheged, One Of The Last Remaining Celtic Kingdoms, Falls To The Bernicians- Angle Invaders Who Settled In Their New Kingdom In North East England. The End Of Celtic Wigan For Good.
633 - 641	King Oswald Of Bernicia Unites The Kingdom With Deira To Form Northumbria. Wigan Is Close To The Northumbrian Border With Mercia.
642	Pagan King Penda Of Mercia Slays Christian King Oswald Of Northumbria At A Battle Between Golborne And Newton, A Place Called Maserfieth- The Origin Of The Name Makerfield? Mercia Capture Wigan.
655	Penda Is Killed At The Battle Of Winwaed. Over The Next 3 Years Northumbria Takes Back The Land It Lost To Mercia- Wigan Included.
825	From The South Wessex Finally Overcome Mercia At The Battle Of Ellandon And Take Charge Of Much Of The Remaining Lands Of Mercia.
867	Northumbria And Wigan With It Fall To The Vikings. The Rest Of Mercia Accepts King Alfred Of Wessex As King Of All English Outside Of The Danelaw.
946	The Danelaw Falls And England Is United As One Kingdom. Wigan Becomes Part Of The Newton Hundred, An Anglo-Saxon Political Division Of Land More Or Less Covering The Current Makerfield Area.
1042 - 1066	A Law Suit Is Taken To The Court Of Edward The Confessor At Some Point Over The Advowson (Appointing A Clergyman To An Empty Post) Of Wigan Parish Church.
1086	Wigan Loosely Mentioned In The Doomsday Book As Part Of The New Norman Barony Of Newton (Or Makerfield). Rectors Became 'Local Lords'.
1100	King Henry I Granted Wigan A Charter Of Incorporation. This Makes Wigan The Oldest Borough In Lancashire.
1168	The County Of Lancashire Is Formed.
1246	A Charter Was Granted By King Henry III To John Mansel The Lord And Rector Of Wigan. This Made The Town A Free And Independent Borough With Its Own Council. (26th August)
1255	Pope Alexander IV Gifts The Kingdom Of Sicily To A 10 Year Old Edmund 'Crouchback' Plantagenet- English Barons Refuse To Help With The Running Costs So He Loses The Crown In 1258. (April)
1258	King Henry III Grants Wigan Another Charter To Hold A Weekly Market And Two Annual 'Fairs' Of Three-Days Duration On The Feast Days Of Ascension And All Saints. (20th April)
1267	Edmund 'Crouchback' Plantagenet Is Made The 1st Earl Of Lancaster.
1291	Pope Nicholas IV Required All Ecclesiastical Livings To Be Valued And The Income Of Wigan Parish Church Was Recorded At Fifty Marks (£33 6s 8d).
1295	Parliamentary Representation Given To The Town Along With 119 Others In England. Two Members Enter Westminster, They Were William Teinterer And Henry Le Bocher.
1295	The Disreputable William Bradshaigh Marries Mabel Le Norreys And Gains Therefore Her Lands In Blackrod And Haigh Hall.
1306	Wiganers Decide Democracy Is Too Much Faffing And Too Costly And So Stop Sending Representatives To Parliament For Over 200 Years Apart From On The Odd Occasion.
1314	King Edward II Confirms The 1246 Charter. (7th June)
1315	Rebel Sir Adam Banastre Marched On Wigan On Wednesday 22nd October Plundering And Looting It For Supplies And Did So Again On A Return March To Preston On The 2nd Of November.
1316	William Bradshaigh Gets Caught Up In The Banastre Rebellion And Is Declared As An Outlaw. After A While His Wife Mabel Takes Him For Dead And Remarries To A Welsh Knight Sir Osmond Nevill.
1323	King William II Comes To Wigan Which Was The Centre Of The Banastre Rebellion. He Lodged In Up Holland Priory For A Fortnight And Personally Tried The Offenders.
1324	William Bradshaigh Returns From Hiding To Find His Wife Mabel Has Remarried To The Welsh Knight Whom He Pursues To Newton-In-Makerfield.
1329	King Edward III Grants Wigan Another Charter. (18th October)
1333	Sir William Bradshaigh Is Killed At Newton-In-Makerfield During A Fight. Mabs Founds A Chapel To Put His Body In.
1350	A Charter Grants Wigan The Right To Use A Royal Seal Known As The "King's Recognisance Seal".
1351	• The Sixth Charter Of Wigan Granted By King Edward III. • Lancashire Is 'Promoted' From Earldom To Dukedom And Gains Palatine (Royal) Powers.
1378	The Seventh Charter Of Wigan Granted By King Richard II.
1399	The Eighth Charter Of Wigan Granted By King Henry IV. A PlattBridger Enterprises Production
1400	The Ninth Charter Of Wigan Granted By King Henry IV. (10th May)
1413	The Tenth Charter Of Wigan Granted By King Henry V.
1519	Thomas Linacre, Founder And First President Of The Royal College Of Physicians, London, Becomes Rector Of Wigan Until 1524.
1547	Wigan MPs Return To Parliament Regularly For The First Time Since 1306.
1552	An Act Is Passed Stipulating That Lancashire Cotton Must Be 22 Yards Long, Three-Quarters Of A Yard Wide And Weigh At Least 30 Pounds A Piece.
1580	• An Earthquake Is Felt In Shevington. • Francis Sherington Becomes Mayor Of Wigan And Promises To Found A Free Grammar School.
1585	The Eleventh Charter Of Wigan Granted By Queen Elizabeth I. (7th May)
1588	The Byrchall High School Is Founded As Ashton Grammar School In What Is Now Garswood Library By Robert Byrchall.
1590	A Second Earthquake Is Recorded In Shevington.
1603	Grammar School Opens In Standish.
1619	Peter Plat, A Chandler In Millgate, Dug What Was Possibly The First Pit In The Borough, He Is Granted A Licence By The Rector To Drain Water From His Pit Into Millgate.
1628	Local Boy Edmund Arrowsmith Is Hung Drawn And Quartered In A Crackdown On Lancastrian Catholicism, Of Which Wigan Is A Hot Bed. He Was Canonised In 1970. (28th August)
1642	• Lord Derby Clashes With Roundheads (Parliamentarians) At Leigh. (2nd December) • Roundheads From Manchester Attack Leigh. (24th December)
1643	Roundheads From Bolton Capture Wigan And Sack The Moot Hall. They Are Kept At Bay By Royalist Sharpshooters At The Top Of The Church Tower, Until They Threaten To Blow It Up. (1st April)
1644	• Famous Siege Of Lathom House, The Home Of Thomas Strange - Lord Derby. • Royalists Under Prince Rupert Besiege And Sack Bolton Before Recapturing Wigan & Liverpool.
1648	Cromwell Himself Leads The Roundheads Into Battle At Standish Against The Duke Of Hamiltons' Men.
1651	Last Battle Of The 2nd Civil War At Wigan Lane. Colonel Robert Lilburne Leads The Roundheads To Victory Against Lord Derbys' Men, Who Escapes The Battlefield. (26th August)
1651	Lord Derby Spends The Night In The Kings Arms Pub In Pennington He Is Captured That Morning Taken to Bolton And Executed For Saving Charles II's Life At The Earlier Battle Of Worcester. (27th August)
1652	The Feudal Rights Of Pennington & Hindley Along With Its People Are Sold For £1,000. (17th March)
1662	The Twelfth Charter Of Wigan Granted By King Charles II, Giving Wigan The Title 'Ancient And Loyal' As "A Special Token Of Our Favour For Its Loyalty To Us". (16th May)
1668	Upholland Grammar School Is Founded- It Is Now Winstanley College.
1670	John Ogilby Famous Traveller Wrote That Wigan Was Noted For Its Ironworks And That Pewter And Pottery Both Flourished.
1679	Roger Bradshaigh Of Haigh Hall (And The Current Wigan MP) Is Made A Baronet.
1685	The Thirteenth Charter Of Wigan Granted By King James II. (25th February)
1690	A Copper Vessel Containing More Than 200 Silver Coins, Ranging From AD 90 To 240, Is Found In Standish Which Would Have Been On The Main Road To Bremetenacum Veteranorum (Ribchester).
1696	Wigan Was The Centre Of The "Lancashire Plot" To Restore Catholic James II.
1714	Act Of Parliament Passed To Make The River Douglas Navigable To The Ribble. Robert Holt Of Crooke Hall Pioneers The Scheme.
1715	Following The Uprising In Preston, Jacobite Prisoners Were Marched Through Wigan On The Way To London For Trial. A Few Were Tried In Wigan, And Five Were Publicly Executed In The Market Place.
1720	Sir Roger Bradshaigh And Earl Barrymore, The Current Wigan MPs, Built A New Town Hall In The Market Place.
1723	Pennington Hall Ancestral Home Of The Bradshaighs Is Mortgaged For £1,200. (5th October)
1726	The Warrington To Wigan Turnpike Trust Was Set Up By Act Of Parliament.
1727	Canal Constructed Parallel To River Douglas To Transport Coal. This Later Became Part Of The Leeds And Liverpool Canal.
1742	Douglas Navigation Completed To Miry Lane Wigan.
1745	The Young Pretender - Bonnie Prince Charlie - Retreating From Manchester Stayed The Night In Wigan, At Walmesley House In Bishopgate.
1767	The Leeds And Liverpool Canal Was Projected At A Cost Of £260,000.
1770	Work Started On The Leeds And Liverpool Canal. A PlattBridger Enterprises Production
1771	Stage Coach Service Commenced From Wigan To Preston And Warrington.
1777	The Wigan To Liverpool Section Of The Leeds And Liverpool Canal Is Opened.
1783	The Fustian Tax On Cloth Manufacturing Repealed- The Whole Region Celebrates. (16th May)
1787	With No Heirs, Haigh Hall Changes Hands From The Bradshaighs To The Lindsay's (Earls Of Crawford And Balcarres).
1788	Haigh Ironworks Foundry, The Maker Of The Laxey Wheel On The Isle Of Man, Is Founded Itself By The 6th Earl Of Crawford And Balcarres, His Brother Robert Lindsay And James Corbett.
1795	The Bridgewater Canal Is Extended From Worsley To Leigh.
1796	The Wigan Dispensary Is Founded And This Gradually Develops Into The Infirmary.