Tony Porter Ponders: Wigan's lost mysteries and mindless vandalism

It is crazy that after all the Wigan Walks I have done, from long before I posted them on YouTube  until now, I still get surprises and encounter a mystery.

The last was because of a chance meeting on Wash Pad in the outer reaches of Haigh Plantations.

The video I was filming was more about Wigan’s lost history and that usually includes collieries, pits and various engineering sites.

However, I was given a snippet of an interesting site that involved a bit of curiosity.

With directions received, I went on the hunt to find this long-forgotten area and anything that may be left at the site.

I was not disappointed: there is still a clear footprint of a three-part small building, with steps and plenty of detritus around, mainly bricks, that confirmed I was at the old kennels of Haigh Hall, long since abandoned.

I assumed that the reason it was down this far away from the house was because his Lordship and family did not want a pack of dogs barking and howling near their home, and who could blame them?

An old map showed there were two cottages very close by, one assumes for the kennel master and his aid.

But nothing could prepare me for the large circular pit that was between the cottages and kennels, now significantly past its best.

I tried to guess what it was there for.

After much pondering I thought it may be for the hounds to play in after a hunt, but the real reason was to wash off mud etc from their coats.

In the days long before Netflix or even radio, entertainment was not readily available, so going on a hunt with dogs, would have been great fun for his Lordship and mates.

But the thought of cleaning a pack of dogs afterwards would not have been a great one, so let them play in the water and, hey presto, happy and clean mutts.

The pit did also feature on the old map, and I may be way off the mark as some I have mentioned it to think it may be a coal washing area, though I fail to see why its location would be there as there were no train tracks, not even mineral ones anywhere nearby.

A little further down the hill I found what looked like a drain going underground made from stone with a  wall that seemed to run back to the cottages and pit.

Then I googled it when I got home and it seems that that was an area much taller than it is now, demolished around 1970, that may have been part of the kennels.

I was a tad gutted as I had imagined the doggos having great fun after a hard day’s work.

On another walk, this time along the Leigh spur of the canal I was disgusted to see that, again, some fool has vandalised a safety rope box and sign near Scotsman’s Flash.

In an ideal world no one would dare to jump into, or swim in this or any water, but sadly we don’t and people, mainly teenagers do.

In fact on Friday there were some already daring to get into the flash.

Who in their right mind would risk someone drowning by vandalising safety equipment?