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Wigan, Opinions

"Wigan paved; as big as Warrington and better builded... Some merchants, some artificers, some farmers."
John Leland, 1536

(Wigan is) "a pretty market town built of stone and brick."
Celia Fiennes, 1698

"I do not remember... ever to have seen so much misery and wretchedness, in such a small compass before."
William Dod, 1841

"At present the whole of the district is thickly populated, the industrial town of Wigan occupying the greater part of the township, whilst its collieries, factories etc., fill the atmosphere with smoke."
Victoria County History, 1911

"Metropolitan Wigan -  an area where the best northern traditions of neighbourliness and a warm welcome die hard, yet where the old myths of industrial drabness have finally been laid to rest."
Wigan Metropolitan Borough Web Site, 2000  www.wiganmbc.gov.uk

Article by Adrian Morris