Another great weekend at the Parish Church with lots of stands on view from a wide variety of heritage groups and talks on many interesting topics over the two day event. We of course had our stand set up by Chris Drabble displaying the latest results and finds form our Aspull Ring Ditch Project. The event was opened by Mayor Jenny Bullen, the Rev Roland Harvey and St John’s Ambulance President Ian Bithell (in the background Mervyn Reeves, the event organiser, always on hand to help with any issues). Chris was able to spend some time explaining our work to them. As well as showing them the finds Chris had a rolling video and 3D computer models of the excavations. Patrick was also on the programme of talks with a presentation of our fascinating four year project. On the Saturday I was able to join them adding information about Roman Wigan and our long term quest to find the Roman roads around the town. This, together with a rolling presentation of our Parish Church Tower project, attracted a lot of attention to our stand in the afternoon.

Just across from us Phil Livesey had his Friends of Wall Hey stand showing off all the coal mining memorabilia they’ve managed to collect. The Friends aim is to try to get funding for the preservation of the large ventilation shaft located on Haigh Road in Aspull. It was originally the site of a pit shaft sunk by Lord Crawford of Haigh in the mid 19th century, initially to exploit the the cannel mine but later deepened to reach the King Coal and Yard Seam. Towards the end of the century it was converted to an up-cast ventilation shaft with a furnace at its base to draw fresh air through the mine working on the Crawford estate. It is a fascinating relic from the Victorian era and deserves recognition as a rare example surviving from our intense industrial past. Phil and his team deserve every credit for their efforts in trying to secure its future. You can find more details about it on the Buildings Preservation website here.

You can also find out more about all the other fascinating stands and talk on the Festival’s Facebook site here.