The striking images show the town centre and outskirts of Wigan on 18th May 1948.
The scars of industry are very visible: it was some years before nature could claim the Wigan Flashes and the modern sporting facilities of Robin Park and the DW Stadium were still decades away.
Can you spot any surviving landmarks? You can see more of them on
Wigan Images (external link)
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Newtown: The outline of the lake at Parson’s Meadow hasn’t changed much in nearly 70 years and the railway line remains a constant.
The giant roundabout that is the modern Saddle Junction is decades away, as are Asda and the Robin Park shop units. There’s a final sighting for the bus depot, centre right, which was demolished this July in preparation for the new road to Saddle Junction.
Aerial photograph of Springfield
Springfield: The pools between the River Douglas and the railway remain, but the sports grounds between Woodhouse Lane and Springfield Road have of course changed massively.
The pitches behind St John Fisher High School aren’t marked out, but the line markings for the famous Springfield football pitch have been neatly rolled out.
A few years later, the fire of 1953 would see the new Phoenix Stand replace the wooden structures on show here.
Beech Hill Avenue wasn’t extended to reach Scot Lane until much later.
