Local Life - Wigan - March 2019

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May Mill, provided to WiganWorld by Ron Hunt
to the supremely high levels of noise from nearby
machinery.
‘…a right pea souper’
That’s without mentioning that textile milling also
contributed to the frequent smog during the latter
part of the twentieth century, with air pollution from
Wigan’s factories turning the streets into a ‘right pea
souper’. The 1950s were especially notorious for this
phenomenon – although chiefly arising from the
frequent burning of coal, bleaching, sizing and bastfibre
processing in cotton mills played their part
too. Several WiganWorld members remark on smog
masks which left blackened gauze from breathing
in the pollution – ‘a small steel frame with a pad
attached’ to keep the worst of the smog out of your
lungs.
It’s easy to forget the architectural prowess and
innovation that went into the building of mills
around Lancashire and what is now Greater
Manchester, and to dismiss milling as a brutal
stopgap into modernisation. Faster processes
revolutionised the industry and Britain for the
better, and brought industry to Lancashire instead
of relying on foreign imports. Despite the integral
part milling played in local heritage, many of
Wigan’s mills have fallen into disrepair – the derelict
Rylands Mill was named one of the top ten most ‘at
risk’ buildings in the UK by the Victorian Society in
2016. But many of these imposing buildings have a
lot more to offer – and it’s high time they got the
appreciation they deserve.
Trencherfield Mill
Built in 1907, the Grade-II listed Trencherfield
Mill is currently in its third incarnation. The first
Trencherfield mill originated in 1820, but was rebuilt
in 1851 and again in the early twentieth century.
The mill, owned by William Woods & Sons Ltd.,
employed around 1000 people. The mill was built to
best utilise the Leeds & Liverpool Canal, which was
useful in transporting freight like cotton.
William Woods was the first to introduce power