BC ? |
Northern England And
Southern Scotland Came Under The Confederated Celtic Kingdom Of Brigantia
And Wigan Or As It Was Known Then, Coccion Or Cochion, Was One Of The
Brigante Settlements. The Name Comes From The Red Sandstone Found In
The Area. |
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AD 79 |
During The Governorship
Of Gnaeus Julius Agricola The Romans Finally Conquer The Brigante By
Paying Off Their Queen Cartimandua With Gold Forming An Uneasy Neutrality.
The Romans Then Settled Down In 'Coccium'. |
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402 |
Last Romans Leave Coccium
Behind. Wigan Enters The Dark Ages. |
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430 - 490 |
With The Romans Gone
Brigantia Reforms As Rheged- Wigan Falls Under This New Celtic Kingdom. |
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535 |
With The Death Of King
Meirchion, Rheged Is Split Into North And South Between His Two Sons.
Elidyr Llydanwyn (The Stout And Handsome) Takes Over The Southern Half
And Wigan With It. |
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613 |
South Rheged, One Of
The Last Remaining Celtic Kingdoms, Falls To The Bernicians- Angle Invaders
Who Settled In Their New Kingdom In North East England. The End Of Celtic
Wigan For Good. |
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633 - 641 |
King Oswald Of Bernicia
Unites The Kingdom With Deira To Form Northumbria. Wigan Is Close To
The Northumbrian Border With Mercia. |
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642 |
Pagan King Penda Of
Mercia Slays Christian King Oswald Of Northumbria At A Battle Between
Golborne And Newton, A Place Called Maserfieth- The Origin Of The Name
Makerfield? Mercia Capture Wigan. |
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655 |
Penda Is Killed At
The Battle Of Winwaed. Over The Next 3 Years Northumbria Wins Back The
Land It Lost To Mercia- Wigan Included. |
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825 |
From The South Wessex
Finally Overcome Mercia At The Battle Of Ellandon And Take Charge Of
Much Of The Remaining Lands Of Mercia. |
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867
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Northumbria And Wigan
With It Fall To The Vikings. The Rest Of Mercia Accepts King Alfred
Of Wessex As King Of All English Outside Of The Danelaw. |
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946 |
The Danelaw Falls And
England Is United As One Kingdom. Wigan Becomes Part Of The Newton Hundred,
An Anglo-Saxon Political Division Of Land More Or Less Covering The
Current Makerfield Area. |
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1042 - 1066 |
A Law Suit Is Taken
To The Court Of Edward The Confessor At Some Point Over The Advowson
(Appointing A Clergyman To An Empty Post) At Wigan Parish Church. |
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1086 |
• Wigan Is Loosely
Mentioned In The Doomsday Book As Part Of The New Norman Barony Of Newton
(Or Makerfield).
• Rectors Became 'Local Lords'. |
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1100 |
King Henry I Granted
Wigan A Charter Of Incorporation. This Makes Wigan The Oldest Borough
In Lancashire- In Fact It Is Older Than Lancashire. |
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1168 |
The County Of Lancashire
Is Formed. |
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1246 |
A Charter Was Granted
By King Henry III To John Mansel The Lord And Rector Of Wigan. This
Made The Town A Free And Independent Borough With Its Own Council. (26th
August) |
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1255 |
Pope Alexander IV Gifts
The Kingdom Of Sicily To A 10 Year Old Edmund 'Crouchback' Plantagenet-
English Barons Refuse To Help With The Running Costs So He Loses The
Crown In 1258. (April) |
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1258 |
King Henry III Grants
Wigan Another Charter To Hold A Weekly Market And Two Annual Fayres
Of Three-Days Duration On The Feast Days Of Ascension And All Saints. (20th April) |
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1267 |
Edmund 'Crouchback' Plantagenet Is Made The 1st Earl Of Lancaster. |
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1291 |
Pope Nicholas IV Required
All Ecclesiastical Livings To Be Valued And The Income Of Wigan Parish
Church Was Recorded At Fifty Marks (£33 6s 8d). |
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1295 |
Parliamentary Representation
Given To The Town Along With 119 Others In England. Two Members Enter
Westminster, They Were William Teinterer And Henry Le Bocher. |
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1295 |
The Disreputable William
Bradshaigh Marries Mabel Le Norreys And Therefore Gains Her Lands In
Blackrod And At Haigh Hall. |
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1306 |
Wiganers Decide Democracy
Is Too Much Faffing And Too Costly And So Stop Sending Representatives
To Parliament For Over 200 Years Apart From On The Odd Occasion. |
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1314 |
King Edward II Confirms
The 1246 Charter. (7th June) |
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1315 |
Rebel Sir Adam Banastre
Marched On Wigan On Wednesday 22nd October Plundering And Looting It
For Supplies And Did So Again On A Return March To Preston On The 2nd
Of November. |
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1316 |
William Bradshaigh
Gets Caught Up In The Banastre Rebellion And Is Declared As An Outlaw.
He Runs Into Hiding For Several Years. After A While His Wife Mabel
Takes Him For Dead And Remarries To A Welsh Knight- Sir Osmond Nevill. |
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1323 |
King William II Comes
To Wigan Which Was The Centre Of The Banastre Rebellion. He Lodged In
Up Holland Priory For A Fortnight And Personally Tries The Offenders
There. |
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1324 |
With The Banastre Rebellion
Cleaned Up Dastardly William Bradshaigh Returns From Hiding To Find
That His Wife Mabel Has Remarried To The Welsh Knight Whom He Pursues
To Newton-In-Makerfield.  |
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1329 |
King Edward III Grants
Wigan Another Charter. (18th October) |
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1333 |
Sir William Bradshaigh
Is Killed At Newton-In-Makerfield During A Fight. Mabs Founds A Chapel
To Put His Body In. |
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1350 |
A Charter Grants Wigan
The Right To Use A Royal Seal Known As The "King's Recognisance
Seal". |
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1351 |
• The Sixth Charter
Of Wigan Granted By King Edward III.
• Lancashire Is 'Promoted' From Earldom To Dukedom And Gains Palatine
(Royal) Powers. |
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1378 |
The Seventh Charter
Of Wigan Granted By King Richard II. |
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1399 |
The Eighth Charter
Of Wigan Granted By King Henry IV. |
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1400 |
The Ninth Charter Of
Wigan Granted By King Henry IV. (10th May) |
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1413 |
The Tenth Charter Of
Wigan Granted By King Henry V. |
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1450 |
The First Recorded
Mine Shaft Is Sunk In Wigan; 542 Years Before The Last Closes. |
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1519 |
Thomas Linacre, Founder
And First President Of The Royal College Of Physicians, London, Becomes
Rector Of Wigan Until 1524. |
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1547 |
Wigan MPs Return To
Parliament Regularly For The First Time Since 1306. |
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1552 |
An Act Is Passed Stipulating
That Lancashire Cotton Must Be 22 Yards Long, Three-Quarters Of A Yard
Wide And Weigh At Least 30 Pounds A Piece. |
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1580 |
• An Earthquake
Is Felt In Shevington.
• Francis Sherington Becomes Mayor Of Wigan And Promises To Found
A Free Grammar School. |
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1585 |
The Eleventh Charter
Of Wigan Granted By Queen Elizabeth I. (7th May) |
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1588 |
What Is Now The Byrchall
High School Is Founded As Ashton Grammar School In What Is Now Senley
Green Library By Robert Byrchall. |
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1590 |
A Second Earthquake
Is Recorded In Shevington. |
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1603 |
Grammar School Opens
In Standish. |
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1619 |
Peter Plat, A Chandler
In Millgate, Dug What Was Possibly The First Pit In The Borough, He
Is Granted A Licence By The Rector To Drain Water From His Pit Into
Millgate. |
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1628 |
Local Boy Edmund Arrowsmith
Is Hung Drawn And Quartered In A Crackdown On Lancastrian Catholicism,
Of Which Wigan Is A Hot Bed. He Was Canonised In 1970. (28th August) |
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1642 |
• Lord Derby Clashes
With Roundheads (Parliamentarians) At Leigh. (2nd December)
• Roundheads From Manchester Attack Leigh. (24th December) |
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1643 |
Roundheads From Bolton
Capture Wigan And Sack The Moot Hall. They Are Kept At Bay By Royalist
Sharpshooters At The Top Of The Church Tower, Until The Roundheads Threaten
To Blow It Up With Them In It. (1st April) |
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1644 |
• Famous Siege
Of Lathom House, The Home Of Thomas Strange - Lord Derby.
• Royalists Under Prince Rupert Besiege And Sack Bolton Before
Recapturing Wigan & Liverpool. |
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1648 |
Cromwell Himself Leads
The Roundheads Into Battle At Standish Against The Duke Of Hamiltons'
Men. |
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1651 |
Last Battle Of The
2nd Civil War At Wigan Lane. Colonel Robert Lilburne Leads The Roundheads
To Victory Against Lord Derbys' Men, Who Escapes The Battlefield. (26th
August) |
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1651 |
Lord Derby Spends The
Night In The Kings Arms Pub In Pennington He Is Captured That Morning
Taken to Bolton And Executed For Saving Charles II's Life At The Earlier
Battle Of Worcester. (27th August) |
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1652 |
The Feudal Rights Of
Pennington & Hindley Along With Its People Are Sold For £1,000. (17th March) |
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1662 |
The Twelfth Charter
Of Wigan Granted By King Charles II, Giving Wigan The Title 'Ancient
And Loyal' As "A Special Token Of Our Favour For Its Loyalty To
Us". (16th May) |
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1668 |
Upholland Grammar School
Is Founded- It Is Now Winstanley College. |
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1670 |
John Ogilby Famous
Traveller Wrote That Wigan Was Noted For Its Ironworks And That Pewter
And Pottery Both Flourished. |
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1679 |
Roger Bradshaigh Of
Haigh Hall (And The Current Wigan MP) Is Made A Baronet. |
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1685 |
The Thirteenth Charter
Of Wigan Granted By King James II. (25th February) |
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1690 |
A Copper Vessel Containing
More Than 200 Silver Coins, Ranging From AD 90 To 240, Is Found In Standish
Which Would Have Been On The Main Road To Bremetenacum Veteranorum (Ribchester). |
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1696 |
Wigan Was The Centre
Of The "Lancashire Plot" To Restore The Catholic James II. |
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1714 |
Act Of Parliament Passed
To Make The River Douglas Navigable To The Ribble. Robert Holt Of Crooke
Hall Pioneers The Scheme Which Hopes To Increase Wigan's Exports. |
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1715 |
Following The Uprising
In Preston, Jacobite Prisoners Were Marched Through Wigan On The Way
To London For Trial. A Few Were Tried In Wigan, And Five Were Publicly
Executed In The Market Place. |
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1720 |
Sir Roger Bradshaigh
And Earl Barrymore, The Current Wigan MPs, Built A New Town Hall In
The Market Place, Not By Themselves Obviously. |
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| 1722 |
William Camden, The Antiquarian, Noted A Pont near Wigan From Which Sulphurous Gas Bubbled In Sufficient Quantities 'To Boyl Eggs, Meat, etc, Tho The Water Itself Be Cold'. |
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1723 |
Pennington Hall Ancestral
Home Of The Bradshaighs Is Mortgaged For £1,200. (5th October) |
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1726 |
The Warrington To Wigan
Turnpike Trust Was Set Up By Act Of Parliament. |
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1727 |
A Canal Is Constructed
Parallel To River Douglas To Transport Coal. This Later Became Part
Of The Leeds And Liverpool Canal. |
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1735 |
Workmen constructing the Canal come across evidence of an enormous battlefield, containing Human and Horse skeletons and 5 to 6 Hundredweight of Horse Shoes. |
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1742 |
Douglas Navigation
Is Completed To As Far As Miry Lane In Wigan. |
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1745 |
The Young Pretender
- Bonnie Prince Charlie - Retreating From Manchester Stayed The Night
In Wigan, At Walmesley House In Bishopgate. |
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1767 |
The Leeds And Liverpool
Canal Was Projected At A Cost Of £260,000. |
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1770 |
Work Started On The
Leeds And Liverpool Canal. A PlattBridger Enterprises
Production |
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1771 |
Stage Coach Service
Commenced From Wigan To Preston And Warrington. |
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1777 |
The Wigan To Liverpool
Section Of The Leeds And Liverpool Canal Is Opened. |
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1783 |
The Fustian Tax On
Cloth Manufacturing Repealed- The Whole Region Celebrates. (16th
May) |
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1787 |
With No Remaining Heirs,
Haigh Hall Changes Hands From The Bradshaighs To The Lindsay's (Earls
Of Crawford And Balcarres). |
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1788 |
Haigh Ironworks Foundry,
The Maker Of The Laxey Wheel On The Isle Of Man, Is Founded Itself By
The 6th Earl Of Crawford And Balcarres, His Brother Robert Lindsay And
James Corbett. |
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1795 |
The Bridgewater Canal
Is Extended From Worsley To Leigh. |
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1796 |
The Wigan Dispensary
Is Founded And This Gradually Develops Into The Royal Infirmary. |
