GM Ringway Trail Stage 16. Wigan to Leigh.

 Wednesday 19th November 2025

Official Distance 16.3km.             Unofficial Distance around 17km due to Meandering off trail.

Who was on the hike? Martin, Sue, Paul, Jeanette, Sheila, Myself and Rufus the Bedlington Terrier.

Weather:- Cold, Dry and Bright with no wind.

Sheila and I started the day with a bus ride to the railway station where we caught the train to Manchester Victoria and then another train to Wigan Wallgate. Surprisingly all transport was on time and was an enjoyable journey. We arrived in Wigan at 10.40am where we were to meet the others at 11.07am.

Across the road from the station is the Station Cafe (aptly named) and that was where we decided to wait, partaking in a very nice coffee. The cafe is a lovely place and there were numerous people enjoying the Mega Breakfast which was very tempting. On the walls can be found many phrases about life. For example, " Live each day as if it was your last, because one day it will be"

Through the windows we watched numerous feral kids behaving without respect for others or the Police. Very sad to see as Wigan is a decent enough place but the Town Centre really does need to eradicate this sort of person. (Not that it is alone with problems on the street).

11.10am came and out of the station the rest of the party arrived, also having a coffee before setting off down the high street towards the Leeds to Liverpool Canal and Wigan Pier, famous for Northern Soul and George Orwell of course. There is a museum at the pier but we didn't have the time to pay it a visit.

The towpath area is a pleasant walk and in very good condition with many new builds and nicely restored old warehouses converted into apartments along the banks. A number of older cottages have been kept and looked splendid. We noticed the old stone drain which I presumed was far cheaper than getting wrought iron grids and also a benchmark on the bridge.

A stone drainage grid.

Ordnance Survey Benchmark.

At a three way junction in the canal a modern footbridge bridge has been erected, it wasn't built when the canal was built, but it begs the question "why not?" 

A pleasant aspect to the towpath.

Following the canal, the path leads between two of the Wigan Flashes, Scotsman's and Pearsons. Thomas Pearson was a Millwright and engineer and his Colliery, operated by Pearson and Knowles was close by. The name Scotsman is all rather vague, some say because the land was owned by a Scotsman but I find this a little too simple. The name Flash's came about because the area had massive subsidence caused by the mines. These then filled with water in a "Flash". The name stuck.

Today the large bodies of water are nature reserves and water based sports. We spotted a bird eating a large fish in Scotsman's Flash and at first we thought it was real. The sun was low down and in our eyes but it soon became obvious that it was a sculpture of sorts. I cannot find anything about it. The canal itself is a masterpiece of engineering at this location considering it was built prior to the formation of the Flash's.

The towpath between Scotsman's Flash and the canal, Pearsons flash is behind the canal to the left.

Bird with fish sculpture.

A slight narrowing of the canal used to be the location of a swing bridge which was part of the Mineral Railway from Park Colliery (Now gone). The line is now gone and it is being used as a footpath but due to yesterdays heavy rain it was a little boggy.

Along the path there is an information board telling about butterflies. There is also an engraving by Phillip Garrett but I completely missed it. I wonder if any of the others spotted it.

Photo courtesy of Clara Paillard.

The footpath curved left leaving the original route of the railway and brought us to the entrance of Park House which must have been a fine residence once but now just a shell remains. I guess that the house would have had some relevance to Park Lane Colliery. The colliery had at least 3 deep shafts and was operational from 1859 until 1962. Mercer, Evans and Thompson were the first owners then Garswood Coal and Iron company owned the pits from 1877 to 1929 then later Landgate colliery company and finally The National Coalboard.

The sad remains of Park House is being overtaken by nature, it must have been empty for quite sometime. I had a quick look around and took a couple of photographs for historical purposes and also found a named brick which was a bonus.

The brick was marked AW and I immediately thought of Alfred Wainwright who was affectionately known as AW. However this AW was from a brick works Ackers and Whitley formed in 1840 in Abram,  just down the road from Park House. John Whitely was the owner of the Bickershaw Estates and Abraham Ackers was the owner of the Abram Coal Company.

Acker's Whitley brick. 

Park House in need of a bit of DIY.

The path which I guess was the driveway to Park House had good views across to Winter Hill with the mast just visible today. It led us to Land Gate Lane which on the OS map looks as though it is just a footpath or "Green Lane". In reality it is a wide, busy rat run for construction vehicles which took us a bit by surprise. We crossed the railway bridge but couldn't see the line below because of the new high walls. 

Winter Hill in the distance.

Land Gate Lane. (No idea why Sheila is walking in the opposite direction.)

A narrow path on the right just prior to reaching Bryn Hall Farm Units led us across fields and a boardwalk through a bullrush moss. Here we came across a large swan who wasn't a bit bothered about us being on his or her path, this led us to an aptly positioned Picnic Bench where we had our lunch. 

The sound of racing cars from The Three Sisters racing circuit was quite loud. The track was built on what was The Garswood Hall Colliery which closed in 1958. The three sisters name came from three very large spoil heaps in the area, also known as the Wigan Alps.

We had about 30 minutes for lunch and then made our way through fields then crossing the busy A58 road before another railway and a small brook via its well made footbridge to the small canal side former hamlet of Dover. We came out at the Dover Lock Public House which was sadly burnt down in 2021 and nothing has been done with it since. This pub has a long history being originally named the White Lion until 1858 when it changed to The Red Lion. The pub was then "Moved" around 1830 to a more profitable position beside the main road and the canal lock and renamed the Dover Lock. Another interesting bit of history was the locks themselves which had to be removed from the canal due to coal mining subsidence.

The Dover Lock Inn

Walking further down the canal towpath we passed what used to be two bridges associated with the railway. The first being the Wigan Junction branch line, this ran from Wigan to Glazebrook where it joined the Cheshire Line. It opened in 1884 and closed in the 1960's.  The second being the West Leigh Line which went north to join the Eccles, Tyldsley and Wigan line and south to join the Bedford-Leigh Line. It opened in 1828 and closed in 1968. The line was repurposed as the A579 road and we come to that later. The area used to be surrounded by railway lines, tramways and mineral lines and you could do a post just on this subject alone.

One of the two bridge parapets of the redundant railways.

Crossing Plank Lane Draw Bridge we stopped to admire what has been achieved with the grounds that used to be Bickershaw colliery. Now it is a narrow boat marina with very nice waterside apartments. It is named Ackers and Whitley, the same as the brick we found earlier. 

Some of us  were not paying attention to the designated route here and we must have gone 3-400 metres along the towpath before turning back and heading off south at Plank Lane bridge. It is what I call just a meander.

Plank Bridge was so different just a few years ago with numerous terraced houses aligning the main road and the Britania hotel which stood on the north side of the bridge now all gone. Quite a few local pubs have also disappeared but its easy to imagine that such a large colliery complex would have had lots of pubs, fish and chip shops, grocery stores etc.

A time of reflection.

As it was we now walked through what was once  the living rooms of the Terrance houses and into Pennington Flash country park. This is a huge body of water at 170 acres. The park itself totals 858 acres. It opened in 1981and was formed once again due to coal mining subsidence. It is a Mecca for twitchers, dog walkers, hikers and those that just want a day out. The visitor centre and cafe is modern and clean. 

We found a picnic bench at the waterside and used the last of our coffee and snack before continuing on the short walk which crossed the Glaze Brook and through a busy Leigh town to catch the V1 bus into Manchester City Centre. The V1 uses the A579 road and in parts it is a self guided bus lane with limited stops. The first time I have been on it and it is a fantastic way to commute into Manchester and back.

Pennington Flash Brew stop.

The visitor centre just before sunset.

Glaze Brook.

That brought us to the end of another stage of the GM Ringway trail and it will probably be our last stage until 2026 as we have lots of commitments during December. Martin and Sue plus others will probably finish the route during December and you can keep up with Martin's blog by clicking HERE.

Today's route.