Farthingale Publications

A Lancastrian hobby website of curiosities and nonsense

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The Lindsays of Haigh

The Life and Times of an Ordinary Wigan Family

picIntroduction - Alexander Lindsay 6th Earl of Balcarres married Elizabeth Bradshaigh Dalrymple and in 1785 inherited the estates of Haigh and Blackrod from Lady Dorothy the widow of the 4th Baronet of Haigh Sir Roger Bradshaigh, they moved their family to Haigh in 1802. Having already recognised the potential value of cannel coal reserves under the estate the Lindsays continued to develop their coal mines and associated engineering facilities at Haigh foundry, Brock Mill forge and the Sawmills at New Springs leading to the establishment of the Wigan Coal and Iron Company in 1865. 

1295 Sir William Bradshaghe married Mabel Norreys sole heiress of Haigh and Blackrod. Sir William was involved in the Banastre Rebellion, was outlawed and lived abroad for about ten years. Thinking her husband was dead Lady Mabel married a welshman Sir Henry Teuthor. Lady Mabel in penance for her bigamy walked barefoot once a week from Haigh Hall to the cross at the top of Standishgate Wigan still known as Mab's Cross.
1333 Sir William Bradshaghe killed at Newton-le-Willows by his enemies.
1338 Lady Mabel founds a chapel in Wigan Parish Church, Sir William is buried in it.
1642 English civil war begins.
1714 King George I succeeds to the throne.
1727 King George II succeeds to the throne.
1736 James Watt born in Greenock.
1742 Douglas navigation completed to Miry Lane Wigan.
1748 Matthew Low's pit opened.
1750 Alexander Lindsay 6th Earl of Balcarres born.
1756 Composer Mozart born in Austria - 1760 King George III succeeds to the throne.
1762 The Earl of Bute becomes Prime Minister - 1764 Hargreaves invents the Spinning Jenny.
1766 John Dalton (atomic theory) born in Eaglesfield Cumberland.
1769 Matthew Low's pit closed - James Watt patents condensing boiler to improve steam engines of Savery and Newcomen.
1772 Alms Houses built off Hall Lane by Lady Dorothy Bradshaigh - 1773 Boston Tea Party.
1775 Matthew Boulton owner of SOHO Engineering Works Birmingham succeeds John Roebuck as James Watt's partner.
1780 Alexander Lindsay 6th Earl of Balcarres marries his cousin Elizabeth Bradshaigh Dalrymple.
1781 Burscough to Tarleton branch of Leeds/Liverpool canal opened to replace lower Douglas Navigation.
1783 William Pitt becomes Prime Minister - James Lindsay 7th Earl of Balcarres and 24th Earl of Crawford born.
1783 Bellingham Lodge rebuilt and extended by Lady Dorothy Bradshaigh - Steam power introduced to cotton mills.
1784 Liverpool to Wigan section of the Leeds/Liverpool canal opened (Douglas Navigation from Gathurst).
1785 Elizabeth Bradshaigh Dalrymple inherits Haigh estates from Lady Dorothy widow of Sir Roger Bradshaigh 4th Baronet.
1788 Haigh Ironworks established at Leyland Mill by 6th Earl of Balcarres with his brother Robert Lindsay & James Corbett
1788 Haigh Ironworks partners take over Brock Mill Forge
1788 James Watt develops centrifugal or flyball governor to regulate speed of steam engines.
1789 French revolution starts - 1790 James Corbett dies (Haigh Ironworks partner).
1791 Composer Mozart died - 1792 Composer Rossini born.
1793 James Lindsay and Company set up to run Haigh Ironworks, Alexander Haliburton from Inverkeithing as manager.
1798 Nelson's battle of the Nile - Lancaster Canal completed Bark Hill to Chorley.
1799 French revolution ends, Napoleonic wars begin.
1800 Winter of famine and serious rioting in Wigan - Combination Laws passed banning unions.
1801 Henry Addington becomes Prime Minister - Nelson's battle of Copenhagen - Yard Coal Pit opens.
1802 Alexander Lindsay 6th Earl of Balcarres moved his family to Haigh.
1804 William Pitt becomes Prime Minister.
1804 Robert Daglish becomes chief engineer at Haigh Foundry, Leyland Mill steam engine and machinery manufacture begins.
1805 Nelson's battle of Trafalgar - 1806 Lord Grenville becomes Prime Minister - Meadow Pit (Cannel) closed.
1807 Duke of Portland becomes Prime Minister - 188 Alexander Lindsay becomes 23rd Earl of Crawford.
1809 Spencer Percival becomes Prime Minister.
1811 Lord Lindsay marries Hon Maria Frances Pennington (heir to Lord Muncaster).
1812 Lord Liverpool becomes Prime Minister - Serious rioting in Wigan.
1812 Alexander William Crawford Lindsay 8th Earl of Balcarres and 25th Earl of Crawford born - Charles Dickens born.
1815 Napoleonic Wars end - Brinks Pit opens.
1816 Leeds/Liverpool Canal completed using southern section of Lancaster Canal.
1818 James Joule born in Salford.
1819 Serious rioting in Wigan - Lancaster Canal reaches Kendal - James Watt dies.
1820 King George IV succeeds to the throne - James Lindsay becomes MP for Wigan.
1824 Combination Laws banning unions repealed - Alexander Haliburton leaves Haigh Ironworks to become colliery proprietor.
1825 Alexander Lindsay 6th Earl of Balcarres and 23rd Earl of Crawford died, James succeeds to the title 7th Earl of Balcarres 24th Earl of Crawford.
1826 James created Baron Wigan of the United Kingdom by George III.
1827 George Canning becomes Prime Minister followed by Viscount Goderich - Building work started on current Haigh Hall.
1828 Duke of Wellington becomes Prime Minister.
1830 King William IV succeeds to the throne - Earl Grey becomes Prime Minister - Colliers Union formed - Godfrey Pits No 1 and 2 opened.
1830 Morris Lane Pit opens - Moor Pit No 3 opens - Liverpool Mancheser Railway opens.
1831 Colliers Union strike for increased wages - Bradshaw Pits opened.
1832 William Peace becomes Lord Crawford's chief mining agent - Wigan Branch Railway opens Parkside to Wigan.
1834 Lord Melbourne becomes Prime Minister followed by Sir Robert Peel - Wigan Branch Railway becomes North Union Railway.
1835 Lord Melbourne becomes Prime Minister - Haigh Foundry and Brock Mill Forge leased to Evans, Ryley, Burrows parntership.
1837 Queen Victoria succeeds to the throne.
1838 Wigan Preston and Springs branches open on the North Union Railway.
1840 Bawk House Colliery begins operations
1840 Crawford Pits 1 and 2 (Moor Pits 1 and 2) sunk to Cannel seam 88yds and King seam 100yds, later No 1 pit deepened to Yard seam at 186yds and No 2 to Arley seam at 318yds.
1841 Sir Robert Peel becomes Prime Minister - 1842 Disturbances involving 10000 Chartists - 1844 John Dalton dies.
1845 Kirkless Hall Coal and Cannel Company sink two shafts to Arley seam at 286yds and Yard seam at 161yds - Irish potato famine starts.
1846 Lord John Russell becomes Prime Minister.
1847 James Ludovic Lindsay 9th Earl of Balcarres 26th Earl of Crawford born.
1847 Ralph Thicknesse MP president of the Manchester Geological and Mining Society.
1848 Kirkless Hall Coal and Cannel Company sink California Pit (Pennington Green) to Cannel seam - Moor Pit No 5 opened.
1849 Ralph Thicknesse MP succeeded by James Heywood as president of Manchester G & M Society.
1849 Building of present Haigh Hall completed.
1850 Irish potato famine ends - 1850c Holland Colliery opens Crawford Village founded.
1850 Act for the 'Inspection of Coal Mines' becomes law - Hindley Deep Pit and California Pit opened.
1851 Bridge Pit (downcast) and Dairy Pit (upcast) sunk to Arley seam 130yds and 200yds respectively.
1851 Meadow Pit re-opened and sunk to the Arley seam 315yds.
1852 Earl of Derby becomes Prime Minister followed by the Earl of Aberdeen.
1853 Lindsay Pits 1 and 2 sunk followed a little later by No 3.
1853 Serious unrest in the coalfield, Welsh and Irish blacklegs brought in to keep up production. Billeted at the Sawmills at New Springs, they were often attacked by the mob and had to be protected by troops. They were taken to work at the Moor Pits in covered wagons pulled by locomotive.
1853 Crimean War begins - 1855 Lord Palmerston becomes Prime Minister - 1856 Crimean War ends.
1856 Haigh Foundry leased to Henry Birley, Robert Thompson partnership concentrating on making mining machinery.
1857 Wigan Mining College established - Ladies Lane Pit opens - 1858 Earl of Derby becomes Prime Minister.
1859 Lord Palmerston becomes Prime Minister - Frederick Henry Birley joins the Haigh Foundry Company partnership.
1860 Bamfurlong Pits opened - California Pits deepened to Arley seam.
1860 William Peace dies aged 50 and is buried at Haigh Church, Alfred Hewlett becomes Lord Crawford's Chief Mining Agent.
1860 Low Hall Pits opened - Railway opened between Lindsay Pits and Haigh Foundry and Brock Mill Forge.
1861 American Civil War starts - Cotton Famine begins - 1864 Sovereign Pit opened.
1865 Lord John Russell becomes Prime Minister - American Civil War ends.
1865 Cotton Famine ends - Hewlett Pits opened.
1865 Wigan Coal and Iron Company founded, Alfred Hewlett becomes Manging Director.
1866 Earl of Derby becomes Prime Minister.
1868 Benjamin Disraeli becomes Prime Minister followed by William Gladstone - Composer Rossini died.
1869 James Lindsay 7th Earl of Balcarres and 24th Earl of Crawford died - Lancashir Union Railway opens Ince Moss to Haigh Junction for goods.
1869 New line from Haigh Junction to Brock Mill Forge to replace the loss of the line from Lindsay Pit to Brock Mill cut by Lancashire Union Railway.
1869 Fir Tree House Junction to Platt BridgeJunction rail connection opened - De Trafford Junction to Hindley L & Y connection opened.
1869 Lancashire Union Rose Bridge and Roundhouse Junctions to Kirkless Ironworks opened.
1870 Bradshaw Pit closes - Charles Dickens died.
1871 David Alexander Edward Lindsay 10th Earl of Balcarres and 27th Earl of Crawford born - Priestners Pits opened.
1872 Aspull Pumping Pit opened - Whelley Station opens on the Lancashire Union Railway.
1873 Royal Albert Edward Infirmary opened by Prince and Princess of Wales who stayed at Haigh Hall.
1873 Alexandra Pit (named after the Princess of Wales) sunk to the Pemberton 4ft seam.
1874 Benjamin Disraeli becomes Prime Minister - James Ludovic elected MP for Wigan.
1874 Woodshaw Pits sunk to work the Haigh Yard Seam - 1875 Red Rock School built by Lord Crawford.
1879 Earl of Crawford and Balcarres becomes president of the Manchester G & M Society.
1880 William Gladstone becomes Prime Minister, Earl of Crawford and Balcarres succeeded as president of MGMS by Sir Hugh J Kay-Shuttleworth MP.
1880 Alexander William Edward Lindsay 8th Earl of Balcarres and 25th Earl of Crawford died at his house in Florence.
1880 James Ludovic succeeds to title 9th Earl of Balcarres and 26th Earl of Crawford.
1880c Brock Mill Forge converted to 'Blue Printers' - 1882 Lancashire Union Whelley Junction to Standish Junction opened.
1883 Lancashire Union absorbed by LNWR - 1884 Eatocks Pits opened.
1885 Marquis of Salisbury becomes Prime Minister - Haigh Foundry Company ceases trading.
1886 William Gladstone becomes Prime Minister followed by Marquis of Salisbury.
1886 Kirkless has 10 blast furnaces 5-80ft high, 5-65ft high, 670 beehive coke ovens.
1887 Alexandra Pit deepened to Arley seam - LNWR Amberswood East Junction to Standish Junction opened for passengers.
1890 Steelworks opens with 5 open hearth furnaces - 1891 Hindley Deep Pit and California Pits close.
1892 William Gladstone becomes Prime Minister - Wigan Central Station opens - Maskell William Peace president of the MGMS.
1892 Middle Pit opens - 1893 Maskell William Peace succeeded by William Scott at MGMS.
1894 Earl of Rosebery becomes Prime Minister
1895 Marquis of Salisbury becomes Prime Minister - Maypole Colliery shaft sinking begins (Isiah Pigot).
1896 Holland Colliery sold to White Moss Coal Company for £29000.
1898c Patchcroft and Gorses Pits close.
1899 Boer War starts - Haigh Foundry premises taken over by JJ Petford Ltd manufacturers of bedsteads.
1900 Robert Alexander Lindsay 11th Earl of Balcarres and 28th Earl of Crawford born.
1901 King Edward VII succeeds to the throne.
1901c Yard Coal, Brinks, Tuckers Hill, Freezeland and Morris Lane Pits close.
1902 Estates Office erected in Higher Lane at Haigh - Arthur Balfour becomes Prime Minister.
1902 Replacement of coke ovens at Kirkless with 3 batteries of 44 Semet Solvay type completed.
1908 Woodshaw Pit closes - Boer War ends - 1905 Henry Campbell Bannerman becomes Prime Minister.
1907 Ernest Rutherford (New Zealand) becomes professor of physics at Manchester University.
1908 Herbert Asquith becomes Prime Minister - Coal Mines Regulation (8 hours) Act becomes law.
1908 Maypole Colliery explosion 75 men lost, 3 escape, mine flooded to put out fires - Ladies Lane Pit closes.
1908 JJ Petford Ltd in liquidation, the Earl of Crawford and Balcarres takes over Haigh Foundry at Leyland Mill and leases them to small firms.
1910 King George V succeeds to the throne - 1911 Alexandra Colliery Pit head gear collapses into shaft.
1912 Coal Mines Minimum Wage Act becomes law (6/6d for a collier).
1913 James Ludovic Lindsay 9th Earl of Balcarres and 26th Earl of Crawford died - Record tonnage output for British mining achieved.
1914 First World War begins - 1916 David Lloyd George becomes Prime Minister - 1918 First World War ends.
1919 Bawk House Colliery closes - Line between Haigh Junction and Brock Mill, Haigh Foundry and Leyland Mill Coal Yard dismantled.
1919 Rutherford splits the atom at Cavendish Laboratory Cambridge.
1921 Coal strike - 1922 Andrew Bonar Law becomes Prime Minister.
1923 Stanley Baldwin becomes Prime Minister - Moor Pit No 5 closes - LNWR becomes LMSR.
1924 James Ramsay Macdonald becomes Prime Minister followed by Stanley Baldwin - LMSR De Trafford Junction to Hindley for passengers opened.
1925 Meadow and Sovereign Pits close - 1926 Coal strike - 1928 Crawford Pits close.
1929 James Ramsay Macdonald becomes Prime Minister - Industrial depression starts.
1930 Hewlett Pits close - Coal Mines Act to regulate prices becomes law.
1930 Wigan Coal Corporation and Lancashire Steel Corporation formed from Wigan Coal and Iron Company, Pearson and Knowles Coal and Iron Company, Partington Steel and Iron Works Ltd, Moss Hall Coal Company Ltd, Wigan Junction Colliery Company Ltd and Rylands Bros Ltd.
1930 'Blue Printers' in liquidation - LMSR Round House Junction to Kirkless Iron Works closes.
1931 Lindsay 1 and 2 and Low Hall Pits close - Industrial depression ends.
1931 Cross Tetley and Co go bankrupt, Bamfurlong and Mains Collieries aquired by Wigan Coal Corporation.
1932 Middle Pit and Aspull Pumping Pit closes - Kirkless Workshops to New Springs secion of Springs Branch railway line closed.
1934 Priestners Pits close - 1935 Stanley Baldwin becomes Prime Minister.
1936 King Edward VIII succeeds to the throne - King George VI succeeds to the throne - Bamfurlong and Eatock Collieries close
1937 Earl of Crawford and Balcarres becomes president of MGMS - Neville Chamberlain becomes Prime Minister.
1937 Ernest Rutherford dies and is buried in Westminster Abbey.
1938 Maypole Colliery shafts 1 and 2 deepened to Yard and Arley seams - Rose Bridge Junction to Kirkless Hall Junction closes.
1939 Earl of Crawford and Balcarres succeeded as president of MGMS by F S W Dobbs.
1940 Winston Churchill becomes Prime Minister -David Alexander Edward Lindsay 10th Earl of Balcarres and 27th Earl of Crawford died.
1945 Clement Atlee becomes Prime Minister - 1947 Haigh Hall and Plantations sold to Wigan Corporation.
1951 Winston Churchill becomes Prime Minister - 1952 Queen Elizabeth II succeeds to the throne.
1952 Whelley Loop Line singled between Haigh Junction and Whelley Junction - 1955 Anthony Eden becomes Prime Minister.
1957 Harold Macmillan becomes Prime Minister.
1958 Belle Green lane to Kirkless Hall Junction section of the Springs Branch Railway closed, Rose Bridge Junction to Kirkless Hall Junction re-opened.
1958 Central Wagon Works to Kirkless Hall Junction section of the Springs Branch Railway line closed.
1959 Maypole Colliery closes - 1960 Mains Colliery closes.
1964 Amberswood East Junction to De Trafford Junction to Standish Junction closed for seasonal passengers.
1965 Kirkless Hall Junction to Kirkless Workshops section of the Springs Branch Railway line closed.
1967 Haigh Junction to Whelley Junction railway line closed.
1969 Hindley to De Trafford Junction to Standish Junction closed for regular passengers.
1969 Ince Moss to Amberswood West, and Fir Tree House Junction to Platt Bridge Junction rail connections closed.
1972 Hindley to De Trafford Junction to Standish Junction closed for seasonal passengers and goods.
1972 Amberswood West Junction to Standish Junction closed for goods.
1973 Parkside, Wigan, Preston railway line electrified.
1975 Robert Alexander Lindsay 11th Earl of Balcarres and 28th Earl of Crawford died.
1975 Robert Alexander Lindsay 12th Earl of Balcarres and 29th Earl of Crawford succeeds to title
1979 Springs Branch Junction to Centra Wagon Works and Ince Forge section of the Springs Branch railway line closed.

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Palfreyman - September 2019