Farthingale Publications
A Lancastrian hobby website of curiosities and nonsense

The Lindsays of Haigh
The Life and Times of an Ordinary Wigan Family
Introduction - 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. |
Palfreyman - September 2019
Haigh Hall