Lowton Website

PHOTO PAGE

Local photographs wanted for this site
We are grateful to the late Mr Herbert Worsley
who gave his permission for the use of his photographs only weeks before his death.
Bert published three books about Lowton sadly all are now out of print but are available in, Leigh, Wigan and Golborne libaries.

Many of the photographs on this site are copyright and permission has only been granted for us to use them on the website. This is why some of the paged are "right click" disabled.

Many people have asked for more photographs, but we can only include what we have and what people e-mail in to us but Bert's book "A Pictorial View of Old Lowton" is a good place to look it contains 220 photographs from Bert's collection. We have recently seen three copies on Ebay.

If you have any local photographs that you would like to include on this web

site please e-mail them to the webmaster along with a copyright permission to use notice.

All copyrights will be noted.

We would be pleased to receive any photographs of Lowton Silver Band, The Paramount Ballroom Newton Road, the Chapel School that was behind the IM Church and George Ashton's cottage that was in the area of the Rainbow House on Church Lane

This photograph was sent to us by Edith Humphreys, she took it in October 2007

Slag Lane from shops towards St.Luke's Church

Hard to find is the boundary stone between Lowton and Golborne

located at the junction of Lowton Road and Golborne Road

it is across from the bus shelter behind the fencing and covered with brambles

Stone Cross Place

GOLBORNE MINING MEMORIAL March 2006

A MONUMENT signifying a village's contribution to Lancashire's coal mining industry was unveiled and dedicated.

On Sunday, March 19 the Rector of Golborne the Rev Robert Williams officiated at a service in Kidglove Road at what was the entrance to Golborne Colliery beside the inscribed memorial stone.

The service was attended by ex-miners and their families are invited to the event which is the fruition of two years of fund-raising to erect the six feet by three feet stone which was commissioned in memory of men and women who died and worked at Golborne Colliery which opened in 1880 and closed in 1989.

The memorial was the idea of Golborne Ex-MIners Association who staged a series of concerts to help towards the cost of the stone. Also funding was received from a community chest grant from Wigan Council, Alpla (UK) Ltd of Golborne and The Coal Industry Social Welfare Organisation.

Former St. Mary's Station

In 1874 the CLC promoted the idea of a Wigan Junction Railway which would run from its main Liverpool to Manchester line at Glazebrook and would link it to the lucrative Lancashire Coalfields. Only the Manchester Sheffield and Lincolnshire constituent of the CLC remained interested in the concept and it was they who built the line which opened to goods services in 1879. When opened it connected to the main line at Glazebrook with an east to north curve which meant services could only easily go towards Manchester. In 1900 a west to north curve was put in to allow trains to head to and from Liverpool. The line became part of the GCR and in 1923 part of the LNER but it was operated as part of the CLC system.

In 1884 Lowton St. Mary's opened to passenger services which ran from Manchester to a temporary terminus at Wigan which was not replaced until the opening of Wigan Central in 1892. When it opened the station was known simply as Lowton. The LNWR also had a Lowton Station so it was often called Lowton GC. It was described as a simple station with wooden structures for the early part of its life but this changed with the opening to passengers of the 1895 branch to St. Helens Central. This occurred on the 3.1./1900 and to befit its new status as a junction station Lowton was rebuilt with more substantial facilities. At nationalization it was renamed Lowton St. Marys to distinguish it from its LNWR namesake. Its life as junction station did not last long as the St. Helen's service ended on 3.3.1952. Lowton St. Mary's continued to serve local Wigan Central to Manchester Central services, latterly operated by DMU's until 1.11.1964.

The line lingered on for goods services until 1968. Today the station site is occupied by a wood yard.

Text from: http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/

Lowton Junction "The Royal Station"

The station opened as Preston Junction and it was situated on the Wigan Branch Railway which opened in 1832 and connected the Liverpool and Manchester Railway at Parkside to Wigan. The junction at Parkside faced east so trains coming from the west had to reverse. In 1838 the Wigan Branch was doubled and extended to Preston and eventually became the West Coast Main Line.

In 1847 a new west to north connection was put in and it met the original Wigan Branch just at the end of Preston Junctions platforms.

On 1.2.1877 the station, by now part of the LNWR was re-named as Lowton and Preston Junction. It closed on 1.2.1917 as a wartime economy measure re-opening 25 months later as simply Lowton.

The station was situated on a curve and extended underneath the A572 road bridge. It had two platforms and its booking facilities where located on the platform that catered for east and westbound trains. It was just south of the road bridge.

The station was an early closure closing to passengers on 26.9.1949. In the early 1970s the west to north curve and the line through Lowton was electrified as part of the West Coast Main Line electrification from Winwick Junction to Glasgow. This was to allow some trains to take this route rather than the direct line that ran from a point just to the north of Lowton to Winwick Junction. This would allow freight trains to get out of the way of fast passenger services. It also allowed some passenger services to stop at Newton Le Willows or Earlstown.

Today Lowton station is remarkably intact and can be seen clearly from the road bridge.

Text from: http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/