Wigan

Wigan
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Country	England
Shire county	Lancashire
Council	Wigan Council
Population	107,732 (2011)

Wigan is a market town in Lancashire, England, approximately sixteen miles north-west of Manchester city centre and approximately sixteen miles north-east of Liverpool city centre.

Wigan North Western railway station is on the West Coast Main Line. Local services to Manchester use Wigan Wallgate railway station. Wigan Pier is situated close to the town centre on the Leeds and Liverpool Canal.

Wigan Athletic Football Club (soccer) and Wigan Warriors rugby league club share the DW Stadium.

The population of Wigan is 107,732, as of the 2011 UK Census.

It is referred to in the title of George Orwell's 1930s polemic on Lancashire working class life, 'The Road To Wigan Pier'.

Transport

Wigan is immediately east of the M6 motorway, with the M58 motorway (or the 'Mid-Lancs motorway') linking the M6 in Wigan's western suburbs to Aintree, just north-east of Liverpool and acting as the main route to Liverpool from the M6 southbound. Historically, the A49 road (which runs from Preston, Lancashire to Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire) was the main long-distance route in Wigan.

Popular culture

Wallace and Gromit, the titular characters of the popular stop-motion film franchise, live at the fictitious address of 62 West Wallaby Street in Wigan.