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'.
Administration
A part of the traditional county Lancashire, Wigan's local government status has been changing since at least 1246, when it was granted borough status. When Lancashire County Council was established in 1889, Wigan was seen as large enough to have its own county-level local governance and thus formed a county borough independent of the council until 1974. From 1974 until 1986, Greater Manchester County Council's area was divided into metropolitan boroughs, of which the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan was one; covering an area of Lancashire centred on Wigan, but also including Atherton, Ashton-in-Makerfield, Golborne, Hindley, Ince-in-Makerfield, Leigh and Tyldesley. Following the abolition of metropolitan county councils in 1986, Metropolitan Borough of Wigan Council has been run as a unitary authority, meaning it is responsible for all local government functions within that council area.
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.
Richard Ashcroft, lead singer and guitarist of the alternative rock band the Verve, was born in Wigan in 1971.