Wigan Pier Quarter

The Wigan Pier Quarter is the heritage area along the Leeds and Liverpool Canal where the industrial heritage of the town is best preserved. The Trencherfield Mill, one of the largest surviving steam-powered cotton mills in the world, anchors the quarter — its original 2,500 horsepower twin-tandem compound steam engine is still in working order and runs on steam days. The mill complex has been converted to apartments and offices, but the engine house is open to visitors.

The waterside area includes the former warehouses, a pub, and a reconstructed version of the canal infrastructure that made this spot notorious. The Orwell pub (named for George, naturally) is a good place for a pint with canal views. The whole quarter is a pleasant place to walk on a fine day, and the canal path connects north toward Wigan town centre and south into open countryside.

things to do sight
A story
The "pier" that made Wigan famous was never a seaside pier at all. It was a coal-loading staithe — a wooden jetty where coal tubs were tipped into canal barges on the Leeds and Liverpool Canal. Music-hall comedian George Formby Sr coined the joke about Wigan Pier in the 1890s; Orwell used it forty years later as the bitterest possible irony for his account of depression-era poverty. The original structure is long gone, but a section of cast-iron tip gear has been reconstructed near the site.