Metropolitan Borough of Wigan
The Metropolitan Borough of Wigan is a metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It is named after its largest town, Wigan, but covers a far larger area which includes the towns of Atherton, Greater Manchester, Atherton, Ashton-in-Ma ...
, in
Greater Manchester
Greater Manchester is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders Lancashire to the north, Derbyshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Cheshire to the south, and Merseyside to the west. Its largest settlement is the city of Manchester. ...
, England. Historically in Lancashire, Aspull, along with Haigh, is surrounded by greenbelt and agricultural land, separated from
Westhoughton
Westhoughton ( ) is a List of towns in England, town and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, southwest of Bolton, east of Wigan and northwest of Manchester.Borsdane Wood. The ground rises from south to north, reaching , and has views towards Winter Hill and the
West Pennine Moors
The West Pennine Moors is an area of the Pennines covering approximately of moorland and Reservoir (water), reservoirs in Lancashire and Greater Manchester, England. It is a Site of Special Scientific Interest.
The West Pennine Moors are separa ...
. It has a population of 4,977.
Aspull was once a centre of mining and textile manufacture, though little evidence of this can be seen in the village today. Haigh Country Park estate lies to the west.
History
Early history
The earliest notice of Aspull is that contained in the survey of 1212, when, as one plough-land, it formed part of the Childwall fee held by Richard son of Robert de Lathom, under the lord of Manchester. The fee was a composite one of 6½ plough-lands (of which Aspull formed one), held chiefly by Richard de Lathom, and partly by Roger de Samlesbury and Alexander de Harwood.
In 1302 Richard de Ince, as son and heir of Henry de Sefton, and Adam de Hindley, were found to hold Aspull, as the eighth part of a knight's fee, directly of Thomas Grelley. From this time the lordship has been held with the adjacent Ince by the families of Ince and Gerard in succession; until Aspull was sold to the
Earl of Crawford
Earl of Crawford is one of the most ancient extant titles in Great Britain, having been created in the Peerage of Scotland in 1398 for David Lindsay, 1st Earl of Crawford, Sir David Lindsay. It is the premier earldom recorded on the Union Roll.
...
and Balcarres, lord of Haigh.
Hindley Hall, in Aspull, the residence of the Hindleys, became the property of James, a younger son of Robert Dukinfield of
Cheshire
Cheshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Merseyside to the north-west, Greater Manchester to the north-east, Derbyshire to the east, Staffordshire to the south-east, and Shrop ...
. In the 18th century it was acquired by the Leighs of Whitley Hall,
Wigan
Wigan ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. It is the largest settlement in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan and is its ad ...
, and Sir Robert Holt Leigh lived here till his death in 1843. His estates then passed for life to his cousin Thomas Pemberton, who took the name of Leigh, and made Hindley Hall his residence; he was raised to the peerage as Baron Kingsdown in 1858.
The hearth tax roll of 1666 shows that 135 hearths were charged. The most considerable houses were those of Richard Green, nine hearths; Peter Orrell and James Dukinfield, eight each; Major Rigby and Thomas Molyneux, seven each; and Edward Gleast, six.
St. Elizabeth's
C of E
C, or c, is the third letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''cee'' (pronounced ), plural ''cees''.
History
"C ...
Church was built in 1882 by Roger Leigh. The patronage is vested in trustees. There are two
Methodist
Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...
chapels. In 1858 the
Roman Catholic
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...
Cannel coal was found in Aspull. There were several large collieries dating back to the 18th century, also malt kilns and a
cotton mill
A cotton mill is a building that houses spinning or weaving machinery for the production of yarn or cloth from cotton, an important product during the Industrial Revolution in the development of the factory system.
Although some were driven ...
. In 1896 the Crawford, Kirkless, Moor and Woodshaw Pits in the township belonging the Wigan Coal and Iron Company employed over 1,000 workers. Aspull's long history of mining left a legacy of old mineshafts, water drainage tunnels ( soughs) and abandoned mine workings.
The Great Haigh Sough in Haigh Country Park discharged iron rich minewater into the Yellow Brook
discolouring the brook and River Douglas downstream with ochre deposits. In 2004 the Coal Authority provided a passive treatment plant in a scheme costing £750,000. Work was undertaken by Ascot Environmental who built a pumping station, pipelines, settlement lagoons, reedbeds and landscaped the site. The scheme has improved the water quality removing the discolouration and allowed fish to populate the brook.
The coal-mining tradition lives on in the name of the "Collier's Arms" pub on Wigan Road, which has a date plaque of 170
Geography
Aspull is on a crossroads. The principal road is to the north-east/south-west, Blackrod to Wigan. Another road runs north-west/south-east, Standish to the A6 road. The
Leeds and Liverpool Canal
The Leeds and Liverpool Canal is a canal in Northern England, linking the cities of Leeds and Liverpool.
Over a distance of , crossing the Pennines, and including 91 locks on the main line. The Leeds and Liverpool Canal has several small branc ...
passes through the western corner of the township. Aspull Moor lies in the northern half of the village.
The nearest railway station is at Hindley although Blackrod is only a few yards further distant. Hindley has the more frequent service, whilst Blackrod has the faster service to Manchester. Whilst having colliery (goods) railways Aspull has never had a central railway station of its own. There was, however, on the line from Wigan to Chorley (via Hindley), a station named ''Dicconson Lane & Aspull'' some distance from Aspull; that was closed in 1956, before closure of the entire line to passengers in 1960 and to goods in 1966.
Sport
Aspull juniors football club with over 20 teams and 300 children playing from the village, Also has a superb girls section.
The town's
rugby union
Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...
club, Aspull RFC, currently fields 3 senior teams. The 1stXV plays in the Counties 1 ADM Lancashire & Cheshire, the 2nd XV plays in the Group 1 of the ADM Combination league and the 3rd XV play in NOWIRUL Simply Lifetime Mortgages Division 3 Central of Halbro NW Leagues.
The town is home to the Aspull Olympic Wrestling Club, known internationally as "The Snake Pit", one of the last gyms to teach authentic catch wrestling. It hosts the Snake Pit World Championships and other competitions for catch wrestling.