Wigan Rural District was an administrative district in

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancash ...

, England from 1894 to 1974. The rural district comprised an area to the north, but did not include the town of

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, on the River Douglas. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. Bolton lies to the north-east and Warrington t ...

. The district was created by the

Local Government Act 1894 The Local Government Act 1894 (56 & 57 Vict. c. 73) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales outside the County of London. The Act followed the reforms carried out at county level un ...

as the successor to the Wigan

Rural Sanitary District Sanitary districts were established in England and Wales in 1872 and in Ireland in 1878. The districts were of two types, based on existing structures: *Urban sanitary districts in towns with existing local government bodies *Rural sanitary dis ...

.F A Youngs Jr., ''Guide to the Local Administrative Units of England'', Vol.II: Northern England It consisted of six

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...

es:

Dalton Dalton may refer to: Science * Dalton (crater), a lunar crater * Dalton (program), chemistry software * Dalton (unit) (Da), the atomic mass unit * John Dalton, chemist, physicist and meteorologist Entertainment * Dalton (Buffyverse), minor ch ...

, Haigh, Parbold, Shevington, Worthington and Wrightington. The contiguous parishes of Haigh and Worthington were separated from the rest of the district by Standish with Langtree Urban District. The rural district was abolished by the Local Government Act 1972 in 1974. Its territory was split between the

Metropolitan Borough of Wigan The Metropolitan Borough of Wigan is a metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, in North West England. It is named after the main settlement of Wigan. It covers the towns of Atherton, Ashton-in-Makerfield, Golborne, Hindley, Ince-in-Mak ...

Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county and combined authority area in North West England, with a population of 2.8 million; comprising ten metropolitan boroughs: Manchester, Salford, Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tam ...

, and the district of

West Lancashire West Lancashire is a local government district with borough status in Lancashire, England. The council is based in Ormskirk, and the largest town in the borough is Skelmersdale. At the 2011 Census, the population of the borough was 110,68 ...

, with the parishes of Haigh, Shevington, and Worthington going to

, and the remainder going to

district.

References

History of Lancashire History of the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan Districts of England created by the Local Government Act 1894 Districts of England abolished by the Local Government Act 1972 Local government in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan Rural districts of England {{GreaterManchester-geo-stub