Name That Place

Mentioned in the Illustrated Church News (late 1800s) as follows:

'The most diligent search all England over would scarce reveal such an uninviting spot as the Lancashire town of ...'

And in A History of the Townships of Lancashire (1911):

"The general aspect is unpleasing, it being a typical black country in the heart of the coal-mining area. The flat surface, covered with a complete network of railways, has scarcely a green tree to relieve the monotony of the bare wide expanses of apparently waste land, much of it covered with shallow 'flashes' of water, the result of the gradual subsidence of the ground as it is mined beneath."

OOoooowww I wonder where?

Sounds nice

Just up my street

Don't be giving the show away too soon Joanne, we work to Parbold rules here

I think I know where the place is,I maybe wrong so I will let others have a go.

I have no clue but I will take a guess at goose green

Another guess ..Worsely Mesnes.

No, not Goose Green, Sue or Worsley Mesnes, Maureen

I've told you it sounds nice

So good they named it twice

mache wrote:I've told you it sounds nice

Are you lowering the tone mache?

I'm ydslexic

Mache's being cryptic, Admin

So am I joanne

Oh, I see, Admin

And too late to ask Bruce

Shirley it's not Leyth is it?

mache wrote:And too late to ask Bruce

Bruce was a right card mache

Not Leyth, K-Tel

Who climbed up a spout only, to be subsequently washed out by the rain?

So was Higher and Lower?

The first reference was from a book online:
Lancashire: Liverpool and the Southwest
By Richard Pollard, Nikolaus Pevsner, Joseph Sharples

'The most diligent search all England over would scarce reveal such an uninviting spot as the Lancashire town of Ince'

And the second is quoted on an information board in Lower Ince, just off the canal, which is part of a new 7 mile walk covering Kirkless, Amberswood and Wigan Flashes.

From this location you can take a shortcut, returning to Amberswood, if you don't wish to do the entire 7 mile walk. The Wigan Flashes loop is just over 5 miles, and the Kirkless loop is just under 5 miles.

The shortcut will take you through Ince. Historically this area was not known for its greenspace, and A History of the Townships of Lancashire which was published in 1911 by Victoria County History, London, includes the paragraph:

"The general aspect is unpleasing, it being a typical black country in the heart of the coal-mining area. The flat surface, covered with a complete network of railways, has scarcely a green tree to relieve the monotony of the bare wide expanses of apparently waste land, much of it covered with shallow 'flashes' of water, the result of the gradual subsidence of the ground as it is mined beneath."

Like much of Wigan, Ince was once dominated by collieries. The area to the rear of Whalley's Basin through which you will pass was part of Ince Hall Colliery until 1908. After it was closed the area was used as a chemical waste dump before being landscaped during the 1960's as part of Operation Eyesore, a national government project to clean up the old industrial sites. Part of this operation included using silt dredged from the disused canal to create the William Fosters playing fields.

From the playing fields the track will take you under the railway bridge and bring you out on Ince Green Lane. Here cross the road safely and continue along the track on to Amberswood, a local wildlife haven. Follow the way markers, which are branded with deer and rabbits, through a mosaic of grassland, woodland, scrub, open waters and mosses. This route takes you past one of the last remnants of Ince Moss, which stretched across the Wigan area from Wigan Flashes to Amberswood. The area was grazed with cattle until the industrial revolution, when most of the mossland was lost as a result of mining and the subsequent subsidence.

Once you join up with the trail posts (those with painted images) you can either continue along the path, going past the lake if you wish to return to Kirkless, or if you are heading to Wigan Flashes, you will need to take a right turn and follow the trail in reverse heading down towards Spring View and crossing the railway track to the back of Turners Flash.

'Nice' is an anagram of