Welch Whittle

Museum of Wigan Life

Scholes Village · 6.2 miles

The Museum of Wigan Life is a public museum and local history resource centre in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The nineteenth-century listed building is by the noted architect Alfred Waterhouse. It originally housed Wigan Library, where George Orwell researched his book The Road to Wigan Pier in 1936.

Trencherfield Mill

Wigan Pier · 6.2 miles

Located beside the Leeds and Liverpool Canal at the historic wharf known as Wigan Pier, Trencherfield Mill is a Grade II-listed cotton-spinning mill built in 1907. The landmark, recorded by Historic England as a heritage feature, forms part of the Wigan Pier regeneration area in the town of Wigan, Greater Manchester. Its four-storey brick structure, with a circular chimney modelled on Venice’s St Mark’s Campanile, stands on the canal bank that once carried coal and finished cloth between the Lancashire pits and the textile factories. The mill’s most visible attraction is the restored 2,500 hp triple-expansion steam engine, originally supplied by J & E Wood of Bolton and halted in 1968. The engine is steamed on selected dates during the year, allowing visitors to hear the 26-foot flywheel and see the 54 ropes in operation. Internally the building has been converted into a mixed-use complex that includes commercial and retail units, leisure facilities, a call centre for EE and BT, and 52 one- and two-bedroom apartments. Access is straightforward via the canal towpath and the town’s rail links on the Leeds and Liverpool Canal corridor; no specific admission charge is mentioned for the engine demonstrations, which form part of the heritage programme organised by Wigan Council.

Rumworth Lodge

Chew Moor · 8.7 miles

Rumworth Lodge Reservoir is a large shallow reservoir in Bolton, Greater Manchester, England.

Downall Croft

Downall Green · 8.7 miles

Doorstep Greens (Polygons). The Doorstep Greens initiative provides new or renovated areas of public open space close to people's homes that could be enjoyed permanently by the local community.

Smithills Hall

Smithills · 9.3 miles

Set on the slopes of the West Pennine Moors, about 500 feet above Bolton and three miles north-west of the town centre, Smithills Hall commands views over the surrounding valleys. The Grade I-listed manor and scheduled monument occupies a defensive site near the Astley and Raveden Brooks, and its earliest surviving elements – notably the great hall – date from the 15th century, with later extensions forming a west wing. The original structure was partly timber-framed, built on a formal terrace and once surrounded by a moat, while the 19th-century additions display coursed stone and decorative timber work. The hall’s name derives from Old English terms meaning “smooth hill”, recorded as Smythell in 1322. Ownership passed from the Radcliffe family in the 14th century through the Bartons, Belasyse, Byroms and Ainsworths before the Bolton Corporation acquired it in 1938. A museum opened in the oldest parts in 1963 and was expanded in the 1990s; the west wing was restored in 1999 and the Devey Room refurbished in 2018. Since 2017 the ground floor hosts “Poppins at Smithills”, a Mary Poppins-themed tea room. The estate also features 48 hectares of gardens and pleasure grounds, including formal lawns, a steep wooded valley and a lake. Admission is free and opening times are published by Bolton Metropolitan Borough Council, which owns the property. Visitors can explore the historic interiors, the museum displays and the restored Victorian spaces, and enjoy refreshments in the tea room. The surrounding parkland offers walks among the formal gardens and the moorland edge, making the hall accessible for both cultural and outdoor interests.

The Bolton Steam Museum

Heaton · 9.9 miles

Housed in the former Atlas Mill’s cotton store on Mornington Road, the Bolton Steam Museum offers a compact yet varied display of preserved steam engines within the town of Bolton, Greater Manchester. The site is owned and operated by the Northern Mill Engine Society, a registered charity that has achieved Accredited Museum status from Arts Council England, underscoring its recognised standards of care and interpretation. The collection includes a twin-beam engine from around 1840, a 1902 tandem compound with Corliss valve gear, and an 1893 non-dead-centre inverted vertical compound built by John Musgrave and Sons. Among the later pieces are a 1926 single-cylinder horizontal Uniflow engine from Robey, a 1935 twin-cylinder cross-compound also by Robey, and a circa-1860 “A-frame” vertical engine by Joseph Barraclough. Smaller examples such as a Tangye horizontal engine, a Langbridge diagonal unit, and a Walker fire-pump round out the exhibition, illustrating a range of industrial applications from textile mills to glassworks. The museum welcomes visitors without charge, with free parking available in the adjacent Morrisons supermarket car park. It opens most Wednesdays and Sundays from 10:00 to 14:00, when volunteers are present and the engines can be viewed in situ. On Bank Holiday weekends, special open days allow the machines to be demonstrated under steam. Groups or individual enthusiasts may arrange visits outside regular hours by contacting the society in advance.