Wigan (town)

Wigan (town), administrative centre of Wigan borough metropolitan district, formerly in the metropolitan county of Greater Manchester, north-western England, on the River Douglas. Wigan is an industrial centre manufacturing a variety of goods, including metal products, textiles, and food products. There is a technical college and All Saints Church is noted for its fine, partly Norman tower. The town was granted a charter in 1246 and was an important market centre in the Middle Ages. As early as the 17th century, aided by the region's coal reserves, Wigan had become known for its metal trades. George Orwell wrote an account of the conditions of the unemployed in the 1930s called The Road to Wigan Pier. Today the Victorian Wigan Pier is a tourist attraction, and includes the world's largest original working mill steam-engine. Wigan rugby league team play at Central Park; they were the most successful team of the 1990s. Population (1994 estimate): town 77,000; district 310,000.