WIGAN, Lancashire, a market-town, municipal and parliamentary borough, and the seat of a Poor-Law Union, in the parish of Wigan, is situated in 33' N. lat., 2° 38' W. long., distant 40 miles S. by E. from Lancaster, 200 miles N.W. by N. from London by road, and 1044 miles by the London and North-Western railway. The popula tion of the municipal and parliamentary borough, which are coexten sn-c, was 31,941 in 1651. The borough is governed by 10 aldermen and 30 councillors, of whom one is mayor; and returns two members to the Imperial Parliament. The living is a rectory, in the archdea conry of Liverpool and diocese of Chester. Wigan Poor-Law Uniou contains 20 parishes and townships, with an area of 47,018 acres, and a population in 1851 of 77,539.
Wigan is a place of considerable antiquity. The old part of the town is chiefly on the right bank of the river Douglas; the suburb of Scholes, which is modern, is on the left bank of the river. The town is supplied with water, and is lighted with gas. Besides the parish church, a handsome structure of ancient date, seated on the brow of tho Lill, there are St. George's church, erected in 1781, and St. Catherine's, built in 1841. There are chapels for Wesleyan Methodists, Itlepcnclents, Baptists, English Presbyterians, and Roman Catholics; a Free Grammar school ; a Blue Coat school; National schools; Infant schools; a mechanics Institute, library, and museum ; news•rooms ; savings bank ; and a dispensary. The town-hall, built in 1720, and
the moot-hall, are in the market-place. A large brick edifice, called the Commercial Hall, 102 feet by 66 feet, erected in 1816, is for the use of the manufacturers on market-days. The market-days are Monday and Friday, and there are annual fairs on Holy Thursday, June 27411, and October 2Sth.
The manufactures of the place comprise linens, calicoes, checks, fustian., the spinning of cotton-yarn, and other brauches of the cotton manufacture. Iron- and bmamfoundriee, chemical works, manufac tories of spades and edge tools, and corn- and paper-mille, give con siderable employment. There are extensive collieries in the neigh bourhood. The Lamle and Liverpool Canal, which passes through the town, gives it the advantage of water communication with York shire and many parte of Lancashire, and, by the Lancaster branch of this canal, with Westmorland. Several Hues of railway meet at Wigan, by which communication is afforded with all parts of the country.
Wigan has received nine royal charters, the first of which was granted by Henry III., in 1246. Quarter and petty sessions and a county court are held. There are several eulphureous springs in the pariah.