We have a large collection of printed material related to Wigan, Leigh and the surrounding areas. These are held at both Wigan Local Studies and the archives service at Leigh Town Hall.
Library catalogue
To discover more please explore the Library catalogue
Try selecting "Leigh local history" or "Wigan local studies" for some sample collections.
Collections
- Chetham Society
- Record Society of Lancashire and Cheshire
- Transactions of the Lancashire and Cheshire Antiquarian Society
- Copies of private research e.g. Ian Winstanley, Mining deaths in Great Britain 1850 - 1914
- A complete set of Lancashire Parish Record Society volumes
- Catholic Record Society and Harleian Society also contain some registers for areas other than Lancashire, which are housed at Wigan Local Studies
- Many books and pamphlets relating to local and family history many that have been privately researched, including some memorial inscriptions
The Dootson collection
The Dootson Collection is housed in Archives: Wigan and Leigh. The collection consists of books, pamphlets, manuscripts relating to Lancashire. A local solicitor, Thomas R Dootson collected about his home town of Leigh and the county of Lancashire.
He bequeathed the collection to the town which is in two parts; the first is the Lancashire Collection which contains around 2500 books about Lancashire as well as books by Lancashire born authors and those who have lived in the county from around the 19th and 20th century. The second part contains books of general interest such as literature, Egyptology etc.