Colinfield Farm was a farm located in Swinley Wigan.
This is from the 1909 map, Colinfield is off Douglas Road, probably the collection of buildings to the north of the School.
The farmhouse was inhabited from before 1911 to 1947 by Henry and Elizabeth Barton and their family. It was possibly not a working farm by that time although Henry was a “dairyman” so maybe some cows were still kept there.
According to a Wigan World discussion sometime after the farmhouse was vacated it was taken over by Wigan Rugby League and used as changing rooms for the practice ground nearby (which was possibly the land that came as part of the farm). The farm was very close to the old Central Park ground. The photo (from 1967/68) and the following quotes are from the discussion
“The photo was taken at Colinfield Training Ground behind Central Park,we were playing a curtain raiser against ST Helens Colts I think.”
“The players are on a small hill, virtually under the pear tree and next to the old (farm) house; close to one of the large gateways to the ground. This gateway was at the bottom of Colin Street, which was off Douglas Road. There were two gateways: one at the bottom of Colin Street and one at the bottom of Douglas Road.
These gates were open on match days for access to the car park and access to the ground. There were ticket cabins about 100m further along the dirt/gravel road from the Colin Street gateway.
The ground floor of part of the old (farm) house was used as changing rooms and the Wigan players would use these when they had practice/training sessions, because they would use the Colinfield pitch – probably, to keep the main pitch in some kind of reasonable condition.
Behind the players, at this time, is Wigan Girl’s High School – later, to become Mab’s Cross County Primary”.
The farmhouse is no longer there. The land is possibly now part of Mabs Cross Primary School or the Tesco Superstore built on the site of Central Park.
Norman And Marian Barton Family Tree 