Places: Princess Street Wallgate

Overview

Princess Street is a street in Wallgate Wigan where Henry and Ellen Mawdsley settled when they migrated from Skelmersdale in the mid 1840s and where their descendants lived and built businesses.

The street was built in the early 1790s and can be seen in the 1848 map of Wigan as can nearby Queen Street but Caroline Street does not yet exist, see Wigan Building Preservation Trust for more details.

11 Princess Street

The first mention of Henry and Ellen Mawdsley in Wallgate Wigan is the birth of their daughter Mary in January 1847, so the assumption is that that was the first address they lived at.

Occleshaw Yard

In the 1851 Census Henry and Ellen Mawdsley were living in Occleshaw Yard Wallgate Wigan. This location cannot be identified in maps of the time. The assumption is that it was somewhere off Princess Street but this has not been confirmed.

The Henry Harold Haroldson web site (another family descended from Henry and Ellen Mawdsley daughter Ann) transcribes the 1851 Census as Ecclesham Yard but there is no record of that name either. Since Occleshaw is a common Lancashire name with ties to Wigan and Ecclesham is not (see Wigan Library Manuscript), it seems that Occleshaw Yard is the more likely name.

47 Princess Street

Henry and Ellen Mawdsley are recorded living at 47 Princess Street in April 1856 when their son Henry died there.

43 Princess Street

The house at 43 Princess Street was the longest dwelling of Henry and Ellen Mawdsley and presumably where they ran their Grocer business from.

The first mention of 43 Princess Street is when their daughter Margaret is born there in October 1856 (6 months after the last reference to 47 Princess Street).

Henry died there in October 1862.

Ellen moves out of Princess Street by 1880.

43 Princess Street was taken over by John the son of Henry and Ellen Mawdsley by the time of the birth of John’s son Henry in November 1880.

By the 1891 Census John had moved to Mill Yard Princess Street next to his Jam Works.

41 & 43 Princess Street

In the Wigan Directory of 1881 John Mawdsley is recorded as a Shopkeeper at 41 & 43 Princess Street.

39 Princess Street

39 Princess Street was the home of Ellen’s daughter Mary Mawdsley and her husband Richard Fairhurst around 1879.

37 Princess Street

37 Princess Street was the home of Ellen’s daughter Mary Mawdsley and her husband Richard Fairhurst from before 1881 to at least 1891. Ellen died there in 1894 so Mary and Richard possibly still lived there then.

Mill Yard Princess Street

By the 1891 Census John son of Henry and Ellen Mawdsley was living in Mill Yard Princess Street, which cannot be identified on the 1890 map but presumably was adoining the Jam Works, since the Princess Street Mill used to occupy the site.

By the 1901 Census John had moved to Southport, but his Jam Works continued to operate in Princess Street.

Mawdsley Jam Manufacturers

John the son of Henry and Ellen Mawdsley setup a Jam Manufacturers business in Princess Street by August 1884 when that was his occupation on his son Richard’s birth certificate.

The Jam Works continued in Princess Street until sometime after 1966, after which it is assumed the business was sold. Around this time the whole Wallgate area was redeveloped and Princess Street was converted to mainly industrial units.

Current

This is Princess Street in 2025. There are now some residential properties.