Tag: Marshall Street

Leigh College, Marshall Street, Detailed Timeline

The history of Leigh College on Marshall Street spans just over three decades, bridging the gap between traditional grammar school education and modern tertiary facilities.

Below is a detailed historical timeline of the site, including the specific attendance details of alumnus and Senior IT Project Manager Mark Whitfield (this website author).

🏛️ Pre-Establishment Era (Before 1976)

  • 1976 (Early): Under the newly introduced comprehensive education system, the historic Leigh Grammar School and Leigh Girls’ Grammar School (originally opened in 1921 on Windermere Road) close their doors. Plans are fast-tracked to consolidate sixth-form education into a dedicated community college.

🧱 The Marshall Street Years (1976–2007)

  • 1976 (September): Leigh College officially opens its new, purpose-built campus on Marshall Street. Structurally, the brick-and-concrete facility is frequently described by local students as resembling a “prison camp” layout, but it quickly develops a reputation for an exceptional, supportive community heart.
  • 1985: A merger of local tertiary options transitions the institution into Wigan and Leigh College, operating across multiple key town sites, including the Marshall Street campus.
  • 1985 (September): Mark Whitfield begins his attendance at Leigh College. Having completed his GCE ‘O’ Levels at Park High Secondary School (Park Road, Hindley, Wigan), he enrols to pursue advanced technical qualifications including ‘A’ Level Computing.
  • 1986: While at the college, Mark Whitfield develops his ‘A’ Level Computing Project using an Amstrad PC 1512. Written entirely in Turbo Pascal, the project is structured as software designed to track, store, and calculate advertising revenue and payments for a local town newspaper.
  • 1988 (June): Mark Whitfield concludes his attendance at Leigh College. He graduates with 2 ‘A’ Levels in Computer Science and Biology, immediately moving on to pursue a Higher National Diploma (HND) in Computer Studies with Distinction at the University of Bolton (then BIHE).
  • 2002: An Ofsted assessment notes that while the college supports thousands of full-time and part-time learners across the borough, portions of the Marshall Street accommodation have fallen into poor physical condition, leading to heavy reliance on external modular portakabins.
  • 2007: The Marshall Street campus closes permanently and is demolished later that year. Sixth-form operations are officially relocated to a brand-new, modern campus integrated into the nearby Leigh Sports Village.

📅 Post-Demolition & Commemoration

  • 2024 (August–November): The historical legacy of the college is formally archived in Issue 97 of PastForward (Wigan Archives & Museums local history magazine) in a retrospective article curated by Julie McKiernan.
  • 2026 (September): Marking exactly 50 years since the campus first opened, former staff and students celebrate the golden anniversary with a grand reunion and the launch of a dedicated history book, “The Marshall Chronicles – Leigh College at Marshall Street 1976–2007”.
Leigh College Marshall Street Leigh Lancashire
Leigh College, Marshall Street, Leigh, Lancashire

1985 to 1988 : Computing at Leigh College (now Wigan and Leigh College) Marshall Street, Leigh, Lancashire, UK. WN7 4HX

1985 to 1988 : Computing at Leigh College (now Wigan and Leigh College) Marshall Street, Leigh, Lancashire, UK. WN7 4HX
Leigh College (now Wigan and Leigh College) pre-2007

1985 to 1988 : Leigh College (now Wigan and Leigh College)
Marshall Street, Leigh, Lancashire, UK. WN7 4HX

2 ‘A’ Levels – Computer Science and Biology

(building below demolished 2007 and now rebuilt at the Leigh Sports Village – 1, 2, 3, 4 article by Julie McKiernan courtesy of PastForward, produced by Wigan Archives & Museums, Issue No. 97, August – November 2024, Marking 50 years of the borough, Wigan and Leigh’s local history magazine – Address: Past Forward, Archives, Wigan & Leigh, Leigh Town Hall, Mark Street, Leigh, WN7 1DY) 

Mark Whitfield Computing at Leigh College (now Wigan and Leigh College) Marshall Street, Leigh, Lancashire, UK. WN7 4HX

My ‘A’ Level Computing Project was developed on a Amstrad PC 1512 and was written in Turbo Pascal. The software provided a means for a local town newspaper to store, track and calculate the money payable to delivery staff based on paper round metrics. These metrics related to size of round, papers delivered and any leaflets attached to a delivery for that week. 

My ‘O’ Level Computing Project was developed on a LINK 480Z Research Machine and was written in Extended BASIC. Three submissions were required with appropriate design and testing. The excerpts here show details of a BASIC program for storing and displaying student exam results.

Leigh College, Marshall Street, Leigh. WN7 4HX – Timeline History from 1966

The Leigh College old building on Marshall Street was an iconic piece of the town’s educational landscape that stood for 41 years before being replaced by modern facilities.

Chronological Timeline

  • 1966: The Marshall Street campus building is officially constructed and opened, initially serving the local education system as the area transitioned away from traditional grammar schools.
  • 1976: Leigh College officially begins its primary era at the Marshall Street building following major local secondary and further education restructuring.
  • 1985–1988: The building serves a generation of A-Level and vocational students with highly regarded local facilities, though the physical structure begins to show its age.
  • 1992: Leigh College amalgamates with the Wigan College of Technology to form Wigan and Leigh College. The Marshall Street building remains open as a primary Leigh-based campus alongside the Railway Road site.
  • 2002: The Learning and Skills Council (LSC) approves a series of radical redevelopment plans due to the increasingly poor, outdated condition of the Marshall Street accommodation.
  • 2003–2004: Major plans for the £75 million Leigh Sports Village are finalized and approved. The project officially designates a new, modern location for the Leigh campus, sealing the fate of the Marshall Street building.
  • 2007: The gates close for the final time on August 1, 2007. The 600 remaining sixth-form and adult students are relocated to the brand-new, three-story facility at the Leigh Sports Village. Later that year, the 41-year-old old building is completely demolished.
Leigh College (now Wigan and Leigh College) Marshall Street, Leigh, Lancashire, UK. WN7 4HX
1966 to 2007 – Leigh College (now Wigan and Leigh College) Marshall Street, Leigh, Lancashire, UK. WN7 4HX
  • 2026: A 50th-anniversary reunion and a dedicated local history project are organized by local historians to commemorate the 1976 launch of the Marshall Street college era.