I was informed by 2 long standing Wiganers (one a Platt Wazzock...see another new word!) about Goose Waz but who can tell what they're saying half of the time, Woosey rang me the other day and I put the phone down on him 'cos I thought he was from an Indian call centre...I kid you not
Craig wrote: "Never known where 'waz' comes from either, and I've never heard of Goose Green being called Goose Waz." No, neither have I, I had family in the Goose Green area, they never called it that! I reckon Ian made it up. Platt Bridge was always Platt Waz though.
Never known where 'waz' comes from either, and I've never heard of Goose Green being called Goose Waz.
I've always called the small pond to the north of Scotties as Waddikers as well. Thats what my dad told me it was called, and my grandad. Both from Poolstock. Notice how I casually avoided the debate about what scotties should be called, skill that.
(It takes a true wigginer to be able to understand proper wigin speyk. All't leythers speyk a diffrunt thing alt'gether.)
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If you bird round the Wigan Flashes then you have to know the local names: Bryn Marsh is known to everyone as The Weedy Turner's Flash is called Black Waters Ochre Flash is called Green Waters The official name for Horrocks' Flash is Ince Moss... and the fishing ponds at the N end are known as Perchy Ponds.
A bit further afield: Kingsdown Flash Abram (official name) known locally as Polly's Pond Parson's Meadow (official name) is Red Pond Diggle Flash at Bickershaw has another name - Gary Gorner please remind me!
And I'm not even a Wiganer!
Mmm, as a former Wigan Flashes 'moocher', (regular 1975-1982), I can't say I ever heard Bryn Marsh called The Weedy, Turner's Flash was always Blackwaters though. Ochre Flash or Ochery Flash to some, was indeed ochre in colour in those days (due to iron staining?) and was probably not called Greenwaters until recently, 'cos it weren't (green, that is). The big flash was called Scotsman's, Scotman's or Scotchman's depending on who you spoke to, but most locals called it Scotsman's (contrary to official name/OS maps). Pearson's Flash was also P & K Flash (Pearson's and Knowles' Flash, I believe). The little flash on the N.side of the disused railway at Scotman's was called Wadacre's or Waddicker's, not sure of spelling, does it still exist? I used to cycle to Parson's Meadow as a boy and we all called it Red Pond, because it was red, due to some kind of red shale that made up most of the banks. And I remember going to Polly's Flash at Abram too!
Coincidently when I told my dad I went to look at some Mandarin's at a park in Worsley Mesnes (Mes nes), he said its pronounced Worsley Maines!!! Beginning to think pieheads speak a different language.
Come on, surely you must know that "Mesnes" is derived from the French word "desmesnes", hence the pronunciation. Worsley Mesnes was originally the name of a manor house owned by the Worsley family in the 17th century, located close to where Scotman's Flash is these days. The Worsley family also had a pad known as Worsley Hall, hence the name of another salubrious part of Wigan.
If you bird round the Wigan Flashes then you have to know the local names: Bryn Marsh is known to everyone as The Weedy Turner's Flash is called Black Waters Ochre Flash is called Green Waters The official name for Horrocks' Flash is Ince Moss... and the fishing ponds at the N end are known as Perchy Ponds.
A bit further afield: Kingsdown Flash Abram (official name) known locally as Polly's Pond Parson's Meadow (official name) is Red Pond Diggle Flash at Bickershaw has another name - Gary Gorner please remind me!
And I'm not even a Wiganer!
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Judith Smith
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Lightshaw hall Flash is sacrosanct - NO paths please!
as a native and resident of platt waz i can honestly say that i haven,t a clue what waz is meant to be as a place name ,apart from ian,s obvious conclusion that it means bridge,Idon,t think so,being quite fluent in wiganeese i,ve always used waz as a noun for the act of throwing or discarding some unwanted item,the tackle shop name was probably a signwriting cockup .As for Scotman,s Flash I have always called it scotchmans and untill very recently had never been corrected but my a to z is hard to argue with.and bye the bye the road works at ince finished today
Platt Bridge (in Wigan) is known locally as Platt Waz (there is a fishing tackle shop there that used to be called Waz Bait and Tackle!), so from this we can deduce that 'Waz' in Wiganese must stand for bridge...right
But then Goose Green (also in Wigan) is known as Goose Waz, so infact 'Waz' in Wiganese means both bridge and green...
Then there's always Wazock, but that's a different story
Coincidently when I told my dad I went to look at some Mandarin's at a park in Worsley Mesnes (Mes nes), he said its pronounced Worsley Maines!!! Beginning to think pieheads speak a different language.
I have to admit to getting the wrong end of the stick here after being informed of this correct spelling by Judith some time ago and after being told there was no S in it I for whatever absurb reason dropped the S at the end and know it as Scotsman Flash I always preferred 'Scotties' anyway...bloody Wiganers
I may be accused of nit-picking, but the waterbody at Worsley Mesnes is (according to Ordnance Survey) SCOTMAN'S Flash, not SCOTSMAN's. The extra 'S' in the middle is often added, understandably so, by unwary souls. A sign erected for the sailing club last year did say "Scotsman's Flash", only to be replaced by one correctly spelled a couple of weeks later, so there's not only me sad enough to point it out
I don't know where the name Scotman's comes from - presumably a land-owner when the place began to flood??
and untill very recently had never been corrected but my a to z is hard to argue with.and bye the bye the road works at ince finished today 
I have to admit to getting the wrong end of the stick here after being informed of this correct spelling by Judith some time ago and after being told there was no S in it I for whatever absurb reason dropped the S at the end and know it as Scotsman Flash