Behind the housing stock the village is rural and boasts many walks, a fishing pond, Public Park and the Leeds Liverpool Canal. As well as our Church and School Abram has a community centre, a doctors, chemist, bakery, post office, village shop, two pubs, a number of hair dressers and Chinese takeaways.

The village has changed, like most, over the years and is much bigger in terms of population and traffic and than could ever have originally been imagined.  The population now stands at around 8000 people, the Maypole Colliery site has recently been redeveloped into a new housing area and has brought new younger professional families into the area.  Abram has also been designated as a Housing Renewal area by government and is therefore undergoing extensive regeneration in terms of upgrading its housing stock, crime prevention measures and environmental enhancements.  Through these developments and the changes in the make up of the community Abram has a renewed sense of purpose and positivity. In 1908 Abram suffered Wigan’s biggest mining disaster… see below for more information.

The Maypole Colliery Disaster - August 18th, 1908

The Explosions

Just after 5 o’clock on a sultry August afternoon, Mr. Arthur Rushton, the manager of the Maypole Colliery in Abram, returned home from a ten days’ holiday. As he put the key in the lock, a dull rumble caused him to look over his shoulder. What he saw was the start of a night-mare that stayed with him for the rest of his life. A black cloud of smoke was pouring, with great force, out of the pit shaft. When he arrived at the pit head, he found the engine house was a tangle of roof timbers and bricks, the headgear blown away and the cage lying at the bottom of the shaft. Soot and debris were scattered over a wide area. Buildings over a mile away had been shaken by the blast and a dense cloud of black smoke and poisonous vapours rose from the shaft for many hours.

Realising the grave situation of the men below ground, Mr. Rushton and other officials planned rapid and desperate attempts at rescue. Half a mile away was the headgear of the Wigan Junction Colliery and from there, underground, went a tunnel to the workings of the Maypole. The rescuers proceeded along this tunnel, penetrating the Maypole workings and brought out three men alive and uninjured. Advancing further, they met ‘afterdamp', and exploration became very difficult. The roadways were filled with a mixture of smoke and afterdamp and although strenuous efforts were made to clear it, it resisted all their skill and bravery and stood like a wall, preventing further advance. In spite of the appalling conditions, seven bodies were located, and fourteen others seen, but in positions that made their removal impossible. The seven were taken along the tunnel to Wigan Junction and up to the surface 800 yards above. These men had survived the force of the explosion, but had succumbed to the effects of the afterdamp.