Chartered Surveyors Wigan Greater Manchester

Approximate Population: 81,203

Wigan was historically part of the hundred of Newton, later becoming part of the West Derby Hundred. The ancient parish of Wigan All Saints contained a number of townships which formed separate civil parishes from 1866.

On 26 August 1246, Wigan was granted a Royal Charter, making the town a free borough. This happened after Salford was granted its Charter in 1230 and before Manchester in 1301. As a borough, Wigan was represented in the Model Parliament from 1295–1306 by two burgesses – freemen of the borough.

The Charter allowed taxes to be made on transactions made in the borough by tradesmen and permitted the local burgesses to establish a guild that would regulate trade in the borough. Non-members of the guild were not allowed to do business in the borough without permission from the burgesses.

It is thought that when the Charter was reconfirmation in 1350 it was changed, allowing the election of a mayor of Wigan for the first time. Three burgesses were elected to be presented to the lord of the manor who would choose one man to be mayor for a year.

Wigan is in the Wigan Parliamentary constituency, which was recreated in 1547 after having covered the borough in the late 13th century. From 1640 until the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885, the constituency returned two Members of Parliament (MPs), from then on it had only one. Since 1918, the constituency has been represented by the Labour Party. Neil Turner is the incumbent Member of Parliament for Wigan and has represented the constituency since 1999.