Haigh (/heɪ/) is a village and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan, Greater Manchester, England.

Bradshagh took part in Adam Banastre's rebellion in 1315 for which he was outlawed and by 1317 his manors were confiscated by the crown and granted to Peter de Limesey.

As penance, a legend states that Mabel walked barefoot from Wigan to Haigh every week for the rest of her life.

The legend was made into a novel by Sir Walter Scott, and is remembered by Mab's Cross in Wigan Lane.

Thomas de Bradshagh took part in the Rising of the North of 1403 and was present at the Battle of Shrewsbury and was later pardoned by Henry IV.

[8] On 1 June 1780 Elizabeth Dalrymple, great niece of the fourth Baronet and heiress of Haigh as a result of the failure of the male line in her maternal family (Bradshaigh), married Alexander Lindsay, 6th Earl of Balcarres.

The present hall was built between 1827 and 1840 on the site of the ancient manor house, by Alexander's son the 7th Earl Balcarres[9] who designed and supervised its construction whilst living in a cottage in the grounds.

David, the 11th Earl sold the hall and grounds to Wigan Corporation in 1947 for £18,000 and moved back to the family's original home in Balcarres.

[10] In 1540 John Leland reported that Sir Roger Bradshaigh had discovered a seam of cannel coal on his estate which could be burnt or carved by hand or machine into ornaments.

[12] The Bradshaws successors, the Earls of Crawford and Balcarres, founded the Wigan Coal and Iron Company in 1865.

Collieries in Haigh belonging the Wigan Coal and Iron Company in 1896 were the Alexandra, Bawkhouse, Bridge, Lindsay and Meadow Pits.

[13] The central workshops for Balcarres' collieries in Haigh and Aspull were built on the north bank of the canal between 1839 and 1841.

[14] Haigh Foundry was opened in the steep-sided Douglas valley in 1788 by the 6th earl, his brother and Mr Corbett an iron founder from Wigan.

In 1848, Haigh produced a beam engine of 100 inch bore by 12 feet stroke, possibly the largest in the world at that time.

A new lease was signed by Birley & Thompson who concentrated on mining machinery, mill engines and large iron fabrications.

Several of Haigh's engineers left to form engine building companies – Walker Brothers, Ince Forge and Worsley Mesnes Ironworks Ltd. Much of the site, with the exception of Brock Mill Forge, was intact in 2011 and the route of the mineral railway, including four bridges, is little changed.

The foundry drawing office was on Wingates Road in a building with large windows and a stone floor supported by cast iron columns.

[15] Lying within the historic county boundaries of Lancashire since the early 12th century, Haigh was a township in the ecclesiastical parish of Wigan in the Hundred of West Derby.

Haigh Hall Country Park occupies 250 acres of woods and parkland on south-western slopes.

[22] The canal passed through the Haigh estate and a Packet House for goods, mail and passengers was built near the Wigan Road entrance.