Escape to Wigg Island, Cheshire

Wigg Island is a local nature reserve and community park in Runcorn, North Cheshire. It consists of 23 hectares of reclaimed industrial land on a little island between the River Mersey and the Manchester Ship Canal and is reached by a traffic light controlled single track bridge. Named The Old Quay Bridge, it is a Grade II listed swing bridge built in 1894 to cross the Manchester Ship Canal.

There is a lovely little circular route around the island on wide paths, with picnic tables at regular intervals. The path leads under the Mersey Gateway bridge and gives spectacular views of the iconic Silver Jubilee Bridge in one direction and Fiddlers Ferry power station in the other.

I love this view of one iconic Mersey bridge viewed from underneath another. They definitely picked a great spot for this picnic bench.

Wigg Island is a fantastic place to take the dog for a walk and I’ve only ever visited with my four-legged friends in tow. There are lots of wide, open spaces and woodland, nowhere near a road, which is perfect for exercising dogs. It never seems busy at Wigg Island and there’s tonnes of room for dogs to run and roam.

There are several bird hides and observation points overlooking the Mersey and all sorts of birdlife can be seen on the estuary at various times of year.

History of Wigg Island

Looking at it now, it’s hard to believe that the landscape at Wigg Island used to be industrial land and home to chemical works.

The 1860’s saw alkali works being built in this area to extract copper from its ore. Run by Charles Wigg, after whom the island was named, it went on to produce sulphuric acid and fertiliser and became known as the Wigg works.

In 1890, the Wigg works became part of the United Alkali Company, which eventually was incorporated into I.C.I. in 1926. At this point I.C.I. declared the Wigg works obsolete and production was discontinued.

A second factory known as Wigg Works East was also acquired by I.C.I. in 1933. During World War II, this factory produced Mustard Gas.

All industry on Wigg Island had however ceased by the 1960’s. The area was heavily polluted with a number of chemicals and it is only in more recent decades that Wigg Island has been nurtured and habitats restored in the absence of industry.

Wigg Island became a community park in 2002 and given local nature reserve status in 2004.

Wigg Island Environmental Trail

As you walk around Wigg Island, you’ll find a number of information boards that form the Wigg Island Environmental trail. There is information on all the wildlife you could see on and from Wigg Island – the birdlife, the bats and stick insects and the butterflies and bees.

One board is dedicated to the Upper Mersey estuary environment which consists of three separate river channels that constantly move around, as well as saltmarshes and mudflats, all of which are visible from various areas of Wigg Island.

The river channels provide the estuary both with fresh water sources from the river and marine life from the Irish Sea. As a result, they create an unusual environment and ecosystem suited only to those species that have learned to live with the changes in depth, flow and type of water.

Habitats on land include grasslands which are made up of a variety of grasses, flowers and plants; woodlands which include ash, elm, oak, hawthorn, alder and hazel; and wetlands which include sections of disused canal where you can see water beetles, dragonflies and smooth newts.

The Environmental Trail was set up as part of the Mersey Gateway project, as a means of explaining how the construction of the huge bridge which dominates the area was still going to protect the environment and habitats around and under it.

This was overseen by The Mersey Gateway Environmental Trust, a charity that was set up in 2010 to oversee the conservation, protection and even improvement of the landscape around the bridge, something you would assume would be negatively impacted by such an invasive building project.

The Troll Sculpture Trail

Now, if you are a regular reader of my blog, you know I love a sculpture trail. So, I was excited when I stumbled across the troll and friends sculpture trail in an area of woodland on Wigg Island.

All the trolls are carved from tree trunks, but in a small clearing there are other creatures made from a variety of materials.

There is a fairy called Fly Agaric, which is also the name for the famous red toadstool with white spots. With other nearby metal sculptures resembling toadstool shapes, I figured these might have been done as a combined project.

There is also a pig/boar that is decorated in ceramic mosaic pieces. Whoever made him did a fantastic job as when I’ve taken both of my dogs here, Roger (my first dog) did not stop barking at it, running round in circles and woofing his head off! My second dog Bailey showed interest in all the sculptures we passed and cocked his leg at a few (oops), but stood in front of the pig yowling at it, then darted back and forth towards it as if coaxing it to play. Clearly the pig was very realistic to them.

All the trolls have names carved into them, some easier to distinguish than others many years on from their creation. There’s ‘Bulging Bob’, ‘Antilla’, ‘Froogle’ and The Unity Troll (hope I got those correct.) Some of the trolls also bear the carved names of the schools that assisted in their making.

All the sculptures on Wigg Island have been created by Halton Borough Council staff and volunteers in part of the Forest School project. This learning programme is designed to offer children and young people particularly the opportunity to engage, learn and develop skills in an outdoor woodland environment.

Carved Benches

I love the bug bench at Wigg Island. It’s a different take on the bug hotels you see in lots of nature reserves. Dual purpose is always good, though I’m not sure I’d want to sit on it for long myself in case the bugs decide to pay me a visit.

Roger loved it though and was quite happy to pose on it for me!

On my most recent visit to Wigg Island in June when all the foliage had grown and the path into the sculpture woodlands was more overgrown, I couldn’t find the bug bench. I’m sure its still there, just well camouflaged.

The other carved bench can be found on the river side of the road between the bridge and the carpark. It’s in a lovely spot facing the Mersey River and the Jubilee Bridge. Now this is a bench I will happily sit on. The little owl carved into one end is so cute.

Watching the Sun Set at Wigg Island

I can highly recommend going for an evening stroll at Wigg Island as it is perfectly positioned to watch the sun set over the Silver Jubilee bridge.

Alongside the road that leads to the car park, there are several little cut throughs onto the grassy verge that edges the mudflats and saltmarsh. Here is the perfect place to sit and watch the sun go down, giving an uninterrupted view up and down the Mersey. Please do not actually walk onto the mudflats themselves as there is no public access allowed and it is dangerous to set foot onto them.

You can park along the road here if you are outside of car park operating hours. The current hours are displayed on entry to the car park.

Visitor Information

Unfortunately, there are no visitor facilities such as toilets and café. The place would certainly benefit from such amenities. There is what looks like visitor centre that is marked on the map as a ranger hut but I have never seen this open or in use.

There are lots of information boards to get the most out of your visit. If you have an impatient dog or aren’t in the place to take in info, take photos of them to read at a later point as they really give insight into the location.

There are plenty of picnic tables for you to bring your own food – just remember to take everything away with you as well. There are bins dotted around the site.

My dog friendly rating for Wigg Island is: 5*

Get in Touch!

Have you escaped to Wigg Island before? Had you visited before the Mersey Gateway bridge existed? Having only been there myself since its construction, I can’t imagine what it was like before hand… I’m guessing a little quieter. I have to say I don’t really notice the noise much and it certainly hasn’t put me off returning. Please drop me a line in the comments below with your thoughts on this, I’d love to hear from you.

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Further Reading on Places Nearby…

If you’re looking for other walks nearby that are perfect for dogs, why not check out the Dream at Sutton Manor Woodlands and Clock Face Country Park, both on the other side of the River Mersey between St Helens and Warrington.

Perhaps head up the coast a little way to Crosby Beach to see Antony Gormley’s iron men.

There is also a sculpture trail of boggarts and woodland animals carved from wood at Risley Moss Nature Reserve near Warrington.

You may like to check out the most local of National Trust properties: Speke Hall and Dunham Massey.

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