 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.It was part of the Wigan Poor Law Union which after 1837 took responsibility for the administration and funding of the Poor Law in that area.Haigh was part of the Wigan Rural Sanitary District until 1894 and Wigan Rural District from 1894 until 1974.