Pen-y-cae is a village and

community A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place, norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a country, village, tow ...

Wrexham County Borough Wrexham County Borough ( cy, Bwrdeistref Sirol Wrecsam) is a county borough, with city status, in the north-east of Wales. It borders England to the east and south-east, Powys to the south-west, Denbighshire to the west and Flintshire to the nort ...

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

. The population of the community taken at the 2011 census was 3,389. It adjoins the larger village of

Rhosllanerchrugog RhosllanerchrugogDavies, Jenkins and Baines (eds) ''The Welsh Academy Encyclopedia of Wales'', 2008, p.752 (also spelled Rhosllannerchrugog, or simply Rhos) is a village and community in Wrexham County Borough, Wales. It lies within the histor ...

Etymology

Pen-y-cae means 'head of the field' or 'end of the field'. It is not an uncommon name, with three other settlements in Wales having the same name: *

Pen-y-cae, Powys Pen-y-cae is a village in Powys, Wales in the Brecon Beacons National Park between Abercraf and Craig-y-Nos Castle, in the community of Tawe-Uchaf. The village is mostly a linear settlement along the A4067 which runs approximately parallel to the ...

* Pen-y-cae, Bridgend * Pen-y-cae, Neath Port Talbot Although often written as one word without hyphens, in its correct form the name is hyphenised due to the definite article 'y' preceding a single-syllable element.

History

The village was part of the ancient parish of

Ruabon Ruabon ( cy, Rhiwabon ) is a village and community in Wrexham County Borough, Wales. The name comes from ''Rhiw Fabon'', ''rhiw'' being the Welsh word for "slope" or "hillside" and ''Fabon'' being a mutation from St Mabon, the original church ...

and the district was known as ''Dynhinlle Uchaf'' (but also known as ''Y Dref Fechan'' or ''Cristionydd Fechan''). The new parish of Pen-y-cae was formed 1879, from parts of the existing parishes of

and

Rhosymedre Rhosymedre () is a village within the community of Cefn, in Wrexham County Borough, Wales. The Anglican church, which was consecrated in 1837, is dedicated to St John the Evangelist, and is part of the Diocese of St Asaph. Former vicars inclu ...

. St Thomas' Church Penycae, then-Parish Church, was consecrated in 1878. However, most of the population of the parish were

nonconformist Nonconformity or nonconformism may refer to: Culture and society * Insubordination, the act of willfully disobeying an order of one's superior *Dissent, a sentiment or philosophy of non-agreement or opposition to a prevailing idea or entity ** ...

s and attended the

Baptist Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only (believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compete ...

chapels of Salem and Sion in Groes; the

Calvinistic Methodist Calvinistic Methodists were born out of the 18th-century Welsh Methodist revival and survive as a body of Christians now forming the Presbyterian Church of Wales. Calvinistic Methodism became a major denomination in Wales, growing rapidly in the 1 ...

chapels in Groes and Tainant; the

Wesleyan Wesleyan theology, otherwise known as Wesleyan– Arminian theology, or Methodist theology, is a theological tradition in Protestant Christianity based upon the ministry of the 18th-century evangelical reformer brothers John Wesley and Charles W ...

chapel of Soar in Stryt Issa; or the

Primitive Methodist The Primitive Methodist Church is a Methodist Christian denomination with the holiness movement. It began in England in the early 19th century, with the influence of American evangelist Lorenzo Dow (1777–1834). In the United States, the Primiti ...

chapel in Copperas.

Industry/employment

Coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when dea ...

was extracted from pits at Plas Bennion, Wynn Hall, Afon Eitha, Cristionydd, Groes and Plas Isaf;

zinc Zinc is a chemical element with the symbol Zn and atomic number 30. Zinc is a slightly brittle metal at room temperature and has a shiny-greyish appearance when oxidation is removed. It is the first element in group 12 (IIB) of the periodi ...

was worked at Copperas. The area descending towards

Acrefair () is a village in the county borough of Wrexham, North East Wales, in the community of Cefn. It was formerly part of the ancient parish of Ruabon, and is located between Wrexham and Llangollen. It is close to the villages of Trevor, Cefn Maw ...

was known as "The Delph", it was served by extensions of the

Ruabon Brook Tramway The Ruabon Brook Tramway was a Welsh branch railway line linking the Ruabon coalfield to the Shropshire Union Canal at Froncysyllte, with a private extension into the Monsanto works at Cefn Mawr which reconnected to the main line at Trevor. T ...

but these were mostly defunct by the mid-20th century. Most inhabitants find employment outside the village in

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; cy, Wrecsam; ) is a city and the administrative centre of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. It is located between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley, near the border with Cheshire in England. Historically in the count ...

with only a few local shops or public buildings providing jobs. ''Dee Valley Water'' operates two

reservoirs A reservoir (; from French ''réservoir'' ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam. Such a dam may be either artificial, built to store fresh water or it may be a natural formation. Reservoirs can be created in a number of ways, including control ...

in Pen-y-cae: ''Pen-y-cae Upper'' and ''Pen-y-cae Lower''.

Transport

Wright & Son, ran a bus service from Pen-y-cae to Wrexham via Rhos, and later via Ponciau also. When the bus industry was de-regulated in 1986 there was fierce competition between Wright's and the much larger

Crosville Crosville Motor Services was a bus operator based in the north-west of England and north and mid-Wales. History On 27 October 1906, Crosville Motor Company was formed in Chester by George Crosland Taylor and his French business associate Geo ...

company. Wright's, the last surviving independent local company, ceased operations in 1993 leaving Crosville as the sole service provider in the Wrexham area.

Notable residents

* The

and

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club () is a professional football club based in Horwich, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in . The club played at Burnden Park for 102 years from 1895 after moving from their original home at Pike's ...

footballer, Robert Roberts, was born in Pen-y-cae in July 1864.

References

Bibliography

* Dennis W Gilpin, "Rhosllannerchrugog, Johnstown, Ponciau, Pen-y-cae, a collection of pictures - Volume I" (1991) * Dennis W Gilpin, "Rhosllannerchrugog, Johnstown, Ponciau, Pen-y-cae, a collection of pictures - Volume II" (1992) * Colin Gibbs, "Clatter of Clogs" (1990)

External links

Pen-y-cae Community Council

Pen-y-cae Football Club

The Church of the Nazarene, Pen-y-cae

St Thomas' Church, Pen-y-cae

Photos of Pen-y-cae and surrounding area on Geograph
* {{authority control Villages in Wrexham County Borough Communities in Wrexham County Borough