Pentre Bychan, with the literal meaning of "little village", is a semi-rural hamlet in

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 ...

, Wales. Variously spelled as either one word or two (Pentre Bychan or Pentrebychan), it is situated between

Rhostyllen Rhostyllen () is a village in Wrexham County Borough, Wales, south-west of the city of Wrexham. At the time of the 2001 census, area Wrexham 014A, which includes Rhostyllen itself, had a population of 1,383 in 599 households.

and Johnstown in the ward 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, ...

of Esclusham, some 4 km south-west of Wrexham city centre.

History

The ancient monument

Offa's Dyke Offa's Dyke ( cy, Clawdd Offa) is a large linear earthwork that roughly follows the border between England and Wales. The structure is named after Offa, the Anglo-Saxon king of Mercia from AD 757 until 796, who is traditionally believed to ha ...

runs through Pentre Bychan. The Pentrebychan estate was once of great importance in the area. The 16th-century house originally belonged to the Tegin family. It was a single-storey building, half-timbered with

wattle and daub Wattle and daub is a composite building method used for making walls and buildings, in which a woven lattice of wooden strips called wattle is daubed with a sticky material usually made of some combination of wet soil, clay, sand, animal dung a ...

. In 1620 the estate was purchased by Hugh Meredith. The Meredith family, who owned several local coal mines, occupied the estate until 1802 when Thomas Meredith, the last of the male line, died. The family traced their ancestry to

Bleddyn ap Cynfyn Bleddyn ap Cynfyn ( owl, Bledẏnt uab Kẏn ỽẏn; AD 1075), sometimes spelled Blethyn, was an 11th-century Welsh king. Harold Godwinson and Tostig Godwinson installed him and his brother, Rhiwallon, as the co-rulers of Gwynedd ...

, Prince of

Powys Powys (; ) is a county and preserved county in Wales. It is named after the Kingdom of Powys which was a Welsh successor state, petty kingdom and principality that emerged during the Middle Ages following the end of Roman rule in Britain. Geog ...

. The Hall and estate were described as among the most extensive in the area. Many of the Welsh place names on the estate in the days of the early Merediths are extant today. The estate passed into the Warter family. Joseph Warter (died 1811) married Margaretta Elizabeth Meredith, daughter and heiress of Thomas Meredith. His son Henry Warter succeeded to the estate, took the additional surname Meredith, and served as

High Sheriff of Denbighshire The first High Sheriff of Denbighshire was John Salusbury, snr, appointed in 1540. The shrievalty of Denbighshire, together with that of Flintshire, continued until 1974 when it was abolished after the county and shrievalty of Clwyd was create ...

in 1844. In 1823 the hall was replaced with a larger, three storey, dressed-stone building with gables, which had a stable block and

coachhouse A carriage house, also called a remise or coach house, is an outbuilding which was originally built to house horse-drawn carriages and the related tack. In Great Britain the farm building was called a cart shed. These typically were open fr ...

at the rear. The hall was surrounded by landscaped gardens which included a brick

dovecote A dovecote or dovecot , doocot ( Scots) or columbarium is a structure intended to house pigeons or doves. Dovecotes may be free-standing structures in a variety of shapes, or built into the end of a house or barn. They generally contain pige ...

which dated back to 1721, a "fine example of an eighteenth century dovecote", Grade II listed since 1977. The notable Arts & Crafts architect Frank Shayler designed a pair of houses of rustic brick beneath sand-faced clay tiles in the grounds of the former Pentrebychan Hall in 1936, developed speculatively. Originally intended to be a group of twelve, initial sales were slow due to being marketed at a relatively high value. As a consequence, only two were built with construction subsequently halted by the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

. The hall was used to house refugees during the war. It was purchased in 1948 by

Denbighshire Denbighshire ( ; cy, Sir Ddinbych; ) is a county in the north-east of Wales. Its borders differ from the historic county of the same name. This part of Wales contains the country's oldest known evidence of habitation – Pontnewydd (Bontnewy ...

County Council, who at the time administered the area, but was demolished in 1963. The Wrexham

crematorium A crematorium or crematory is a venue for the cremation of the dead. Modern crematoria contain at least one cremator (also known as a crematory, retort or cremation chamber), a purpose-built furnace. In some countries a crematorium can also b ...

was built on the site, on Pentre Bychan Road, off Smithy Lane, and opened in 1966. The house's magnificent gardens and woods remain, together with the dovecote; they are in the crematorium's 40 acre (16 ha) grounds and are maintained as semi natural woodland (including three pools and Pentrebychan brook). Animal species located in the grounds include heron, badgers, buzzards, snakes, ducks and owls. The grounds also consist of one ungrazed paddock which is kept as a wild meadow and an arboretum. A section of

passes through the crematorium grounds.http://www.wrexham.gov.uk/english/env_services/community_services/pentrebychan_crematorium.htm Wrexham Council website page.

Local businesses

Dee Valley Water and

Scottish Power Scottish Power is a vertically integrated energy company based in Glasgow, Scotland. It is a subsidiary of Spanish utility firm Iberdrola. ScottishPower is the distribution network operator for Central and Southern Scotland, Merseyside, Nor ...

are prominent businesses located on the Wrexham Road at Packsaddle Bridge.

Notable residents

* John Share Jones MBE,

veterinary surgeon Veterinary surgery is surgery performed on animals by veterinarians, whereby the procedures fall into three broad categories: orthopaedics (bones, joints, muscles), soft tissue surgery (skin, body cavities, cardiovascular system, GI/urogenital/ ...

and

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

candidate, lived at Pentrebychan Hall. * Susan Elan Jones, Labour MP for Clwyd South between 2010 and 2019, lives on the outskirts of the village. *

Llŷr Williams Llŷr Williams (born 1976) is a Welsh concert pianist. Childhood Williams was born in the village of Pentre Bychan in Wrexham, Wales. He inherited an interest in opera from his father, and before the age of seven he was attending performances ...

, classical pianist, was raised in Pentre Bychan, where his parents still live.

Countryside Walk

Pentre Bychan can be visited as part of one of Wrexham County Council's Countryside Walks.

References

{{Wrexham Villages in Wrexham County Borough