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 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 ...

. It lies within the historic county of

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 ...

. The entire built-up area including Penycae,

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

Cefn Mawr Cefn Mawr () is a village in the community of Cefn within Wrexham County Borough, Wales. Its name translates as "big ridge".Mills, D. ''A Dictionary of British Place Names'', OUP, p.104 The population in 2001 was 6,669, increasing to 7,051 in ...

had a population of 25,362.

Etymology

The name of the village is derived from that of the old Llanerchrugog estate, once one of the landholdings of Cynwrig ap Rhiwallon, Lord of

Maelor Gymraeg The Maelor is an area of north-east Wales along the border with England. It is now entirely part of Wrexham County Borough. The name ''Maelor'' is an old Welsh word: it can be translated as "land of the prince", from ''mael'' ("prince") and ''l ...

.''Archaeologia Cambrensis: The Journal of the Cambrian Archaeological Association'', 1895, p.225-6 The name ''Llanerchrugog'' is usually stated to be based on

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...

llannerch, "''clearing''" or "''glade''"; and (with

soft mutation In linguistics, lenition is a sound change that alters consonants, making them more sonority hierarchy, sonorous. The word ''lenition'' itself means "softening" or "weakening" (from Latin 'weak'). Lenition can happen both synchronic analysis, s ...

), "''heathery''", although an etymology based on crugog, "hilly", "rough", has also been suggested.Morgan, ''A handbook of the origin of place-names in Wales and Monmouthshire'', 1887, p.50 The name of the mining village which later grew up on nearby moorland was usually written as "Rhos Llanerchrugog", ("the Llanerchrugog moor", literally "moor, heath of the heather glade"Gelling, Nicholaisen and Richards (eds) ''The names of towns and cities in Britain'', 1970, p.160) in the early and mid 19th century, but later often became written as "Rhos-llanerchrugog" and finally as a single word. The spelling "Rhosllannerchrugog" has also since 1997 been used as an alternative to the legal community name.227. Alternative Community Names, Minutes of the Corporate Policy and Resources Committee
WCBC, 14-07-97 Locally, it is usually known simply as Rhos, or (in

Welsh English Welsh English ( cy, Saesneg Gymreig) comprises the dialects of English spoken by Welsh people. The dialects are significantly influenced by Welsh grammar and often include words derived from Welsh. In addition to the distinctive words and gr ...

) as "the Rhos". In the dialect of the area this is invariably pronounced r̥əus in opposition to the Standard Welsh ̥oːsJones, ''Language Obsolescence and Revitalization'', 1998, p.372

History

The village was originally within the ancient parish of

and the

township A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, that tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Ca ...

of Morton Above (i.e. Morton, or moor town, above

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 h ...

) or Morton Wallichorum (the ''Welsh Morton''). In 1844 Morton Above, along with part of the neighbouring township of Dynhinlle Ucha, became part of the newly created parish of Rhosllanerchrugog.Rhosllanerchrugog
GENUKI, 12-01-18 The Llanerchrugog estate itself was owned by the Jones family from at least the 1400s to the 19th century;''Burke's Peerage'', v1, 1858, p.635;Burke, B. 1854-5, A visitation of the seats and arms of the noblemen and gentlemen of Great Britain and Ireland, 204. Available, https://archive.org/details/visitationofseat185402burk in 1649 the landowner John Jones of Llanerchrugog claimed a detailed genealogy going back 2400 years to

Dyfnwal Moelmud Dyfnwal Moelmud (Welsh for "Dyfnwal the Bald and Silent"; la, Dunvallo Molmutius; ) was accounted as an early king and lawmaker among the Welsh, credited with the codification of their standard units of measure. He also figures as a legendary ki ...

, and attempted to use his ancient rights of ownership to argue he should be exempt from taxes.''The Transactions of the Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion'', 1948, p.393 The development of the village can be attributed largely to the

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 ...

seams of north-east Wales that pass near it. The burgesses of

Holt Holt or holte may refer to: Natural world *Holt (den), an otter den * Holt, an area of woodland Places Australia * Holt, Australian Capital Territory * Division of Holt, an electoral district in the Australian House of Representatives in Vic ...

were granted the right to dig for coal at Rhos in their borough charter of 1563. A

coal mining Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from ...

community was established during the 18th century, and grew substantially from the 1840s onwards. Unlike many other mining villages in the district and in other parts of Wales, the majority of early immigration to Rhos was from Welsh-speaking upland agricultural areas in West Wales, giving the village a distinct linguistic identityDodd, A.H. ''Welsh and English in East Denbighshire: a Historical Retrospect'', Transactions of the Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion, 1940, p.52 which it has retained until the present day. The proportion of Welsh-speakers in Rhos did not fall below 50% until the time of the 1981 census. By the early 18th century the Rhosllanerchrugog mines were the property of the future

Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn, 3rd Baronet Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn, 3rd Baronet (c. 169226 September 1749) was a Welsh politician and landowner who sat in the British House of Commons from 1716 to 1749, when he died in office. A member of the Tory party, he was also a prominent Jacobi ...

, of Wynnstay, a member of the area's major landowning family and a prominent Jacobite. At the accession of

George I George I or 1 may refer to: People * Patriarch George I of Alexandria (fl. 621–631) * George I of Constantinople (d. 686) * George I of Antioch (d. 790) * George I of Abkhazia (ruled 872/3–878/9) * George I of Georgia (d. 1027) * Yuri Dolgor ...

in August 1714, Williams-Wynn incited the miners of Rhos to march to Wrexham, singing Jacobite songs, to sack two

Dissenting Dissent is an opinion, philosophy or sentiment of non-agreement or opposition to a prevailing idea or policy enforced under the authority of a government, political party or other entity or individual. A dissenting person may be referred to as ...

meeting houses, to smash the windows of Whig tradesmen and to prevent the bells of Wrexham church ringing to celebrate the accession.Evans, ''A History of Wales 1660-1815, 1976, p.57Hughes, ''Royal Wales and its people'', 1957, p.65 The available notes of Mr Kenrick, minister of the New Meeting, dispute many of these assertions. In Wrexham, it was on July 15, 1715 (before George I's accession), that Tory resentment overflowed into riots that were mainly directed at the Dissenters. The New Meeting House was destroyed and the Old Meeting House was badly damaged. The colliers came into town on July 20, 1715 to help and protect the rioters. Upon request from the Dissenters, Watkin Williams-Wynn interceded and persuaded the men to desist. Sporadic rioting continued, at least until October 20, 1715, which was the King's Coronation Day. The Jacobite politics of the district's landlord and his tenants is popularly thought to be the source of the nickname "Jackos" or "Jacos" still applied to inhabitants of Rhos.James,
A short history of Newbridge
ruabon.com 13-01-18 A symbol of Rhos' coal-mining and

labour movement The labour movement or labor movement consists of two main wings: the trade union movement (British English) or labor union movement (American English) on the one hand, and the political labour movement on the other. * The trade union movement ...

heritage is seen in the "Stiwt", the

miners' institute Miners' institutes, sometimes known as ''workingmen's institutes'', ''mine workers' institutes'', or ''miners' welfare halls'' are large institutional buildings that were typically built during the height of the industrial period as a meeting and ...

in Broad Street. This was erected and paid for by the miners, during the

general strike of 1926 The 1926 general strike in the United Kingdom was a general strike that lasted nine days, from 4 to 12 May 1926. It was called by the General Council of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) in an unsuccessful attempt to force the British governmen ...

, as, a social and cultural centre for the community. The Welsh Religious Revival of 1904 also had a major impact on Rhos. The

cynghanedd In Welsh-language poetry, ''cynghanedd'' (, literally "harmony") is the basic concept of sound-arrangement within one line, using stress, alliteration and rhyme. The various forms of ''cynghanedd'' show up in the definitions of all formal Welsh v ...

"''Beibl a Rhaw i Bobl y Rhos''" ("a bible and a spade for the people of Rhos") reflects the importance of both coal-mining and the chapels on the village's culture and heritage. The later strength of Nonconformity in Rhos became one of the village's distinctive features, along with its dialect, working-class institutions, and tradition of education, which for decades meant that no school in the area "'' eemedcomplete without a teacher from Rhos on the staff''".''Cymdeithas Treftadaeth y Capeli'' Local Information Sheet 5: Rhosllanerchrugog, p.2 Rhos hosted the

National Eisteddfod The National Eisteddfod of Wales (Welsh: ') is the largest of several eisteddfodau that are held annually, mostly in Wales. Its eight days of competitions and performances are considered the largest music and poetry festival in Europe. Competitors ...

in 1945 and 1961, and the

Celtic League The Celtic League is a pan-Celtic organisation, founded in 1961, that aims to promote modern Celtic identity and culture in Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Brittany, Cornwall and the Isle of Man – referred to as the Celtic nations; it places part ...

was founded there in 1961 during the Eisteddfod. The many informal fringe performances around this event were memorialised in the poem "The Cross Foxes" by

Harri Webb Harri Webb (7 September 1920 – 31 December 1994) was a Welsh poet, Welsh nationalist, journalist and librarian. Early life Harri Webb was born on 7 September 1920 in Swansea, at 45 Tŷ Coch Road in Sketty, but before he was two the family m ...

, remembering the night when in Rhos "''we drank the pub dry''".Davies "A oes heddwch?" in Hughes-Freeland (ed) ''Ritual, Performance, Media'' 2003, p.156 With a population of over 10,000, the modern

of Rhosllanerchrugog is one of the largest in Wales. The 2011 census showed that the population of the built-up area of Rhosllanerchrugog including adjoining Pen-y-cae is 13,501. The area retains a proportion of Welsh speakers above the national average, despite the loss of older speakers and the impact of non-Welsh speakers moving into the area:''Wrexham Local Development Plan, Topic paper 11 : Welsh Language'', Feb 2016, pp. 7-8 the 2001 Census showed that 31.5% of the community area was Welsh speaking, declining to 24% at the 2011 census.

Welsh medium education Education delivered through the medium of the Welsh language is known as Welsh-medium education (). Welsh-medium education should be distinguished from the teaching of the Welsh language itself as an academic subject. 16% of pupils in Wales atte ...

is, however, popular and significantly increasing in the area.

Architecture

Rhos contains a number of listed public buildings. Notable buildings in the village include: The Stiwt Theatre, formerly the "

Miners' Institute Miners' institutes, sometimes known as ''workingmen's institutes'', ''mine workers' institutes'', or ''miners' welfare halls'' are large institutional buildings that were typically built during the height of the industrial period as a meeting and ...

" (''Plas Mwynwyr''), which was built in 1926 to the designs of John Owen of Wrexham and F. A. Roberts, Mold.RHOS MINERS' INSTITUTE; STIWT THEATRE (PLAS MWYNWYR), RHOSLLANERCHRUGOG
RCAHMW The Institute closed in 1977, following which the local council purchased the building in 1978. They decided to demolish the building in 1985, but it was saved as a result of local campaigning. Following fundraising efforts, it was renovated and reopened as a community theatre. The Stiwt Theatre holds the Wrexham young people's music festival since 2006. The Stiwt now do various shows and the

grade II* listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

building is open to the public to see.

Church of St John Evangelist A grade II

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

, built in 1852 to a design by

Thomas Penson Thomas Penson, or Thomas Penson the younger (c. 1790 – 1859) was the county surveyor of Denbighshire and Montgomeryshire. An innovative architect and designer of a number of masonry arch bridges over the River Severn and elsewhere. He was th ...

and consecrated on 4 October 1853. A good example of a

Romanesque Revival Romanesque Revival (or Neo-Romanesque) is a style of building employed beginning in the mid-19th century inspired by the 11th- and 12th-century Romanesque architecture. Unlike the historic Romanesque style, Romanesque Revival buildings tended to ...

church, it is

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norm ...

style, with coursed and squared sandstone and slate roofs. It has a cruciform plan with

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

transept A transept (with two semitransepts) is a transverse part of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In cruciform churches, a transept is an area set crosswise to the nave in a cruciform ("cross-shaped") building withi ...

and

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may terminate in an apse. Ove ...

and bell tower in the angle of the south transept and the chancel. The church closed in 2004. The churchyard contains

war graves War is an intense armed conflict between State (polity), states, governments, Society, societies, or paramilitary groups such as Mercenary, mercenaries, Insurgency, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violenc ...

of a British and a Canadian soldier of the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

.
CWGC Cemetery Report, details from casualty record. St David's Welsh Church, Rhosllannerchrugog, St David's Welsh Church, built in 1892 to a design by

Douglas and Fordham John Douglas (11 April 183023 May 1911) was an English architect who designed over 500 buildings in Cheshire, North Wales, and northwest England, in particular in the estate of Eaton Hall. He was trained in Lancaster and practised throu ...

Chester Chester is a cathedral city and the county town of Cheshire, England. It is located on the River Dee, close to the English–Welsh border. With a population of 79,645 in 2011,"2011 Census results: People and Population Profile: Chester Loca ...

. Since the closure of St. John's, this is used as the parish church. Penuel, Eglwys y Bedyddwyr, Rhosllanerchrugog - geograph

Penuel Chapel (Capel Penuel) Two-storey Welsh Baptist chapel built in 1856–59, with a brick façade installed during renovations performed in 1891 to the designs of

Owen Morris Roberts Owen Morris Roberts (1832 or 3 - 1896) was an English-born Welsh architectBrodie (ed) (2001) ''Directory of British Architects, 1834-1914'', RIBA, p.481 and surveyor. Roberts was born in Birkenhead, the son of Edward Roberts, a joiner from Porth ...

Porthmadog Porthmadog (; ), originally Portmadoc until 1974 and locally as "Port", is a Welsh coastal town and community in the Eifionydd area of Gwynedd and the historic county of Caernarfonshire. It lies east of Criccieth, south-west of Blaenau Ffest ...

.PENUEL WELSH BAPTIST CHAPEL, HIGH STREET, RHOSLLANERCHRUGOG
Coflein, RCAHMW The chapel was the starting point site of R. B. Jones's campaign in the village during the religious revival in 1904–05. One of the chapel's ministers was

Lewis Valentine Lewis Edward Valentine M.A. (1 June 1893 – March 1986) was a Welsh politician, Baptist pastor, author, editor, and Welsh-language activist. He was the first leader of the Welsh political party Plaid Cymru. Early life Valentine was born ...

Capel Bach, officially Bethlehem Welsh Independent Chapel, Hall Street. First built in 1812 and rebuilt in 1839, 1876 and (also to designs by architect Owen Morris Roberts of Porthmadog) in 1889.BETHLEHEM WELSH INDEPENDENT CHAPEL, HALL STREET, RHOSLLANERCHRUGOG
Coflein, RCAHMW A large, two-storey Romanesque chapel with integral clock tower and canted stair tower: grade II listed as a prominent feature of Rhos and an unusual example of a

Rundbogenstil (round-arch style) is a nineteenth-century historic revival style of architecture popular in the German-speaking lands and the German diaspora. It combines elements of Byzantine, Romanesque, and Renaissance architecture with particular ...

facade. There is a 1908 organ by

Norman and Beard Norman and Beard were a pipe organ manufacturer based in Norwich from 1887 to 1916. History The origins of the company are from a business founded in Diss in 1870 by Ernest William Norman (1851–1927). In 1876 he moved to Norwich where he wen ...

: the composer

Caradog Roberts Caradog Roberts (30 October 1878 — 3 March 1935) was a Welsh composer, organist and choirmaster. Roberts was born in Rhosllannerchrugog to John and Margaret Roberts. He showed musical talent since his childhood, winning several prizes at Wels ...

was the organist here between 1904 and 1935. Jerusalem chapel, Rhosllanerchrugog - geograph

Capel Mawr, officially Jerusalem Welsh Calvinistic Methodist Chapel, Brook Street, is a grade II listed chapel, built of stone in a classical gable-entry style. It was first built in 1770 and rebuilt in 1876 to the designs of Richard Owen of Liverpool.CAPEL MAWR WELSH CALVINISTIC METHODIST CHAPEL, BROOK STREET, RHOSLLANERCHRUGOG
Coflein, RCAHMW Fittings include a war memorial tablet and a 1927 stained glass window by Jones and Willis.

Religious Revival 1904-1905

Rhos was one of the centres of the Welsh Religious Revival of 1904–1905. R. B. Jones, a visiting Baptist preacher, held a campaign in Penuel Baptist Chapel, Rhosllanerchrugog in November 1904.

Musical heritage

Rhos is also renowned for its rich musical heritage, and has its own concert hall at the Stiwt Theatre. Composers from the village include

, best known for the

hymn tune A hymn tune is the melody of a musical composition to which a hymn text is sung. Musically speaking, a hymn is generally understood to have four-part (or more) harmony, a fast harmonic rhythm (chords change frequently), with or without refrain ...

" Rachie"; and

Arwel Hughes Arwel Hughes OBE (25 August 1909 – 23 September 1988) was a Welsh orchestral conductor and composer. Life and career Hughes was born in Rhosllannerchrugog near Wrexham and was educated at Ruabon Grammar School and at the Royal College ...

, conductor and composer of the hymn tune "Tydi a Roddaist". Notable performers from Rhos include the baritone James Sauvage and pianist

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 ...

. Rhos is home of several

choir A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which ...

s, including the Rhos Male Voice Choir (''Côr Meibion Rhosllannerchrugog''); the Rhos Orpheus Male Voice Choir (''Côr Orffiws Y Rhos''); Johns' Boys Male Chorus (''Côr Meibion Johns' Boys''); a Pensioners' Choir (''Côr Pensiynwyr Rhosllannerchrugog''); a Girls' Choir (''Côr Merched Rhosllannerchrugog''); and the Rhos Singers (Cantorion Rhos), a mixed voice choir. The

male voice choir A men's chorus or male voice choir (MVC) (German: ''Männerchor''), is a choir consisting of men who sing with either a tenor or bass voice, and whose music is typically arranged into high and low tenors (1st and 2nd tenor), and high and low bass ...

s have performed in many countries, and consistently enjoy success at national and international level. They have benefited from world-class conductors, the most notable of recent years being John Glyn Williams, John Daniel, Emyr James and Aled Phillips. The ''Rhos Prize Silver Band'' was formed in 1884, but later became known as the ''Hafod Colliery Band''. After the closure of Hafod colliery in 1968 the band was renamed ''Rhos and District Silver Band''. In 2001, the band changed its name to ''Wrexham Brass'' and is now based at the

Glyndŵr University Glyndŵr was one of six local government districts in the county of Clwyd in Wales from 1974 to 1996. History The district was created on 1 April 1974, under the Local Government Act 1972. It covered the area of six former districts and two p ...

campus in Wrexham.

Dialect

The village is well known for its unique dialect of the

Welsh language Welsh ( or ) is a Celtic language family, Celtic language of the Brittonic languages, Brittonic subgroup that is native to the Welsh people. Welsh is spoken natively in Wales, by some in England, and in Y Wladfa (the Welsh colony in Chubut P ...

, which has been the subject of several academic studies. Although having some similarities to the dialects of both North-East and Mid Wales, it has been described as "''unlike anything else heard in Wales''" and as frequently unintelligible to outsiders.Jones, ''Language Obsolescence and Revitalization'', 1998, pg. 156 As well as features found elsewhere in North Wales, such as the loss of final in words such as ''araf'', "slow" (here pronounced

ara ARA may refer to: Media and the arts * American-Romanian Academy of Arts and Sciences * '' Artistička Radna Akcija'', compilation album released in former Yugoslavia * Associate of the Royal Academy, denoting membership in the British Royal Aca ...

or of final �in words such as ''ffordd'', "road", (here pronounced ɔr,Jones, ''Language Obsolescence and Revitalization'', 1998, p.369 the dialect shows numerous distinctive consonants and examples of metathesis.Jones, 1998, pp.370-1 Vowels also differ widely from modern standard Welsh: one of its key features is the

diphthong A diphthong ( ; , ), also known as a gliding vowel, is a combination of two adjacent vowel sounds within the same syllable. Technically, a diphthong is a vowel with two different targets: that is, the tongue (and/or other parts of the speech o ...

isation of vowels and as seen in the vowel of the name ''Rhos'', locally r̥əus Another typical feature is the contraction of verbal phrases, so that for example ("I had") is rendered as ogaiand ("I have to") as haimi These features are to an extent becoming lost in younger speakers under the influence of Welsh medium education. The Rhos dialect is also known for a unique vocabulary. The main example is a word that has become synonymous with the village: the

demonstrative adjective Demonstratives (abbreviated ) are words, such as ''this'' and ''that'', used to indicate which entities are being referred to and to distinguish those entities from others. They are typically deictic; their meaning depending on a particular frame ...

''nene'' (pronounced approximately eːneː, meaning "that", or more specifically "that over there".Jones, 1998, pg. 375 While the related forms ''ene'' ("that") and ''dene'' ("there ..is") are found in other parts of North-East Wales, ''nene'' is specific to Rhos. The word's association with the village is reflected in the title of the community's monthly newspaper, ''Nene'', founded by the campaigner and local historian Ieuan Roberts ("Ieu Rhos", 1949–2016).Life of jailed Welsh language campaigner remembered in new book
''Daily Post'', 4-07-17 In usage ''Nene'' is also combined with ''ene''; an example is the question "''Be 'di nene ene?''" - "What's that there?"

Cemetery controversy

In September 2006, letters were sent by Rhos Community Council to relatives of people buried in the village's cemetery, where former

Miss World Miss World is the oldest existing international beauty pageant. It was created in the United Kingdom by Eric Morley in 1951. Since his death in 2000, Morley's widow, Julia Morley, has co-chaired the pageant. Along with Miss Universe, Miss Int ...

Rosemarie Frankland Rosemarie Franklin (1 February 1943 – 2 December 2000) born in Rhosllanerchrugog a village near Wrexham. She was a Wales, Welsh actress, model and beauty queen who won Miss World 1961, having previously finished as first runner-up at Miss Univ ...

is buried, asking them to limit the number of floral tributes left at grave sites. The council reportedly planned to cover the cemetery with a lawn and feared that such tributes would breach health and safety rules. Feeling the council had handled the issue insensitively, relatives collected an 850-signature petition and 60 families made a public protest.

Notable people

Official portrait of Susan Elan Jones crop 2

:See :People from Rhosllanerchrugog * James Sauvage (1849–1922) baritone singer. * Robert Roberts (1865-1945), footballer with 38 caps for

Crewe Alexandra F.C. Crewe Alexandra Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of Crewe, Cheshire, that competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Railwaymen' because of ...

and 2 for

(1878—1935), composer, organist and choirmaster. *

Isaac Daniel Hooson Isaac Daniel Hooson (2 September 1880 – 18 October 1948), or I. D. Hooson as he was commonly known, was a Welsh solicitor and poet. Hooson was born to parents Edward Hooson and his wife Harriet in Victoria House, Market St. in the village of ...

(1880–1948), solicitor and poet. *

Thomas William Jones, Baron Maelor Thomas William Jones, Lord Maelor (10 February 1898 – 18 November 1984) was a British Labour politician. Born into a mining family in Ponciau, Wrexham, Wales, he was educated at Ponciau School before becoming a coal miner at the nearby Bers ...

(1898–1984), politician, MP for

Merioneth , HQ= Dolgellau , Government= Merionethshire County Council (1889-1974) , Origin= , Status= , Start= 1284 , End= , Code= MER , CodeName= ...

* Idwal Jones (1900–1982), politician, MP for

Denbigh Denbigh (; cy, Dinbych; ) is a market town and a community in Denbighshire, Wales. Formerly, the county town, the Welsh name translates to "Little Fortress"; a reference to its historic castle. Denbigh lies near the Clwydian Hills. History ...

(1909–1988), orchestral conductor and composer. * Meredith Edwards (1917–1999), character actor and writer. * Tom Ellis (1924–2010), politician, MP for

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 ...

* Gordon Richards (1933–1993) footballer with 170 club caps. *

(1943–2000), Miss Wales, Miss UK & Miss World in 196

*

Aled Roberts Aled Roberts (17 May 1962 – 13 February 2022) was a Welsh Liberal Democrat politician from Rhosllanerchrugog, Wrexham. Roberts was a Member of the Welsh Assembly (AM) for the North Wales Region from 2011 to 2016. Before his election to t ...

(1962–2022), politician and

Welsh Language Commissioner The Welsh Language Commissioner () is a Welsh Government officer, overseeing an independent advisory body of the same name. The position was created following the passing of the ''Welsh Language (Wales) Measure 2011'', effective on 1 April 2012 ...

, 2019-2022. *

Mark Lewis Jones Mark Lewis Jones (born 31 August, 1964) is a Welsh actor, whose roles include that of a First Order Captain Moden Canady in '' Star Wars: The Last Jedi'', a police inspector in BBC drama series '' 55 Degrees North'', a whaler in the film '' Ma ...

(born 1964), actor * Susan Elan Jones (born 1968 in Ponciau), politician, MP for Clwyd South *

(born 1976 in Pentre Bychan), concert pianist. * Daniel Lloyd (born 1982), actor and singer-songwriter

Stiwt Theatre

The Stiwt is a 490-seater theatre located in the village. Founded in 1926 by the Miner's Institute, (lending it its name, 'Stiwt' coming from the word 'Institute' in 'Miner's Institute'), the day-to-day running of the Stiwt was paid for by weekly contributions from the Miner's wages. Paying in 20d a week, the Stiwt was both built and run by the wages of the Miners, the descendants of which continually have to fight to keep it open after almost facing closure in 1977, 1996 and 2016. Today the Stiwt is funded and run by Wrexham County Borough Council, the Arts Council of Wales, Rhos Community Council and Friends of the Stiwt.

Transport

The village was once linked to the

Great Western Railway The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament on 31 August 1835 and ran ...

by the Rhos Branch, which ran to the village from nearby

via

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 Legacy. The passenger service continued for a short period to halts at Brook Street, Pant and (via the Ruabon Brook Tramway)

Wynn Hall Wynn Hall is a 17th-century house in the old hamlet (place), hamlet of Bodylltyn in Ruabon, Wrexham (county borough), Wrexham, Wales standing at the junction of the Penycae Road and Plas Bennion Road. It was built in about 1649 by William Wynn (Eng ...

, although goods trains ran through to

Froncysyllte Froncysyllte (; ), colloquially known as Fron, is a village in Wrexham County Borough, Wales and stands on the banks of the River Dee and the Llangollen Canal. It is situated on the main A5 road which runs from London to Holyhead. It is in the ...

wharf on the

Shropshire Union Canal The Shropshire Union Canal, nicknamed the "Shroppie", is a navigable canal in England. The Llangollen and Montgomery canals are the modern names of branches of the Shropshire Union (SU) system and lie partially in Wales. The canal lies in ...

via Plas Bennion and Acrefair. A second line also passed through nearby

Ponciau Ponciau is a village within the community of Rhosllanerchrugog, Wrexham County Borough, Wales. It is close to the villages of Legacy, Pentre Bychan and Johnstown and is overlooked by Ruabon Mountain. The village name is also applied to a la ...

, branching off from Legacy, with halts at Fennant Road, Aberderfyn and Ponkey Crossing, and joining the main line again at Wynnville,

. Regular passenger service had ceased on all of these lines by the 1930s, and the village has since relied on road transport. Rhosllannerchrugog was also the end of the line of the

Wrexham and District Electric Tramways Wrexham and District Electric Tramways was a company that operated an electric tramway service in Wrexham, Wales between 1903 and 1914 when it was renamed Wrexham and District Transport Company Limited. Trams continued to operate until 1927. Hi ...

. The tram service began operating in 1903, and originally ran from Penybryn in Wrexham to the New Inn in Johnstown, but this was soon extended up Gutter Hill to Duke Street in Rhos. The company had its depot and staging area in nearby Johnstown. The trams were eventually and gradually replaced by buses owned by the same company, which was renamed the Wrexham & District Transport Company; for many years tram lines were visible outside the garage at the bottom of Gutter Hill. Several local companies operated bus services in the village. The red and cream buses of Phillips & Son of Rhostyllen ran from Wrexham to Rhos via Johnstown, and at one time on to Tainant, from 1927 until it was taken over by

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 ...

in 1979. T. Williams & Sons ran a service from Rhos to Wrexham from the 1920s until 1986. The last surviving independent local company, Wright & Son, ran a service from Pen-y-cae to Wrexham via Rhos, and later via Ponciau also. When the bus industry was

deregulated Deregulation is the process of removing or reducing state regulations, typically in the economic sphere. It is the repeal of governmental regulation of the economy. It became common in advanced industrial economies in the 1970s and 1980s, as a ...

in 1986 there was fierce competition between Wright's and the much larger Crosville. Wright's ceased operations in 1993, leaving Crosville as the sole service provider in the area. Crosville itself became part of the

Arriva Arriva plc is a British multinational public transport company headquartered in Sunderland, England.A483 road The A483, officially described as the Swansea to Manchester Trunk Road, although now ending in Chester, is a major road in the United Kingdom. It runs from Swansea in Wales to Chester in England via Llandovery, Llandrindod Wells, Oswestry an ...

provides links to

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

and

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

to the north and

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

Swansea Swansea (; cy, Abertawe ) is a coastal city and the second-largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Swansea ( cy, links=no, Dinas a Sir Abertawe). The city is the twenty-fifth largest in ...

and

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

to the south.

Bibliography

Books about Rhosllannerchrugog include: * ''Hanes Rhosllannerchrugog'' ("The History of Rhosllannerchrugog") (1945) J. Rhosydd Williams * ''Through These Windows, A Place and Its People'' (1981) Bill Portmadoc-Jones. * ''Rhos-Llannerch-Rugog: Atgofion'' ("Memories of Rhosllannerchrugog") (1955) William Phillips (1880–1969) * ''Rhosllannerchrugog, Johnstown, Ponciau, Pen-y-cae, a collection of pictures'' (2 volumes, 1991–92), Dennis W Gilpin * ''From Pit to Pitch: A pictorial history of football in Rhos'', John E Matthews (1991) * ''Language Obsolescence and Revitalization: Linguistic Change in Two Socio-linguistically Contrasting Welsh Communities'' (1998) Mari Jones (study of the language of Rhosllannerchrugog)

References

External links

Rhosllannerchrugog Community CouncilGwefan Rhosllannerchrugog (BBC)Rhos/Wrexham History (BBC)''Nene'' (BBC Cymru)Rhos Male Voice ChoirRhos Orpheus Male Voice ChoirY Stiwt'Twm Sbaen' (LLGC)GenUKI page for RhosLeaflet describing chapels of RhosllannerchrugogPhotos of the Rhosllannerchrugog area on Geograph
* {{authority control Villages in Wrexham County Borough Communities in Wrexham County Borough