Wrexham County Borough ( cy, Bwrdeistref Sirol Wrecsam) is a
county borough
County borough is a term introduced in 1889 in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, to refer to a borough or a city independent of county council control, similar to the unitary authorities created since the 1990s. An equivalent ter ...
, with
city status City status is a symbolic and legal designation given by a national or subnational government. A municipality may receive city status because it already has the qualities of a city, or because it has some special purpose.
Historically, city status ...
,
in the
north-east
The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sepa ...
of
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
borders
A border is a geographical boundary.
Border, borders, The Border or The Borders may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media Film and television
* ''Border'' (1997 film), an Indian Hindi-language war film
* ''Border'' (2018 Swedish film), ...
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
to the east and south-east,
Powys
Powys (; ) is a Local government in Wales#Principal areas, county and Preserved counties of Wales, preserved county in Wales. It is named after the Kingdom of Powys which was a Welsh succession of states, successor state, petty kingdom and princi ...
to the south-west,
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 ...
to the west and
Flintshire
, settlement_type = County
, image_skyline =
, image_alt =
, image_caption =
, image_flag =
, image_shield = Arms of Flint ...
to the north-west. The county borough has a population of 136,055. The city of
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 ...
is its largest settlement, which together with villages such as
Gwersyllt,
New Broughton,
Bradley
Bradley is an English surname derived from a place name meaning "broad wood" or "broad meadow" in Old English.
Like many English surnames Bradley can also be used as a given name and as such has become popular.
It is also an Anglicisation of t ...
and
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. form a
built-up area
An urban area, built-up area or urban agglomeration is a human settlement with a high population density and infrastructure of built environment. Urban areas are created through urbanization and are categorized by urban morphology as cities, ...
with 65,692 residents. Villages in the county borough also include
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 ...
,
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 ...
,
Johnstown,
Acrefair,
Bangor-on-Dee
Bangor-on-Dee ( cy, Bangor-is-y-coed or Bangor Is-coed) is a village and community in Wrexham County Borough, Wales, on the banks of the River Dee. Until 1974 it was in the exclave of Flintshire known as the Maelor Saesneg, and from 1974 to 19 ...
, and
Coedpoeth amongst others. The county borough has two outlying towns,
Chirk
Chirk ( cy, Y Waun) is a town and community in Wrexham County Borough, Wales, south of Wrexham, between it and Oswestry. At the 2011 census, it had a population of 4,468. Historically in the traditional county of Denbighshire, and later Clwy ...
and
Holt, and various rural settlements in the county borough's large
salient in the
Ceiriog Valley
The Ceiriog Valley ( cy, Dyffryn Ceiriog) is the valley of the River Ceiriog in north-east Wales. Its Welsh name, "Dyffryn Ceiriog", is the name of an electoral ward of Wrexham County Borough. The ward is the largest ward of the county borough ...
, and the
English Maelor
English Maelor ( cy, Maelor Saesneg) comprises one half of the Maelor region on the Welsh side of the Wales-England border, being the area of the Maelor east of the River Dee. The region has changed counties several times, previously being part ...
.
The area has strong links with traditional industries such as
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 ...
and
brewing
Brewing is the production of beer by steeping a starch source (commonly cereal grains, the most popular of which is barley) in water and #Fermenting, fermenting the resulting sweet liquid with Yeast#Beer, yeast. It may be done in a brewery ...
, although modern manufacturing has since succeeded those former industries. The county borough was formed on 1 April 1996 following the enactment of the
Local Government (Wales) Act 1994
The Local Government (Wales) Act 1994 (c. 19) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which amended the Local Government Act 1972 to create the current local government structure in Wales of 22 unitary authority areas, referred to as ...
.
Borough
A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely.
History
In the Middle Ag ...
status was inherited from the then town of Wrexham granted in 1857. Most of the area was previously part of the
district
A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...
of
Wrexham Maelor
Wrexham Maelor ( cy, Wrecsam Maelor) was a local government district with borough status, being one of six districts in the county of Clwyd, north-east Wales, from 1974 to 1996.
History
The borough was created on 1 April 1974, under the Local G ...
– with several communities coming from
Glyndŵr
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 ...
– within the former county of
Clwyd
Clwyd () is a preserved county of Wales, situated in the north-east corner of the country; it is named after the River Clwyd, which runs through the area. To the north lies the Irish Sea, with the English ceremonial counties of Cheshire to th ...
. Most of the county borough is part of 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 ...
, with two
exclave
An enclave is a territory (or a small territory apart of a larger one) that is entirely surrounded by the territory of one other state or entity. Enclaves may also exist within territorial waters. ''Enclave'' is sometimes used improperly to deno ...
s of
historic Flintshire:
English Maelor
English Maelor ( cy, Maelor Saesneg) comprises one half of the Maelor region on the Welsh side of the Wales-England border, being the area of the Maelor east of the River Dee. The region has changed counties several times, previously being part ...
and the parish of
Marford and Hoseley
Marford is a village in Wrexham County Borough, Wales, near the Wales-England border.
Marford covers some , where the hills of north-east Wales meet the Cheshire Plain. Distant landmarks that can be seen clearly from Marford include Eaton Hall ...
.
One of Wales'
World Heritage Site
A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...
s; the
Pontcysyllte Aqueduct and Canal, three of the
Seven Wonders of Wales
The Seven Wonders of Wales ( cy, Saith Rhyfeddod Cymru) is a traditional list of notable landmarks in north Wales, commemorated in an anonymously written rhyme:
The rhyme is usually supposed to have been written sometime in the late 18th or ear ...
;
St Giles' Parish Church,
Overton Yew Trees and
Gresford's All Saints' Church; two
National Trust
The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...
properties at
Erddig
Erddig Hall ( cy, Neuadd Erddig; or simply Erddig; ) is a Grade-I listed National Trust property in Wrexham, Wales. Standing south of Wrexham city centre, it comprises a country house built during the 17th and 18th centuries amidst a 1,900 ac ...
and
Chirk
Chirk ( cy, Y Waun) is a town and community in Wrexham County Borough, Wales, south of Wrexham, between it and Oswestry. At the 2011 census, it had a population of 4,468. Historically in the traditional county of Denbighshire, and later Clwy ...
, part of the
Clwydian Range and Dee Valley AONB, the
UK's
largest prison, and
one of the largest industrial estates in Europe are located in the county borough.
History
Borough status
In 1848, concerns over the sanitary conditions, in particular the threat of
cholera
Cholera is an infection of the small intestine by some strains of the bacterium ''Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea that lasts a few days. Vomiting and ...
,
in the growing town of Wrexham, led to locals launching a petition in February 1857 for the town to be
incorporated. In September 1857, the town was granted a
charter
A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified. It is implicit that the granter retains superiority (or sovereignty), and that the rec ...
,
spanning the two
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 ...
s of the town, Wrexham Abbot and Wrexham Regis,
as well as part of
Esclusham Below, and forming the
borough of Wrexham, with a
borough council
A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely.
History
In the Middle Ag ...
(a
corporation
A corporation is an organization—usually a group of people or a company—authorized by the state to act as a single entity (a legal entity recognized by private and public law "born out of statute"; a legal person in legal context) and r ...
) and
mayor
In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...
under the terms of the
Municipal Corporations Act 1835
The Municipal Corporations Act 1835 (5 & 6 Will 4 c 76), sometimes known as the Municipal Reform Act, was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in the incorporated boroughs of England and Wales. The legisl ...
. During incorporation the town was also given a
coat of arms
A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central ele ...
.
Between 1894 and 1974, as part 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 remaining
civil parish
In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...
es surrounding but excluding the town were part of the
Wrexham Rural District
Wrexham was a rural district in the administrative county of Denbighshire from 1894 and 1974.
The rural district took over the existing Wrexham Rural Sanitary District. It consisted of the following civil parishes:
* Abenbury
* Acton†
* Allin ...
, civil parishes in the Maelor region were part of the
Overton Rural District
Overton Rural District was formed by the Local Government Act 1894 which created numerous administrative areas around the country. The district was located in an exclave of Flintshire known as English Maelor, surrounded by Cheshire, Denbighsh ...
, renamed
Maelor Rural District
Maelor was a rural district in the administrative county of Flintshire, Wales, from 1894 to 1974. The area approximated to the hundred of Maelor or English Maelor ( cy, Maelor Saesneg), and was notable for forming a detached part of the county ...
in 1953. Whereas civil parishes in Chirk and the Ceiriog Valley were from 1894 part of either the
Chirk Rural District
Chirk was a rural district in the administrative county of Denbighshire from 1894 to 1935.
The rural district was formed from parts of Oswestry and Corwen Rural Sanitary Districts.
The district contained three civil parishes:
*Chirk
* Glyntrae ...
or
Llansillin Rural District
Llansillin (anglicisation of the original Welsh '' Llansilin'') was a rural district in the administrative county of Denbighshire from 1894 to 1935.
The rural district was formed from parts of Corwen, Llanfyllin and Oswestry Rural Sanitary Dist ...
, until they were merged into the
Ceiriog Rural District
Ceiriog was a rural district in the administrative county of Denbighshire from 1935 to 1974.
The rural district was formed by a County Review Order in 1935 from the merger of Chirk and Llansillin Rural districts. The district was named after th ...
in 1935, and abolished in 1974 to become part of
Clwyd's Glyndŵr district.
The
Local Government Act 1958
The Local Government Act 1958 (6 & 7 Eliz.2 c.55) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom affecting local government in England and Wales outside London. Among its provisions it included the establishment of Local Government Commissio ...
formed the
Local Government Commission for Wales tasked to review the potential reform of
local government in Wales
Since 1 April 1996, Wales has been divided into 22 unitary authority, single-tier principal areas ( cy, Awdurdodau unedol), styled as counties or county boroughs ( or ) for local government purposes. The elected councils of these areas are resp ...
. In their 1963 report, the commission rejected proposals for the establishment of Wrexham as a
county borough
County borough is a term introduced in 1889 in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, to refer to a borough or a city independent of county council control, similar to the unitary authorities created since the 1990s. An equivalent ter ...
.
Status within Clwyd, then as County Borough
The borough of Wrexham,
Wrexham Rural District
Wrexham was a rural district in the administrative county of Denbighshire from 1894 and 1974.
The rural district took over the existing Wrexham Rural Sanitary District. It consisted of the following civil parishes:
* Abenbury
* Acton†
* Allin ...
(except
Llangollen Rural
Llangollen Rural ( cy, Llangollen Wledig) is a community and electoral ward in Wrexham County Borough, Wales. It contains the villages of Froncysyllte, Garth, and Trevor, and had a population of 1,999 at the 2001 census, and
Llantysilio
Llantysilio ( cy, Llandysilio-yn-Iâl) is a community in Denbighshire, Wales, near Llangollen. It has a population of 472, falling to 421 at the 2011 census.
The community includes the site of Valle Crucis Abbey, the Horseshoe Pass, and Llanty ...
),
Marford and Hoseley
Marford is a village in Wrexham County Borough, Wales, near the Wales-England border.
Marford covers some , where the hills of north-east Wales meet the Cheshire Plain. Distant landmarks that can be seen clearly from Marford include Eaton Hall ...
(from
Hawarden Rural District
Hawarden (; cy, Penarlâg) is a village, community and electoral ward in Flintshire, Wales. It is part of the Deeside conurbation on the Wales-England border and is home to Hawarden Castle. In the 2011 census the ward of the same name had ...
,
Flintshire
, settlement_type = County
, image_skyline =
, image_alt =
, image_caption =
, image_flag =
, image_shield = Arms of Flint ...
) and the neighbouring
Flintshire
, settlement_type = County
, image_skyline =
, image_alt =
, image_caption =
, image_flag =
, image_shield = Arms of Flint ...
exclave of the
Maelor Rural District
Maelor was a rural district in the administrative county of Flintshire, Wales, from 1894 to 1974. The area approximated to the hundred of Maelor or English Maelor ( cy, Maelor Saesneg), and was notable for forming a detached part of the county ...
, were abolished in 1974, all being absorbed into the
Wrexham Maelor
Wrexham Maelor ( cy, Wrecsam Maelor) was a local government district with borough status, being one of six districts in the county of Clwyd, north-east Wales, from 1974 to 1996.
History
The borough was created on 1 April 1974, under the Local G ...
district
A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...
of the then administrative county of
Clwyd
Clwyd () is a preserved county of Wales, situated in the north-east corner of the country; it is named after the River Clwyd, which runs through the area. To the north lies the Irish Sea, with the English ceremonial counties of Cheshire to th ...
.
Chirk and the Ceiriog Valley were part of the
Glyndŵr
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 ...
district.
Clwyd itself was abolished in 1996 as an administrative county, becoming a
preserved county
The preserved counties of Wales are the eight current areas used in Wales for the ceremonial purposes of lieutenancy and shrievalty. They are based on the counties created by the Local Government Act 1972 and used for local government and othe ...
for ceremonial
lieutenancy purposes.
Wrexham was established as a
county borough
County borough is a term introduced in 1889 in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, to refer to a borough or a city independent of county council control, similar to the unitary authorities created since the 1990s. An equivalent ter ...
(a
principal area {{Short description, Formal legal term for a county in England and Wales
In England and Wales local government legislation, a principal area is one of the sub-national areas established for control by a principal council. They include most of the ar ...
; same powers as counties in Wales) in 1996, containing all of the former Clwyd district of Wrexham Maelor, and the
communities
A community is a Level of analysis, social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place (geography), place, Norm (social), norms, religion, values, Convention (norm), customs, or Identity (social science), identity. Communiti ...
of
Chirk
Chirk ( cy, Y Waun) is a town and community in Wrexham County Borough, Wales, south of Wrexham, between it and Oswestry. At the 2011 census, it had a population of 4,468. Historically in the traditional county of Denbighshire, and later Clwy ...
,
Glyntraian
Glyntraian ( cy, Glyntraean) is a community in Wrexham County Borough, Wales.
The parish of Glyntraian, lying at the mouth of the Ceiriog Valley, was formed when the ancient parish of Llangollen was divided into three ''traeanau'' ("traean/tra ...
,
Llansantffraid Glyn Ceiriog
Glyn Ceiriog is the principal settlement of the Ceiriog Valley and a community in Wrexham County Borough, north-east Wales. Glyn Ceiriog translates simply as Ceiriog Valley, though there are other villages in the valley. The village and communit ...
and
Ceiriog Ucha
Ceiriog Ucha, also spelled as Ceiriog Uchaf (meaning "Upper Ceiriog"), is a community in Wrexham County Borough, Wales. The community lies in the Ceiriog Valley and comprises the villages of Llanarmon Dyffryn Ceiriog and Tregeiriog as well as ...
from the
Glyndŵr
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 ...
district.
Following formation in 1996, there were discussions over the boundary between the newly created principal areas of Denbighshire and Wrexham County Borough, in particular over the lower Dee Valley and Llangollen area.
Llangollen
Llangollen () is a town and community, situated on the River Dee, in Denbighshire, Wales. Its riverside location forms the edge of the Berwyn range, and the Dee Valley section of the Clwydian Range and Dee Valley Area of Outstanding Natural Beau ...
,
Llangollen Rural
Llangollen Rural ( cy, Llangollen Wledig) is a community and electoral ward in Wrexham County Borough, Wales. It contains the villages of Froncysyllte, Garth, and Trevor, and had a population of 1,999 at the 2001 census, and
Llantysillio were all considered to potentially all or partly become part of Wrexham County Borough. Referendums were held in the communities, with the community of
Llangollen Rural
Llangollen Rural ( cy, Llangollen Wledig) is a community and electoral ward in Wrexham County Borough, Wales. It contains the villages of Froncysyllte, Garth, and Trevor, and had a population of 1,999 at the 2001 census, , originally in Denbighshire in 1996, transferred to Wrexham County Borough in 1997 through the enacting of "The Denbighshire and Wrexham (Areas) Order 1996" on 1 April 1997.
Referendums by
Llangollen Town Council were held in 1993 and 2000, with the latter resulting in a narrow majority of nineteen votes for staying in Denbighshire, and the Welsh Assembly accepting the result by confirming the boundaries in 2002.
On 1 September 2022, the county borough was awarded city status on behalf of
Wrexham's application.
Geography
Wrexham County Borough is a landlocked
principal area {{Short description, Formal legal term for a county in England and Wales
In England and Wales local government legislation, a principal area is one of the sub-national areas established for control by a principal council. They include most of the ar ...
in Wales. It is a "border county" in the
Welsh Marches
The Welsh Marches ( cy, Y Mers) is an imprecisely defined area along the border between England and Wales in the United Kingdom. The precise meaning of the term has varied at different periods.
The English term Welsh March (in Medieval Latin ...
border region
The Border Region (coded IE041) is a NUTS Level III statistical region of Ireland. The name of the region refers to its location along the Republic of Ireland–United Kingdom border. It is not a cross-border region. It comprises the Irish coun ...
. It is bordered by the
English counties
The counties of England are areas used for different purposes, which include administrative, geographical, cultural and political demarcation. The term "county" is defined in several ways and can apply to similar or the same areas used by each ...
of
Cheshire
Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county t ...
to the east and
Shropshire
Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to th ...
to the south and south-east, and the Welsh counties of
Flintshire
, settlement_type = County
, image_skyline =
, image_alt =
, image_caption =
, image_flag =
, image_shield = Arms of Flint ...
to the north,
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 ...
to the west, and
Powys
Powys (; ) is a Local government in Wales#Principal areas, county and Preserved counties of Wales, preserved county in Wales. It is named after the Kingdom of Powys which was a Welsh succession of states, successor state, petty kingdom and princi ...
to the south-west.
Parts of the
Berwyn range
The Berwyn range (Welsh: ''Y Berwyn'' or ''Mynydd y Berwyn'') is an isolated and sparsely populated area of moorland in the northeast of Wales, roughly bounded by Llangollen in the northeast, Corwen in the northwest, Bala in the southwest, an ...
and
Maesyrchen Mountain
: ''Both Llantysilio Mountain and Maesyrchen Mountain re-direct here.''
Moel y Gamelin is a hill in Denbighshire, North Wales, to the northwest of the town of Llangollen. It is the highest summit of a range which stretches eastwards from near t ...
s, some part of the
Clwydian Range and Dee Valley
, iucn_category =V
, iucn_ref =
, photo =Sunny Hillside, Frosty Valley Dee Valley Wales (11014647076).jpg
, photo_width =
, photo_alt =Image of the view of the Dee Valley from Moel Y Gamelin
, photo_caption = ...
Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty
An Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB; , AHNE) is an area of countryside in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, that has been designated for conservation due to its significant landscape value. Areas are designated in recognition of thei ...
since
2011
File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...
, border the county borough to its west.
To the east across the River Dee, the county borough meets the
Cheshire Plain
The Cheshire Plain is a relatively flat expanse of lowland within the county of Cheshire in North West England but extending south into Shropshire. It extends from the Mersey Valley in the north to the Shropshire Hills in the south, bounded b ...
.
![English Maelor region map](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e2/English_Maelor_region_map.png)
The county borough's boundaries can be characterised by two protrusions from the largely contiguous borders surrounding the city of Wrexham, sometimes defined as
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 ...
(meaning "Welsh
Maelor
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 ...
"). To the south-east of the city, across the River Dee, the
English Maelor
English Maelor ( cy, Maelor Saesneg) comprises one half of the Maelor region on the Welsh side of the Wales-England border, being the area of the Maelor east of the River Dee. The region has changed counties several times, previously being part ...
( cy, Maelor Saesneg; a former part of
Historic Flintshire) extends to almost meet the English village of
Whitchurch, Shropshire
Whitchurch is a market town in the north of Shropshire, England. It lies east of the Welsh border, 2 miles south of the Cheshire border, north of the county town of Shrewsbury, south of Chester, and east of Wrexham. At the 2011 Census, the ...
and
Fenn's Moss. To the south-west, a large
salient of the county borough to the west of Chirk, along the
River Ceiriog
The River Ceiriog ( cy, Afon Ceiriog) is an long river in north east Wales, whose name may derive from a term meaning "favoured one". It is a tributary of the River Dee. It rises at an altitude of around on the south east slopes of Moel Ffern ...
and the surrounding
Ceiriog Valley
The Ceiriog Valley ( cy, Dyffryn Ceiriog) is the valley of the River Ceiriog in north-east Wales. Its Welsh name, "Dyffryn Ceiriog", is the name of an electoral ward of Wrexham County Borough. The ward is the largest ward of the county borough ...
meets the
Berwyn range
The Berwyn range (Welsh: ''Y Berwyn'' or ''Mynydd y Berwyn'') is an isolated and sparsely populated area of moorland in the northeast of Wales, roughly bounded by Llangollen in the northeast, Corwen in the northwest, Bala in the southwest, an ...
and the Powys border. The
highest point in the county borough is
Craig Berwyn, rising 790 metres on the Wrexham-Powys border in the Berwyn range. Other highland geographic features include:
Esclusham Mountain
Esclusham Mountain ( Welsh: ''Mynydd Esclus'' or ''Mynydd Esclys'') is an area in Wrexham County Borough, Wales, United Kingdom, and is part of the Ruabon Moors. It rises to a height of 460 m (1509 feet), with the nearby spur of Cyrn-y-Brain, to ...
,
Minera Mountain
Minera ( cy, Mwynglawdd; ) is a village and community in Wrexham County Borough, Wales. It adjoins the village of Coedpoeth.
The community, which in addition to Minera village includes a number of smaller hamlets such as Gwynfryn and New Brigh ...
, the peaks of
Moel Fferna
Moel Fferna is a mountain in Denbighshire, Wales and forms part of the Berwyn range. It is the most northern outpost of the range. The summit is covered in deep heather and has a shelter cairn.
A trig point used to mark the summit, but has sinc ...
,
Pen Bwlch Llandrillo
Moel yr Henfaes, also listed by the Nuttall's as Pen Bwlch Llandrillo Top and sometimes known as Moel yr Henfaes, is a mountain in North Wales and forms part of the Berwyn range.
To the south is the higher Berwyn summits, including Cadair Berw ...
,
Eglwyseg Mountain
The Eglwyseg valley is an area to the north east of Llangollen in Denbighshire, Wales; it is within the boundaries of Llantysilio Community. The name also refers to a widely scattered hamlet in the valley.
Formerly the old township of Eglwysegl ...
and
Cadair Bronwen
Cadair Bronwen is a mountain in North Wales and forms part of the Berwyn range. To the south are the higher Berwyn summits, including Cadair Berwyn. To the north lies Moel yr Henfaes and Moel Fferna, which top the north end of the Berwyn range ...
(all on the Denbighshire border), the
Ruabon Moors
The Ruabon Moors are an area of upland moorland in Wales to the west of Ruabon and Wrexham. They lie partly within Wrexham County Borough and partly within Denbighshire.
In the northern part of the moors are the areas known as Minera Mountain a ...
and
Ruabon Mountain.
The county borough is within the
preserved county
The preserved counties of Wales are the eight current areas used in Wales for the ceremonial purposes of lieutenancy and shrievalty. They are based on the counties created by the Local Government Act 1972 and used for local government and othe ...
of
Clwyd
Clwyd () is a preserved county of Wales, situated in the north-east corner of the country; it is named after the River Clwyd, which runs through the area. To the north lies the Irish Sea, with the English ceremonial counties of Cheshire to th ...
, and between 1974 and 1996 as part of the then administrative county of Clwyd, the present-day county borough was divided into the districts of
Wrexham Maelor
Wrexham Maelor ( cy, Wrecsam Maelor) was a local government district with borough status, being one of six districts in the county of Clwyd, north-east Wales, from 1974 to 1996.
History
The borough was created on 1 April 1974, under the Local G ...
and
Glyndŵr
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 ...
. Before Clwyd's establishment in 1974, the modern-day county borough was part of the
historic counties 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 ...
(spanning most of the modern-day county borough; including Wrexham), and
Flintshire
, settlement_type = County
, image_skyline =
, image_alt =
, image_caption =
, image_flag =
, image_shield = Arms of Flint ...
(the English Maelor exclave).
Offa's and
Wat's Dyke
Wat's Dyke ( cy, Clawdd Wat) is a linear earthwork running through the northern Welsh Marches from Basingwerk Abbey on the River Dee estuary, passing east of Oswestry and on to Maesbury in Shropshire, England. It runs generally parallel to ...
, and their respective pathways (
Offa's Dyke Path
Offa's Dyke Path ( cy, Llwybr Clawdd Offa) is a long-distance footpath loosely following the Wales–England border. Officially opened on 10 July 1971, by Lord Hunt, it is one of Britain's National Trails and draws walkers from throughout th ...
, and
Wat's Dyke Way) pass through the county borough. Other pathways include the Dee Way Walk, and
Maelor Way
Maelor Way is a key long distance footpath, running 38 kilometres / 24 miles from the Offa's Dyke Path National Trail at Bronygarth to the Shropshire Way, Sandstone Trail, Llangollen Canal, South Cheshire Way, and the Marches Way all at Grind ...
. The
Fenn's, Whixall and Bettisfield Mosses National Nature Reserve
Fenn's, Whixall and Bettisfield Mosses National Nature Reserve is a national nature reserve (NNR) which straddles the border between England and Wales, near Whixall and Ellesmere in Shropshire, England and Bettisfield in Wrexham County Borough ...
is located in the south-east of the county along the Wrexham-Shropshire border.
The county borough is largely urban and industrial surrounding Wrexham, but largely rural for the rest of the county borough, with areas of farmland and rural estates. Woodlands cover 9.4% of the county borough, lower than the national average of 14%.
![WrexhamBuiltUpArea](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/45/WrexhamBuiltUpArea.png)
The main settlement of the county borough is the city of
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 ...
. The
Wrexham built-up area, includes the neighbouring villages of
Gwersyllt,
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. ,
Brymbo,
Bradley
Bradley is an English surname derived from a place name meaning "broad wood" or "broad meadow" in Old English.
Like many English surnames Bradley can also be used as a given name and as such has become popular.
It is also an Anglicisation of t ...
and
New Broughton, forming
Wales' fourth largest urban area with 65,692 inhabitants. The two other towns in the county borough are
Chirk
Chirk ( cy, Y Waun) is a town and community in Wrexham County Borough, Wales, south of Wrexham, between it and Oswestry. At the 2011 census, it had a population of 4,468. Historically in the traditional county of Denbighshire, and later Clwy ...
and
Holt. The main villages of the county borough are
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 ...
,
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 ...
,
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 ...
,
Coedpoeth,
Gresford,
Llay,
Llansantffraid Glyn Ceiriog
Glyn Ceiriog is the principal settlement of the Ceiriog Valley and a community in Wrexham County Borough, north-east Wales. Glyn Ceiriog translates simply as Ceiriog Valley, though there are other villages in the valley. The village and communit ...
,
Llanarmon Dyffryn Ceiriog
Llanarmon Dyffryn Ceiriog (; often referred to as Llanarmon DC or locally simply as Llanarmon) is a village in Wrexham County Borough, Wales. It lies on the River Ceiriog and is at the end of the B4500 road, five miles (8 km) south-west of ...
,
Bangor-on-Dee
Bangor-on-Dee ( cy, Bangor-is-y-coed or Bangor Is-coed) is a village and community in Wrexham County Borough, Wales, on the banks of the River Dee. Until 1974 it was in the exclave of Flintshire known as the Maelor Saesneg, and from 1974 to 19 ...
and
Marchwiel
Marchwiel ( cy, Marchwiail) is a village and community in Wrexham County Borough, Wales.
It is about 2 miles south-east of Wrexham city on the A525 road towards Bangor-on-Dee. The community has an area of 1,488 hectares and a population of 1,4 ...
. Rhosllanerchrugog's built-up area extends to Ruabon, Cefn Mawr and Acrefair, with a total population of 25,362 in 2011.
Rivers in the county borough include the rivers:
Alyn,
Cegidog,
Ceiriog,
Clywedog,
Dee,
Eitha,
Gwenfro,
Nant-y-Ffrith
Nant-y-Ffrith refers to a stream and the wooded valley through which it flows on the border between Flintshire and Wrexham County Borough in Wales. The stream begins in moorland to the east of Llandegla. It passes Bwlchgwyn village before ente ...
and the
Wych Brook
The Wych Brook, Worthenbury Brook and Red Brook, formerly known as the River Elfe, is a tributary of the River Dee in England and Wales, forming part of both the historic and present-day border between the two countries. The stream forms part ...
. Some of these rivers form the edges of the county borough, such as the Dee, Nant-y-Ffrith and Wych.
The River Dee is the main river in the county borough, flowing from Denbighshire in the west into the county borough passing
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 ...
, under
Pontcysyllte Aqueduct
The Pontcysyllte Aqueduct (; cy, Traphont Ddŵr Pontcysyllte) is a navigable aqueduct that carries the Llangollen Canal across the River Dee in the Vale of Llangollen in northeast Wales.
The 18-arched stone and cast iron structure is for use ...
, and passing Chirk, until it flows north-east towards England, cutting off the county borough's south-east salient of
Maelor Saesneg
English Maelor ( cy, Maelor Saesneg) comprises one half of the Maelor region on the Welsh side of the Wales-England border, being the area of the Maelor east of the River Dee. The region has changed counties several times, previously being part ...
(meaning "English Maelor") and later forming part of the
border between Wales and England. River Alyn, a
tributary
A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drainage ...
of the Dee, flows in the north of the county borough.
![Acton Park lake, Wrexham](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/06/Acton_Park_lake%2C_Wrexham.jpg)
Lakes in the county borough include:
Acton Park Lake,
Cae Llwyd Reservoir
Cae Llwyd is a reservoir located between Llwyneinion and the Ruabon Moors in Wrexham County Borough, Wales.
Description
The reservoir is an impounded lake holding raw water. It is dammed with a soil embankment consisting of a puddle clay c ...
,
Chirk Castle Lake,
Fenn's Bank Mere,
Gresford Flash (The Flash),
Hanmer Mere,
Llyn Bedydd,
Monk's Pool,
Pant-yr-ochain Lake,
Penycae Top Reservoir,
Ty Mawr Reservoir
Ty Mawr is a reservoir located between Llwyneinion and the Ruabon Moors in Wrexham County Borough, Wales. It is next to Cae Llwyd Reservoir.
Description
The reservoir opened in 1908, and is operated today by Hafren Dyfrdwy on behalf of Seve ...
, and
Wynnstay Park Lake.
There is a
veteran tree
A veteran () is a person who has significant experience (and is usually adept and esteemed) and expertise in a particular occupation or field. A military veteran is a person who is no longer serving in a military.
A military veteran that h ...
, said to be over 1,000 years old, near Chirk, known as the
Oak at the Gate of the Dead. There are also some caves under
Esclusham Mountain
Esclusham Mountain ( Welsh: ''Mynydd Esclus'' or ''Mynydd Esclys'') is an area in Wrexham County Borough, Wales, United Kingdom, and is part of the Ruabon Moors. It rises to a height of 460 m (1509 feet), with the nearby spur of Cyrn-y-Brain, to ...
to the west of the county borough, with caves such as:
Ogof Dydd Byraf
Ogof Dydd Byraf is a cave which extends under Esclusham Mountain in the north-east Wales from its entrance in the south face of the Minera Limeworks quarry. It was originally discovered and explored in 1964 by the Wrexham Caving Club, before it ...
and
Ogof Llyn Parc
Ogof Llyn Parc usually known as Pool Park is a cave on Esclusham Mountain above Wrexham, Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and we ...
.
Country parks
There are eleven urban and country parks in the county borough operated by
Wrexham council, these include all the country parks, three urban parks in Wrexham and Ponciau, as well as the Nant Mill Visitor Centre and
Brynkinalt Park.
The seven
country park
A country park is a natural area designated for people to visit and enjoy recreation in a countryside environment.
United Kingdom
History
In the United Kingdom, the term ''country park'' has a special meaning. There are around 250 recognised coun ...
s in the county borough are:
Alyn Waters
Alyn Waters ( cy, Dyfroedd Alun) is a country park situated between Gwersyllt and Llay in Wrexham County Borough, in the north-east of Wales, and is managed by Wrexham County Borough Council.
Alyn Waters takes its name from the River Alyn
...
,
Bonc-yr-Hafod
Bonc yr Hafod (meaning: ''Hafod Bank'') is a country park, on the former site of Hafod Colliery, near Johnstown and Pentre Bychan in Wrexham County Borough, Wales. The country park is centred on a former spoil tip hill, known locally as "Picn ...
,
Erddig Park,
Minera Leadmines
The Minera Lead Mines were a mining operation and are now a country park and tourist centre in the village of Minera near Wrexham, in Wrexham County Borough, Wales.
History
The first written record of lead mining at Minera dates back to 1296 ...
,
Moss Valley,
Stryt Las Park, and
Tŷ Mawr.
There are two
country house
An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a town house. This allowed them to spend time in the country and in the city—hence, for these peopl ...
estates with significant areas of parkland and woodland, those being at
Brynkinalt
Brynkinalt Hall ( cy, Neuadd Bryncunallt; or simply Brynkinalt (); also spelled as Brynkinallt or Bryn-kinallt) is a Grade-II* listed private property, built in 1612, near Chirk, Wrexham County Borough, Wales. The hall is surrounded by an est ...
(near Chirk; with the
Brynkinalt Park; also known as Chirk Green being council-operated), and at
Erddig
Erddig Hall ( cy, Neuadd Erddig; or simply Erddig; ) is a Grade-I listed National Trust property in Wrexham, Wales. Standing south of Wrexham city centre, it comprises a country house built during the 17th and 18th centuries amidst a 1,900 ac ...
(
National Trust
The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...
-operated; south of Wrexham).
Iscoyd Park
Iscoyd Park is a three-storey redbrick country house in Wrexham County Borough, Wales. It has a slate roof built in the early 18th century. It was sold in 1737 to William Hanmer. The house and estate was then purchased by Philip Lake Godsal in 184 ...
in Maelor Saesneg also boasts some parkland.
Nant Mill hosts a Visitor Centre on the
Clywedog Trail
The Clywedog Trail is a footpath close to Wrexham in Wales. Starting at the Minera Lead Mines and running to King's Mills it follows the course of the River Clywedog. It is a haven for walking, relaxation and enjoying the peace of the wil ...
and is surrounded by woodland, whereas Stryt Las Park between
Rhos and
Johnstown hosts grassland, woodland and ponds. Both are operated by the council.
Wrexham city has two main city parks,
Bellevue Park,
and
Acton Park,
there is also a
city centre green in-front of the council's Guildhall.
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 ...
and
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 ...
have
Ponciau Banks Park as their urban park.
87% of the population in the county borough is within two miles of the main parks in the county borough.
The remaining areas are already largely rural, in particular the Ceiriog valley and English Maelor.
Clywedog Trail
The Clywedog Trail is a footpath close to Wrexham in Wales. Starting at the Minera Lead Mines and running to King's Mills it follows the course of the River Clywedog. It is a haven for walking, relaxation and enjoying the peace of the wil ...
spans for along the
River Clywedog
The River Clywedog is a river in Wrexham County Borough, Wales. Its uses have been watering crops, powering industrial machinery but is now used as walking trails or geography trips. The river originates to the west of Wrexham, and joins the ...
, from the Minera Lead Mines to King's Mills.
Offa's Dyke Path
Offa's Dyke Path ( cy, Llwybr Clawdd Offa) is a long-distance footpath loosely following the Wales–England border. Officially opened on 10 July 1971, by Lord Hunt, it is one of Britain's National Trails and draws walkers from throughout th ...
passes through the county borough.
Bonc-yr-Hafod and Stryt Las are both part of the
Stryt Las a'r Hafod Site of Special Scientific Interest
A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle of ...
(SSSI).
Politics and local government
The
principal area {{Short description, Formal legal term for a county in England and Wales
In England and Wales local government legislation, a principal area is one of the sub-national areas established for control by a principal council. They include most of the ar ...
(styled as a "county borough") is governed by
Wrexham County Borough Council
Wrexham County Borough Council () is the governing body for Wrexham County Borough, a Principal area of Wales, principal area in North Wales, north Wales, covering Wrexham and the surrounding area.
History
Elections take place every five years ...
, a Welsh local authority
principal council
A Principal council is a local government authority carrying out statutory duties in a principal area in England and Wales.
The term “principal council” was first defined in the Local Government Act 1972, Section 270. This act created great r ...
. Most offices of the council are situated within
Wrexham city centre
Wrexham city centre is the administrative, cultural and historic city centre of Wrexham, in North Wales and is the area enclosed by the inner ring road of the city. It is the largest shopping area in north and mid Wales, and the administrative ...
, around
Llwyn Isaf
Llwyn Isaf ("lower grove") is a green space in the centre of Wrexham. It is surrounded on two sides by the city's guildhall and on another by the library.
The space is most popular with students from the nearby Yale College of Wrexham, Yale Coll ...
, Lord Street and Chester Street. Its customer contact centre, "Contact Wrexham" is located at 16 Lord Street. The headquarters of the council's Chief Executive is at the Guildhall ( cy, Neuadd y Dref; ) in Wrexham.
From May 2022, there are
forty-nine electoral wards
The wards and electoral divisions in the United Kingdom are electoral districts at sub-national level, represented by one or more councillors. The ward is the primary unit of English electoral geography for civil parishes and borough and distri ...
for the council, with seven having two councillors.
![2022 Wales Wrexham Ward election results map](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/82/2022_Wales_Wrexham_Ward_election_results_map.svg)
The most recent
Wrexham County Borough election on
5 May 2022, resulted in independent politicians maintaining their position as the largest group with 23 members but falling short of a majority, leaving the council in
no overall control. Since 2017, the principal council has been operated by a coalition of local
independents, the "Wrexham Independents" group and the
Conservatives
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...
. Following the 2022 election, on 11 May 2022, local independents and the separately organised "Wrexham Independents" merged into a 21-member "Independent Group", and formed a coalition with the Conservatives again for another five-year term. The next election for the council is due for 6 May 2027, as part of the next Welsh local elections.
![The Glyn Valley (geograph 6992544)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/37/The_Glyn_Valley_%28geograph_6992544%29.jpg)
The county borough was formed on 1 April 1996 following the enactment of the
Local Government (Wales) Act 1994
The Local Government (Wales) Act 1994 (c. 19) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which amended the Local Government Act 1972 to create the current local government structure in Wales of 22 unitary authority areas, referred to as ...
, containing the district of
Wrexham Maelor
Wrexham Maelor ( cy, Wrecsam Maelor) was a local government district with borough status, being one of six districts in the county of Clwyd, north-east Wales, from 1974 to 1996.
History
The borough was created on 1 April 1974, under the Local G ...
and some communities of
Glyndŵr
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 ...
, namely
Chirk
Chirk ( cy, Y Waun) is a town and community in Wrexham County Borough, Wales, south of Wrexham, between it and Oswestry. At the 2011 census, it had a population of 4,468. Historically in the traditional county of Denbighshire, and later Clwy ...
,
Glyntraian
Glyntraian ( cy, Glyntraean) is a community in Wrexham County Borough, Wales.
The parish of Glyntraian, lying at the mouth of the Ceiriog Valley, was formed when the ancient parish of Llangollen was divided into three ''traeanau'' ("traean/tra ...
,
Llansantffraid Glyn Ceiriog
Glyn Ceiriog is the principal settlement of the Ceiriog Valley and a community in Wrexham County Borough, north-east Wales. Glyn Ceiriog translates simply as Ceiriog Valley, though there are other villages in the valley. The village and communit ...
, and
Ceiriog Ucha
Ceiriog Ucha, also spelled as Ceiriog Uchaf (meaning "Upper Ceiriog"), is a community in Wrexham County Borough, Wales. The community lies in the Ceiriog Valley and comprises the villages of Llanarmon Dyffryn Ceiriog and Tregeiriog as well as ...
, and later
Llangollen Rural
Llangollen Rural ( cy, Llangollen Wledig) is a community and electoral ward in Wrexham County Borough, Wales. It contains the villages of Froncysyllte, Garth, and Trevor, and had a population of 1,999 at the 2001 census, in 1997.
Borough
A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely.
History
In the Middle Ag ...
status was inherited from the town of Wrexham, which was granted to the then town in September 1857.
The area includes a portion of the eastern half of the
historic county of Denbighshire and two
exclave
An enclave is a territory (or a small territory apart of a larger one) that is entirely surrounded by the territory of one other state or entity. Enclaves may also exist within territorial waters. ''Enclave'' is sometimes used improperly to deno ...
s of
historic Flintshire:
English Maelor
English Maelor ( cy, Maelor Saesneg) comprises one half of the Maelor region on the Welsh side of the Wales-England border, being the area of the Maelor east of the River Dee. The region has changed counties several times, previously being part ...
and the parish of
Marford and Hoseley
Marford is a village in Wrexham County Borough, Wales, near the Wales-England border.
Marford covers some , where the hills of north-east Wales meet the Cheshire Plain. Distant landmarks that can be seen clearly from Marford include Eaton Hall ...
.
The county borough is in the
East Wales
East Wales ( cy, Dwyrain Cymru) refers to either a ITL 3 statistical region of Wales or generally a region encompassing the easternmost parts of the country.
Usage
The UK Office for National Statistics has as its highest level sub-division, E ...
ITL 2 (formerly
NUTS 2
Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics or NUTS (french: Nomenclature des unités territoriales statistiques) is a geocode standard for referencing the subdivisions of countries for statistical purposes. The standard, adopted in 2003 ...
) and "Flintshire and Wrexham"
ITL 3 (formerly
NUTS 3
Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics or NUTS (french: Nomenclature des unités territoriales statistiques) is a geocode standard for referencing the subdivisions of countries for statistical purposes. The standard, adopted in 2003 ...
) statistical regions by the UK's
Office for National Statistics
The Office for National Statistics (ONS; cy, Swyddfa Ystadegau Gwladol) is the executive office of the UK Statistics Authority, a non-ministerial department which reports directly to the UK Parliament.
Overview
The ONS is responsible for th ...
(and until 2020
Eurostat
Eurostat ('European Statistical Office'; DG ESTAT) is a Directorate-General of the European Commission located in the Kirchberg, Luxembourg, Kirchberg quarter of Luxembourg City, Luxembourg. Eurostat's main responsibilities are to provide statis ...
). It is regarded to be in the
North East Wales
North East Wales ( cy, Gogledd-Ddwyrain Cymru) refers to an area or region of Wales, commonly defined as a grouping of the principal areas of Denbighshire, Flintshire, and Wrexham County Borough in the north-east of the country. These principal ...
and
North Wales
, area_land_km2 = 6,172
, postal_code_type = Postcode
, postal_code = LL, CH, SY
, image_map1 = Wales North Wales locator map.svg
, map_caption1 = Six principal areas of Wales common ...
non-administrative regions (and the associated regional bodies, such as
North Wales Economic Ambition Board,
North Wales Police
North Wales Police ( cy, Heddlu Gogledd Cymru) is the territorial police force responsible for policing North Wales. Its headquarters are in Colwyn Bay. , the force has 1,510 police officers, 170 special constables, 182 police community support ...
,
North Wales Fire and Rescue Service
The North Wales Fire and Rescue Service (NWFRS; cy, Gwasanaeth Tân ac Achub Gogledd Cymru) is the fire and rescue service covering the principal areas of Anglesey, Conwy, Denbighshire, Flintshire, Gwynedd and Wrexham in the north of Wales. ...
,
Tourism Partnership North Wales, and
Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board
Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board (BCUHB) ( cy, Bwrdd Iechyd Prifysgol Betsi Cadwaladr) is the local health board of NHS Wales for the north of Wales. It is the largest health organisation in Wales, providing a full range of primary, commun ...
).
In general elections, the county borough spans two
constituencies
An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, or (election) precinct is a subdivision of a larger state (a country, administrative region, or other polity ...
, currently () the same for both
UK Parliament
The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative supremac ...
ary
elections
An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office.
Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has operate ...
, and devolved
Welsh Parliament
The Senedd (; ), officially known as the Welsh Parliament in English and () in Welsh, is the devolved, unicameral legislature of Wales. A democratically elected body, it makes laws for Wales, agrees certain taxes and scrutinises the Welsh Gove ...
ary (Senedd)
elections
An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office.
Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has operate ...
; the constituencies of
Clwyd South and
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 ...
. From the
next United Kingdom general election
The next United Kingdom general election is scheduled to be held no later than January 2025. It will determine the 59th House of Commons.
Background
The next election is scheduled to be held no later than January 2025, after the Dissolution a ...
, where Wales' constituencies are reduced from 40 to 32 following the
2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies
The 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies is the current cycle of the process to redraw the constituency map for the House of Commons. The process for periodic reviews of parliamentary constituencies in the United Kingdom is gover ...
; under September 2021 draft proposals by the
Boundary Commission for Wales
The boundary commissions in the United Kingdom are non-departmental public bodies responsible for determining the boundaries of constituencies for elections to the House of Commons. There are four boundary commissions:
* Boundary Commission for ...
; the county borough would be served by an expanded "Wrexham" constituency, the north-western parts to be within an expanded
Alyn and Deeside (currently wholly in Flintshire), and the Wrexham sections of the Clwyd South constituency transferred to a new "Montgomeryshire and Glyndŵr" constituency shared with parts of Powys.
Polling done by
UnHerd
''UnHerd'' is a British news and opinion website founded in July 2017.
Content
''UnHerd'' was founded in 2017 by conservative British political activist Tim Montgomerie, who also acted as editor. Following Montgomerie's departure in September ...
, showed that of those polled 54% of the county borough supported the continued reign of the
British Monarch
The monarchy of the United Kingdom, commonly referred to as the British monarchy, is the constitutional form of government by which a hereditary sovereign reigns as the head of state of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies (the Bailiwi ...
, compared to 23% and 21% opposed, and 23% and 25% don't know, in the Wrexham and Clwyd South constituencies respectively.
In the 2016 National Survey for Wales, only 45.9% of the population agreed or strongly agreed that Wrexham County Borough Council provides quality services, below the Welsh average of 59.3%.
Local recent political history
On 23 June 2016 in the
2016 EU referendum
The United Kingdom European Union membership referendum, commonly referred to as the EU referendum or the Brexit referendum, took place on 23 June 2016 in the United Kingdom (UK) and Gibraltar to ask the electorate whether the country shoul ...
, the county borough voted in favour of
Leave
Leave may refer to:
* Permission (disambiguation)
** Permitted absence from work
*** Leave of absence, a period of time that one is to be away from one's primary job while maintaining the status of employee
*** Annual leave, allowance of time away ...
.
In the
2019 United Kingdom general election
The 2019 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday, 12 December 2019. It resulted in the Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Party receiving a Landslide victory, landslide majority of 80 seats. The Conservatives made a net gain of 4 ...
, Conservative candidates won the constituencies of
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 ...
and
Clwyd South for the first time in their existence.
The constituencies were generally considered to be Labour heartlands part of its "
red wall", and were won by Labour in the
June 2017 election, as well as previous elections. In the
2021 Senedd election
1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...
,
Welsh Labour
Welsh Labour ( cy, Llafur Cymru) is the branch of the United Kingdom Labour Party in Wales and the largest party in modern Welsh politics. Welsh Labour and its forebears won a plurality of the Welsh vote at every UK general election since 1922 ...
incumbents for the
Senedd constituencies of
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 ...
and
Clwyd South covering the county borough were re-elected.
In 2021, the council submitted bids for
UK City of Culture 2025
Bradford UK City of Culture 2025 is a designation given to City of Bradford, Bradford, England, between 2025 and 2029 by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). The designation means that Bradford gains access to funding to ...
on behalf of the county borough although later lost to
Bradford
Bradford is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Bradford district in West Yorkshire, England. The city is in the Pennines' eastern foothills on the banks of the Bradford Beck. Bradford had a population of 349,561 at the 2011 ...
, and a separate bid, submitted in December 2021, to award the then town of Wrexham the
status of a city for the
civic honours awarded for the
2022 Platinum Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II, which it later won. It was the
only city bid from Wales, and Wrexham has applied for city status three other times, in
2000
File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...
,
2002
File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...
and
2012
File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...
, with the 2012 bid lost to
St Asaph
St Asaph (; cy, Llanelwy "church on the Elwy") is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and community (Wales), community on the River Elwy in Denbighshire, Wales. In the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 Census it had a population of 3,355 ...
,
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 ...
. City status was awarded to the "County Borough of Wrexham" on behalf of Wrexham on 1 September 2022.
Westminster members
Senedd members
Communities
Electoral wards
Economy and industry
The economy of the county borough has changed over the past few decades, from a largely coal-mining focused heavy industrial area, into a high-tech manufacturing, technological and service industry hub.
The main industry is manufacturing with around 20% (18.3% in 2011 census) of employment in the county borough being in the manufacturing sector.
The other largest sectors from the 2011 census include: 15.2% in the Wholesale and retail sector (including vehicle repair), 14.6% health sector, 8.9% education, 6.9% construction, 6.0% government and military, 4.9% accommodation and food service, 4.4% administration and support services, 4.3% transport, 3.9% professional, scientific and technical, 2.8% finance and industry, 1.8% IT and 8% other.
When classed together the public sector counts for more than a third of jobs in the county borough.
75% of the total land in the county borough is managed by farmers.
Brewing
History
![The original Wrexham Lager Brewery - geograph](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/14/The_original_Wrexham_Lager_Brewery_-_geograph.org.uk_-_341064.jpg)
In the 19th century, a brewing industry developed in Wrexham town, alongside the then town's existing leather and coal industry. The town became a brewing centre due to the town's good underground water supplies near but not of the
River Gwenfro
The River Gwenfro ( cy, Afon Gwenfro) is a small river in Wrexham County Borough, north Wales. It is a tributary of the Clywedog.''Rand McNally encyclopedia of world rivers'', 1980, p.167 The name Gwenfro is possibly derived from the Welsh lang ...
.
The
sands and
gravel
Gravel is a loose aggregation of rock fragments. Gravel occurs naturally throughout the world as a result of sedimentary and erosive geologic processes; it is also produced in large quantities commercially as crushed stone.
Gravel is classifi ...
s in the surrounding
river plain
A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands is an area of land adjacent to a river which stretches from the banks of its channel to the base of the enclosing valley walls, and which experiences flooding during periods of high discharge.Goudi ...
filters
groundwater
Groundwater is the water present beneath Earth's surface in rock and soil pore spaces and in the fractures of rock formations. About 30 percent of all readily available freshwater in the world is groundwater. A unit of rock or an unconsolidate ...
which builds up on the
impervious rocks beneath.
Wrexham also sits above a
faultline
In geology, a fault is a planar fracture or discontinuity in a volume of rock across which there has been significant displacement as a result of rock-mass movements. Large faults within Earth's crust result from the action of plate tectonic ...
, dividing the area into a mineral-rich
hard water
Hard water is water that has high mineral content (in contrast with "soft water"). Hard water is formed when water percolates through deposits of limestone, chalk or gypsum, which are largely made up of calcium and magnesium carbonates, bicarbo ...
east suitable for
brewing beer, and a
soft water
Hard water is water that has high mineral content (in contrast with "soft water"). Hard water is formed when water percolates through deposits of limestone, chalk or gypsum, which are largely made up of calcium and magnesium carbonates, bicarbo ...
west for
lager
Lager () is beer which has been brewed and conditioned at low temperature. Lagers can be pale, amber, or dark. Pale lager is the most widely consumed and commercially available style of beer. The term "lager" comes from the German for "storage" ...
.
Many breweries were also set up in the medieval times in 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 Wrexham Abbot which would have had lower taxes than Wrexham Regis, the areas controlled by
the Crown
The Crown is the state in all its aspects within the jurisprudence of the Commonwealth realms and their subdivisions (such as the Crown Dependencies, overseas territories, provinces, or states). Legally ill-defined, the term has different ...
.
By the 1860s, there were 19 breweries in the town.
Many brewers became leading politicians in the town, with two brewers, Thomas Rowland and Peter Walker disagreeing who should be
mayor of Wrexham
The mayor of Wrexham is the civic figurehead and first citizen of the city of Wrexham, and Wrexham County Borough in the north of Wales. The position is elected by members of Wrexham County Borough Council at their annual meeting, and today, hold ...
.
Wrexham Lager
Wrexham Lager is a brewery in Wrexham, north-east Wales, that has produced alcoholic drink for more than 120 years. A new brewery opened in 2011 in the heart of Wrexham, after the original closed in 2000. The original brewery was demolishe ...
has been brewed in Wrexham since 1882.
The brewery produced the first
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ger ...
-brewed lager in the United Kingdom, and was located in Wrexham for the brewing quality of its underground
spring water
A spring is a point of exit at which groundwater from an aquifer flows out on top of Earth's crust (pedosphere) and becomes surface water. It is a component of the hydrosphere. Springs have long been important for humans as a source of fresh w ...
.
The lager was reputedly served on board the
Titanic
RMS ''Titanic'' was a British passenger liner, operated by the White Star Line, which sank in the North Atlantic Ocean on 15 April 1912 after striking an iceberg during her maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City, United ...
, other
White Star Line
The White Star Line was a British shipping company. Founded out of the remains of a defunct packet company, it gradually rose up to become one of the most prominent shipping lines in the world, providing passenger and cargo services between t ...
ships and by soldiers during the
Siege of Khartoum
The Siege of Khartoum (also known as the Battle of Khartoum or Fall of Khartoum) occurred from 13 March 1884 to 26 January 1885. Sudanese Mahdist forces captured the city of Khartoum from its Egyptian garrison, thereby gaining control over the ...
.
It is also claimed to be the first lager to been exported to countries such as
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
,
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...
,
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
and various countries in
the Americas
The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North America, North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World. ...
.
The brand started to decline during the
World Wars
A world war is an international conflict which involves all or most of the world's major powers. Conventionally, the term is reserved for two major international conflicts that occurred during the first half of the 20th century, World WarI (1914 ...
, following changing consumer tastes,
rationalisation, and the
internationalisation
In economics, internationalization or internationalisation is the process of increasing involvement of enterprises in international markets, although there is no agreed definition of internationalization. Internationalization is a crucial strateg ...
of the industry.
The brewery was bought by
Ind Coope & Allsopp, eventually merged into
Allied Breweries
Allied Breweries was the result of a 1961 merger between Ind Coope (of Burton), Ansells (of Birmingham), and Tetley Walker (of Leeds).
In 1978, Allied Breweries merged with the food and catering group J. Lyons and Co to form Allied Lyons. The bre ...
and later
Carlsberg-Tetley.
The original brewery located on top of the Gwenfro was closed by Carlsberg in 2000, with all UK-wide production by Carlsberg of the brand ceasing in 2002. The modern brewery, constructed in the late-20th century, was demolished between 2002 and 2003,
and was replaced with Wrexham Central Retail Park. The original brewhouse building on Central Road within the now retail park remains as 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 ...
.
Another known brewery formerly operating in Wrexham was Soames's Brewery, and what later became
Border Breweries. The brewery can be traced back to a minor brewing business operating out of the Nag's Head
Public House
A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...
on Tuttle Street.
It wasn't until 1874 following an acquisition, that "Wrexham Brewery" started to become a major producer. In his 1892 tour,
Alfred Barnard
Alfred Barnard (1837–1918) was a British brewing and distilling historian.
Life and work
According to the limited family records available, Barnard was born in 1837 into a Baptist family in Thaxted, a rural village in Essex. He was one of eight ...
described Soames's to have the best beer in Wrexham.
The Border Breweries company was formed from the merger of Soames Wrexham Brewery, Island Green Brewery and Dorsett Owen in 1931.
It was purchased by
Marston's Brewery
Marston's plc is a British pub and hotel operator. Founded by John Marston in 1834, it is listed on the London Stock Exchange. Marston's disposed of its brewing operations in 2020, selling the assets to a newly formed joint venture with the Ca ...
in 1984 and closed by Marston's six months later despite stating otherwise.
Other former breweries include Albion, Cambrian, Eagle, Island Green, and Willow.
=Present day
=
In 2011, the Wrexham Lager brand was revived, launched in the Buck House Hotel in Bangor-on-Dee, it later moved to a newly built high-tech
microbrewery
Craft beer is a beer that has been made by craft breweries. They produce smaller amounts of beer, typically less than large breweries, and are often independently owned. Such breweries are generally perceived and marketed as having an emphasis o ...
on St. George's Crescent to the east of Wrexham city centre from the original brewery.
In recent years, the lager has experienced success, with the lager in 2022 announced it will be sold in
Aldi
Aldi (stylised as ALDI) is the common company brand name of two German multinational family-owned discount supermarket chains operating over 10,000 stores in 20 countries. The chain was founded by brothers Karl and Theo Albrecht in 1946, when t ...
stores across Wales and England.
, the other microbreweries currently set up in the county borough include: Big Hand Microbrewery (Wrexham Ind. Est.), Magic Dragon Brewery (Plassey), McGivern Ales (Ruabon), and Sandstone Brewery.
Red brick
![Brick building at Pen-y-bont - geograph](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/59/Brick_building_at_Pen-y-bont_-_geograph.org.uk_-_768572.jpg)
Ruabon to the west of the county borough has a deep history in
brick
A brick is a type of block used to build walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction. Properly, the term ''brick'' denotes a block composed of dried clay, but is now also used informally to denote other chemically cured cons ...
and tile-making. This is owed to its vast amounts of high quality Etruria Marl clay. In the 19th century this clay was the centrepiece for Ruabon's tile and
terracotta
Terracotta, terra cotta, or terra-cotta (; ; ), in its material sense as an earthenware substrate, is a clay-based ceramic glaze, unglazed or glazed ceramic where the pottery firing, fired body is porous.
In applied art, craft, construction, a ...
production on a vast scale, leading the village to be nicknamed "Terracottapolis".
Its former manufacturing speciality the "Ruabon Red Brick" were used in various buildings of the
Victorian era
In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardia ...
, such as the
Pierhead Building
The Pierhead Building ( cy, Adeilad y Pierhead) is a Grade I listed building in Cardiff Bay, Wales. One of Cardiff's most familiar landmarks, it was built in 1897 as the headquarters for the Bute Dock Company.
The Pierhead Building is part of th ...
in
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 ...
,
Victoria Building of
Liverpool University
, mottoeng = These days of peace foster learning
, established = 1881 – University College Liverpool1884 – affiliated to the federal Victoria Universityhttp://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukla/2004/4 University of Manchester Act 200 ...
and in the
restoration of the Taj Mahal.
Hafod Brickworks were established near
Hafod Colliery in 1878, and a "Red Works" in 1893.
The bricks contributed to the term "redbrick" in the term "
Redbrick university
A red brick university (or redbrick university) was originally one of the nine civic universities founded in the major industrial cities of England in the 19th century.
However, with the 1960s proliferation of plate glass universities and t ...
". Brick production largely ceased in the 1970s, with production mainly focused on quarry tiles.
Former mining
In 1854, there were 26
coal mines
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 ...
operating in the western uplands of Wrexham.
The main mines were located at
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 ...
,
Rhos,
Acrefair,
Brymbo and
Broughton (particularly around the
Moss Valley). Mining operations were later concentrated, with larger colleries such as
Westminster
Westminster is an area of Central London, part of the wider City of Westminster.
The area, which extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street, has many visitor attractions and historic landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Bu ...
,
Hafod
Hafod is a district of the city of Swansea, in South Wales, U.K., and lies just north of the city centre, within the Landore ward. Hafod is the home to the Hafod Copperworks, founded in 1810 and closed in 1980 which is now being developed i ...
(now
Bonc-yr-Hafod park),
Bersham
Bersham ( cy, Y Bers) is a village in Wrexham County Borough, Wales, that lies next to the River Clywedog, and is in the community of Esclusham. Bersham was historically a major industrial centre of the area, but despite this the village sti ...
,
Wynnstay
Wynnstay is a country house within an important landscaped park 1.3 km (0.75 miles) south-east of Ruabon, near Wrexham, Wales. Wynnstay, previously Watstay, is a famous estate and the family seat of the Wynns. The house was sold in 1948 and ...
,
Wrexham and Acton,
Llay Hall and
Gatewen commencing operations.
By the 20th century, two deep coal pits were dug, one at Gresford opening in 1911,
and another at Llay Main.
In 1934, a
colliery disaster in Gresford killed 261 miners, with 3 rescuers also killed in the rescue operations. In the late 20th century, the traditional industries of Wrexham, in particular coal-mining, went into decline. Llay Main closed in 1966, Hafod closed in 1968, Gresford Colliery closed in 1973, and Bersham Colliery closed in 1986.
Industrial estate
There are 25 different industrial and business parks in the county borough,
with
Wrexham Industrial Estate
Wrexham Industrial Estate (Welsh: ) is a well defined industrial area in Wrexham. It is sited on the eastern outskirts of the city and 2.5 miles from the centre of Wrexham. Originally the site of a World War II munitions factory, the estate lat ...
being the largest, located 2.5 miles east from Wrexham and on the site of a former
World War II
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 opposin ...
munitions factory.
![Kronospan Factory - geograph](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/87/Kronospan_Factory_-_geograph.org.uk_-_2347422.jpg)
Wrexham Industrial Estate is the largest industrial area in Wales, among the top ten in the United Kingdom and one of the largest in Europe.
There are around 360 businesses in the estate, providing 10,000 jobs.
The main industries operating in the industrial estate include:
banking
A bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital markets.
Because ...
and
finance
Finance is the study and discipline of money, currency and capital assets. It is related to, but not synonymous with economics, the study of production, distribution, and consumption of money, assets, goods and services (the discipline of fina ...
,
automotive,
engineering
Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...
,
pharmaceutical
A medication (also called medicament, medicine, pharmaceutical drug, medicinal drug or simply drug) is a drug used to diagnose, cure, treat, or prevent disease. Drug therapy (pharmacotherapy) is an important part of the medical field and re ...
,
aerospace
Aerospace is a term used to collectively refer to the atmosphere and outer space. Aerospace activity is very diverse, with a multitude of commercial, industrial and military applications. Aerospace engineering consists of aeronautics and astrona ...
, and
food and beverage
The foodservice (US English) or catering (British English) industry includes the businesses, institutions, and companies which prepare meals outside the home. It includes restaurants, school and hospital cafeterias, catering operations, and many ...
.
The
Oxford–AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine
The Oxford–AstraZeneca COVID19 vaccine, sold under the brand names Covishield and Vaxzevria among others, is a viral vector vaccine for prevention of COVID-19. Developed in the United Kingdom by Oxford University and British-Swedish comp ...
was manufactured at the
Wockhardt UK facility in the industrial estate.
HM Prison Berwyn
HM Prison Berwyn ( cy, Carchar Berwyn EF; ) is a £250 million Category C adult male prison in Wrexham County Borough, Wales. It is the largest prison in the UK, opened in 2017, and is operated by His Majesty's Prison Service.
Name
The gaol ...
, a
Category C adult-male
prison
A prison, also known as a jail, gaol (dated, standard English, Australian, and historically in Canada), penitentiary (American English and Canadian English), detention center (or detention centre outside the US), correction center, correc ...
is located in the industrial estate, and opened in 2017. It is the largest prison in the United Kingdom.
In Chirk, there is a
Kronospan
Kronospan is an Austrian-founded, Cyprus-based, international company that manufactures and distributes wood-based panels which are used in applications including flooring, furniture and timber-framed houses.
The company manufactures particleboar ...
wood product production factory and a
Mondelez International
Mondelez International, Inc. ( ), often styled Mondelēz, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational confectionery, food industry, food, holding and drink industry, beverage and snack food company based in Chicago. Mondelez has an ...
(for
Cadbury
Cadbury, formerly Cadbury's and Cadbury Schweppes, is a British multinational confectionery company fully owned by Mondelez International (originally Kraft Foods) since 2010. It is the second largest confectionery brand in the world after Mar ...
) factory. Whereas at Llay, there is
Magellan Aerospace
Magellan Aerospace Corporation is a Canadian manufacturer of aerospace systems and components. Magellan also repairs and overhauls, tests, and provides aftermarket support services for engines, and engine structural components. The company's busin ...
and a regional divisional HQ for
North Wales Police
North Wales Police ( cy, Heddlu Gogledd Cymru) is the territorial police force responsible for policing North Wales. Its headquarters are in Colwyn Bay. , the force has 1,510 police officers, 170 special constables, 182 police community support ...
.
Retail
![Wrexham (24242544419)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/20/Wrexham_%2824242544419%29.jpg)
Wrexham serves as the main retail centre for the county borough. Its city centre, hosts
Eagles Meadow
Eagles Meadow () is a medium-sized shopping centre in Wrexham city centre. Previously this area has had a variety of uses over hundreds of years, originally used as stables for local gentry, and later a car park hosting a market. It was developed ...
shopping centre
A shopping center (American English) or shopping centre (Commonwealth English), also called a shopping complex, shopping arcade, shopping plaza or galleria, is a group of shops built together, sometimes under one roof.
The first known collec ...
, two markets (General and Butcher's),
Tŷ Pawb
Tŷ Pawb (; ) is a multi-purpose centre in Wrexham, Wales. It serves as a venue for arts, cultural and community events, as well as being a market, art gallery and museum. A redevelopment of the former Wrexham People's Market ()) prior to its ...
(former People's Market), Island Green retail park, and a
High Street
High Street is a common street name for the primary business street of a city, town, or village, especially in the United Kingdom and Commonwealth. It implies that it is the focal point for business, especially shopping. It is also a metonym fo ...
.
A Monday market is held in the city on Queen's Square.
Notable retail areas outside the city centre are:
Plas Coch
Plas Coch is an area of the community of Rhosddu, in the city of Wrexham, Wales. A major retail and educational area of Wrexham, it lies to the north-west of Wrexham city centre. Formerly known as Lower Stansty, the term has fallen out of use in ...
retail park
A retail park is a type of shopping centre found on the fringes of most large towns and cities in the United Kingdom and other European countries. They form a key aspect of European retail geographies, alongside indoor shopping centres, standalo ...
and
Gwersyllt retail park.
The county borough is also connected to shopping destinations in
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 ...
,
Broughton and
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 ...
.
Sports
![Wrexham Museum and Archives (2)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/86/Wrexham_Museum_and_Archives_%282%29.JPG)
Wrexham is regarded as the "spiritual home of Welsh football",
with a Football Museum for Wales proposed to be set up in the city.
The county borough is home to the oldest club in Wales and third oldest
association football club
A football team is a group of players selected to play together in the various team sports known as football. Such teams could be selected to play in a match against an opposing team, to represent a football club, group, state or nation, an all-s ...
in the World,
Wrexham A.F.C.
Wrexham Association Football Club ( cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Wrecsam) is a Welsh professional association football club based in Wrexham, Wales. The team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. Formed ...
, which play in the
oldest stadium in Wales. The
Football Association of Wales
The Football Association of Wales (FAW; cy, Cymdeithas Bêl-droed Cymru) is the Governing bodies of sports in Wales, governing body of association football and futsal in Wales, and controls the Wales national football team, Welsh national foo ...
was founded on 2 February 1876 at the Wynnstay Arms Hotel in Wrexham. The first
association football
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...
match in Wales is said to be in or near Wrexham.
Notable stadia in the county borough include the
Racecourse Ground
The Racecourse Ground ( cy, Y Cae Ras) is a football stadium in Wrexham, Wales. It is the home of Wrexham A.F.C.
It is the world's oldest international football stadium that still hosts international matches, having hosted Wales' first home i ...
(oldest in Wales),
The Rock, and an
athletics stadium at Queensway.
Football
The county borough is home to
Wrexham A.F.C.
Wrexham Association Football Club ( cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Wrecsam) is a Welsh professional association football club based in Wrexham, Wales. The team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. Formed ...
, formed in 1864, they are the oldest club in Wales and the third
oldest professional association football team in the world. The team competes in the
National League
The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...
, the fifth tier of the
English football league system
The English football league system, also known as the football pyramid, is a series of interconnected leagues for men's association football clubs in England, with five teams from Wales, one from Guernsey, one from Jersey and one from the Isl ...
.
Wrexham A.F.C's home stadium, the
Racecourse Ground
The Racecourse Ground ( cy, Y Cae Ras) is a football stadium in Wrexham, Wales. It is the home of Wrexham A.F.C.
It is the world's oldest international football stadium that still hosts international matches, having hosted Wales' first home i ...
, is the world's oldest international stadium that still continues to host international games, and its neighbouring
Turf Hotel
The Turf Hotel is a public house in Wrexham, Wales, located on the corner of Wrexham A.F.C.'s Racecourse Ground.
Introduction
For over 150 years, the Turf Hotel has been the meeting place on match days for some of Wrexham's fans (the footba ...
pub is the oldest
pub
A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...
to any sporting stadium in the world.
The team train at Colliers Park, Gresford, and have an equivalent
Women's team. The team's rivalry with
Chester City F.C.
Chester City Football Club was an association football team from Chester, England that played in a variety of leagues between 1885 and 2010. The club played its home games at Sealand Road from 1906 to 1991 and moved to the Deva Stadium in 1992 ...
(now
Chester F.C.
Chester Football Club is an association football club based in Chester. They are currently members of and play at the Deva Stadium.
The club was founded in 2010 following the liquidation of Chester City. In its inaugural season it competed ...
) is described as the "
Cross-border derby
The cross-border derby is a football match played between Wrexham and Chester. The clubs are 12 miles apart but are Welsh and English respectively (though Chester's Deva Stadium straddles the England–Wales border, and its pitch lies entire ...
". In 1869, another football team composed of footballers from Ruabon, was formed in
Plas Madoc
Plas Madoc ( cy, Plas Madog) is a housing estate and former electoral ward near Acrefair, in the Cefn community in Wrexham County Borough, Wales. It is located seven miles to the south-west of Wrexham, and contains The Land adventure playgro ...
, later becoming the
Cefn Druids following a merger.
![Eric Roberts Stand](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/42/Eric_Roberts_Stand.jpg)
, aside Wrexham A.F.C.,
all other teams in the county borough play in the
Welsh football league system
The Welsh football league system (or pyramid) is a series of football leagues with regular promotion and relegation between them.
While most Welsh clubs play in the Welsh pyramid and most clubs in that pyramid are Welsh, five Welsh clubs play ...
. In the
Cymru Premier
The Cymru Premier, known as the JD Cymru Premier for sponsorship reasons, is the national football league of Wales. It has both professional and semi-professional status clubs and is at the top of the Welsh football league system. Prior to 200 ...
, the highest tier (Tier 1), only
Cefn Druids A.F.C.
Cefn Druids Association Football Club ( cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Derwyddon Cefn) is an association football team based in the village of Cefn Mawr, Wrexham, Wales, who play in the Cymru North after being relegated from the Cymru Premier in 2021 ...
based at
The Rock, Rhosymedre
The Rock, Rhosymedre, near Wrexham, Wales is the current home stadium for Welsh Premier League team Cefn Druids.
In March 2009 planning permission was granted to demolish Cefn's old stadium, Plaskynaston Lane, and replace it with a Tesco su ...
play. In the tier 2
Cymru North
The Cymru North is a regional football league in Wales, covering the northern half of the country. It has clubs with semi-professional status and together with the Cymru South, it forms the second tier of the Welsh football league system.
The fir ...
league,
Gresford Athletic F.C. play. In the tier 3
Ardal Leagues
The Ardal Leagues are a football league in Wales. The word "ardal" translates as "district" in English, with Wales split into four regions at this level. They have clubs with amateur/semi-professional status and sit at the third level of the Wels ...
;
Brickfield Rangers F.C.
Brickfield Rangers F.C. is a Welsh football club based in Wrexham. They play in the Ardal Leagues North West, which is in the third tier of the Welsh football league system.
History
The club joined Welsh National League (Wrexham Area) in 1994, ...
,
Brymbo F.C.,
Cefn Albion F.C.
Cefn Albion Football Club is a Welsh Association football, football club representing the village of Cefn Mawr in Wrexham County Borough. The club was founded in 2013 and plays in the Ardal Leagues North East, in the third tier of the Welsh footb ...
,
Chirk AAA F.C.
Chirk AAA F.C. is a Welsh football team based in Chirk, Wales. They compete in the Cymru North. They were previously in the Premier division of the Welsh National League since their relegation after one season in the Cymru Alliance.
Their re ...
,
Llay Welfare F.C.,
Penycae F.C.
Penycae Football Club is a Welsh football club based in Pen-y-cae, Wrexham whose first team currently plays in the Ardal Leagues North East. Following on from the growth of the club over recent years, Penycae Football Club is now a registered ...
,
Rhos Aelwyd F.C. and
Rhostyllen F.C. In the tier 4
North East Wales Football League
The North East Wales Football League represents the North East Wales area at the fourth and fifth tiers of the Welsh football league system. It was established in 2020 as a successor to the Clwyd East Football League, North East Wales League follo ...
;
Cefn Mawr Rangers F.C.,
Chirk Town F.C.,
Coedpoeth United F.C.,
FC Queens Park,
Lex Glyndwr XI F.C., and
Overton Recreation F.C. This tier 4 league also have a
tier 5 championship, containing the Wrexham County Borough teams of
Bellevue Bellevue means "beautiful view" in French. It may refer to:
Placenames
Australia
* Bellevue, Western Australia
* Bellevue Hill, New South Wales
* Bellevue, Queensland
* Bellevue, Glebe, an historic house in Sydney, New South Wales
Canada ...
, Borras Park Albion, Brymbo Lodge, FC United of Wrexham, Johnstown Youth, and Ruabon Rovers. A Wrexham Town Police Station F.C. was also set up in 2022.
Rugby
Wrexham RFC is a
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 ...
rugby union
Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...
team based in Wrexham, and is a member of the
Welsh Rugby Union
The Welsh Rugby Union (WRU; cy, Undeb Rygbi Cymru) is the Sports governing body, governing body of rugby union in the country of Wales, recognised by the sport's international governing body, World Rugby.
The WRU is responsible for the running ...
and was a founding club of the North Wales Rugby Union, itself founded in Wrexham in 1931.
The club is located to the east of
Rhosnesni
Rhosnesni () is an area and electoral ward in the community of Acton in Wrexham, Wrexham County Borough, Wales. The population of the ward at the 2011 census was 3,683.
The settlement developed around the toll gate on Holt Road (the cottage of w ...
, Wrexham.
Between 2010 and 2021, the
North Wales Crusaders
The North Wales Crusaders ( cy, Croesgadwyr Gogledd Cymru Rygbi'r Gynghrair) is a professional rugby league club based in Colwyn Bay, Wales. They are the successors to the former Super League club Crusaders Rugby League. Crusaders compete in B ...
were based in Wrexham, first at the Racecourse Ground, then at the
Queensway Stadium
Queensway Stadium is an athletics stadium in Wrexham, Wales, which is home to the Wrexham Athletics Club and until 2021 North Wales Crusaders rugby league club.
North Wales Crusaders moved to the stadium from the Racecourse Ground for the 2017 r ...
in
Caia Park
Caia Park () is a suburb and community in Wrexham, Wrexham County Borough, Wales. Created in 1985 after a boundary commission review of the four community areas within the city, of which, Caia Park occupies its east, with the others being Acton, ...
, Wrexham.
Horse racing
Bangor-on-Dee racecourse
Bangor-on-Dee Racecourse is a thoroughbred horse racing venue located in Bangor-on-Dee near Wrexham, Wales, United Kingdom.''British Racing and Racecourses'' () by Marion Rose Halpenny - Page 75
It is a left-handed National Hunt racecourse, and ...
is located in
Bangor-on-Dee
Bangor-on-Dee ( cy, Bangor-is-y-coed or Bangor Is-coed) is a village and community in Wrexham County Borough, Wales, on the banks of the River Dee. Until 1974 it was in the exclave of Flintshire known as the Maelor Saesneg, and from 1974 to 19 ...
, and has held
horse racing
Horse racing is an equestrian performance sport, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its basic p ...
events since February 1859. It is the only racecourse in North and
Mid Wales
Mid Wales ( cy, Canolbarth Cymru or simply ''Y Canolbarth'', meaning "the midlands") or Central Wales refers to a region of Wales, encompassing its midlands, in-between North Wales and South Wales. The Mid Wales Regional Committee of the Senedd ...
. Prior to being a football stadium and home to Wrexham A.F.C., the Racecourse Ground once held horse racing events as part of the Wrexham Gold Cup and the Silver Cavalry Cup, with the first held on 29 September 1807.
Horse racing ended at the Racecourse Ground in 1857.
Transport
Wrexham County Borough's transportation system is part of
Transport for Wales
Transport for Wales (TfW; cy, Trafnidiaeth Cymru; cy, TrC, label=none) is a not-for-profit company owned by the Welsh Government and managed at arms length by its appointed board. TfW oversees the Transport for Wales Group (TfW Group) consi ...
'
North Wales Metro
The North Wales Metro (; originally the North East Wales Metro; ) is a rail and bus transport improvement programme in north Wales. Styled as a "Metro", it is conceptually a multi-modal system with a combination of bus, heavy rail, and light rail ...
bus and rail improvement programme. There are no airports or motorways in the county borough. The nearest airports providing passenger air travel are:
Birmingham Airport
Birmingham Airport , formerly ''Birmingham International Airport'', is an international airport located east-southeast of Birmingham city centre, west-northwest of Coventry slightly north of Bickenhill village, in the Metropolitan Borou ...
,
Liverpool John Lennon Airport
Liverpool John Lennon Airport is an international airport in Liverpool, England, on the estuary of the River Mersey south-east of Liverpool city centre. Scheduled domestic, European, North African and Middle Eastern services are operated fr ...
, and
Manchester Airport
Manchester Airport is an international airport in Ringway, Manchester, England, south-west of Manchester city centre. In 2019, it was the third busiest airport in the United Kingdom in terms of passenger numbers and the busiest of those n ...
, all in England, with direct service available to the airports in Birmingham and Manchester, and a direct service to
Liverpool South Parkway
Liverpool South Parkway station (Formerly Allerton railway station), is a railway station and bus interchange in the Garston district of Liverpool, England. It serves, via a bus link, Liverpool John Lennon Airport in the neighbouring suburb of ...
the nearest station to Liverpool's airport. In 1950, Wrexham (specifically
Plas Coch
Plas Coch is an area of the community of Rhosddu, in the city of Wrexham, Wales. A major retail and educational area of Wrexham, it lies to the north-west of Wrexham city centre. Formerly known as Lower Stansty, the term has fallen out of use in ...
) was a stop in the world's first scheduled helicopter passenger service between Liverpool and Cardiff by
British European Airways
British European Airways (BEA), formally British European Airways Corporation, was a British airline which existed from 1946 until 1974.
BEA operated to Europe, North Africa and the Middle East from airports around the United Kingdom. The a ...
.
The service ceased in March 1951 due to low demand.
Railways
![Platform 1, Wrexham General railway station (geograph 4024663)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/db/Platform_1%2C_Wrexham_General_railway_station_%28geograph_4024663%29.jpg)
The county borough contains two railway lines, the
Borderlands line between
Wrexham Central and
Bidston (Birkenhead), and the
Shrewsbury–Chester line
The Shrewsbury–Chester line ( cy, Llinell Amwythig i Gaer) is a railway line between Chester and Shrewsbury in England, with the line passing through Wrexham County Borough in Wales. Passenger train services are operated by Transport for Wale ...
. There are five stations in the county borough;
Chirk
Chirk ( cy, Y Waun) is a town and community in Wrexham County Borough, Wales, south of Wrexham, between it and Oswestry. At the 2011 census, it had a population of 4,468. Historically in the traditional county of Denbighshire, and later Clwy ...
,
Gwersyllt,
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 ...
,
Wrexham Central and
Wrexham General
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 county o ...
. Gwersyllt, Wrexham General and Wrexham Central (terminus) are on the Borderlands line, whereas Ruabon, Wrexham General, and Chirk are on the Shrewsbury–Chester line, with the two railway lines interchanging at Wrexham General, the main and busiest station in the county borough.
There are two proposed railway stations in the county borough,
Wrexham North and
Wrexham South,
and plans to reopen parts of the
Glyn Valley Tramway
Glyn means "Valley" in Welsh and may refer to:
*Glyn (name), including a list of people with the name
*Baron Glyn, a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom
*Glyn baronets, created for members of the Glyn family
*Glyn Ceiriog, a former slate ...
as a
heritage railway
A heritage railway or heritage railroad (US usage) is a railway operated as living history to re-create or preserve railway scenes of the past. Heritage railways are often old railway lines preserved in a state depicting a period (or periods) i ...
.
Two former major branches of railway were the
Wrexham and Minera Branch
The Wrexham and Minera Railway or Wrexham and Minera Branch was a railway line in North Wales between the city of Wrexham, the village of Brymbo where it served the Brymbo Steelworks, and the lead mines and Minera Limeworks, limeworks at Minera ...
, which supported the steelworks at nearby
Brymbo Steel Mill
The Brymbo Steel Works was a former large steelworks in the village of Brymbo near Wrexham, Wales. In operation between 1796 and 1990, it was significant on account of its founder, one of whose original blast furnace stacks remains on the site ...
and
Minera Limeworks
The Minera Limeworks were extensive lime quarries and kilns at Minera in Wrexham, Wales. It was located at , near the villages of Gwynfryn, Minera, and Coedpoeth and was locally referred to as ''The Calch''.
History
The Minera Limeworks w ...
, with the last of the lines closed in 1982, and the
Wrexham and Ellesmere Railway
The Wrexham and Ellesmere Railway was a railway line that ran from Wrexham in North Wales, to Ellesmere in Shropshire, England. The line opened in 1895 and closed in 1962, except for a residual goods service which itself closed in 1981.
The line ...
, opened in 1895,
which passed through Wrexham city centre, St. Giles' Church and Maelor Saesneg towards
Ellesmere, which closed in 1962 for passengers and 1981 for freight.
Roads
![Southbound A483 - geograph](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f4/Southbound_A483_-_geograph.org.uk_-_2485651.jpg)
The main road in the county borough is the
A483
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 and W ...
, a
dual carriageway
A dual carriageway ( BE) or divided highway ( AE) is a class of highway with carriageways for traffic travelling in opposite directions separated by a central reservation (BrE) or median (AmE). Roads with two or more carriageways which are ...
, entering the county borough from
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 ...
in the north and passing the outskirts of Wrexham,
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. ,
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 meeting the
A5, at Halton, near Chirk.
The A5 ("London-Holyhead Trunk Road") connects
Oswestry
Oswestry ( ; ) is a market town, civil parish and historic railway town in Shropshire, England, close to the Welsh border. It is at the junction of the A5, A483 and A495 roads.
The town was the administrative headquarters of the Borough of ...
(continuing southwards to London) and
Llangollen
Llangollen () is a town and community, situated on the River Dee, in Denbighshire, Wales. Its riverside location forms the edge of the Berwyn range, and the Dee Valley section of the Clwydian Range and Dee Valley Area of Outstanding Natural Beau ...
(towards Holyhead) via Chirk and
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 ...
. The
A534 connects Wrexham to
Nantwich
Nantwich ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England. It has among the highest concentrations of listed buildings in England, with notably good examples of Tudor and Georgian architecture. ...
via Holt, with the
A5156 near
Borras
Borras ( cy, Borras / Bwras) is a hamlet in Wrexham County Borough, Wales to the north-east of the city of Wrexham. It is part of the community of Holt.
The nearby residential area of Borras Park is named after Borras; and is colloquially sho ...
,
linking the A534 to the A483 near
Pandy. The
A541 connects Wrexham to
Trefnant
Trefnant is a village and community in Denbighshire, Wales. It is located on the A525 road in the Vale of Clwyd (''Dyffryn Clwyd''), about halfway between St Asaph (''Llanelwy'') to the north and Denbigh to the south. At the 2001 Census, the c ...
,
Mold
A mold () or mould () is one of the structures certain fungus, fungi can form. The dust-like, colored appearance of molds is due to the formation of Spore#Fungi, spores containing Secondary metabolite#Fungal secondary metabolites, fungal seco ...
,
Nannerch and the outskirts of
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
...
.
Trunk roads are managed by the
North and Mid Wales Trunk Road Agent
The North and Mid Wales Trunk Road Agent (NMWTRA; cy, Asiant Cefnffyrdd Gogledd a Chanolbarth Cymru) is one of the two trunk road agents in Wales. It is responsible for managing trunk roads in North and Mid Wales on behalf of the Welsh Governm ...
on behalf of the Welsh Government. There are no motorways in the county borough.
Bus
Wrexham bus station serves as the main bus terminus of the county borough. Bus services are operated by various bus operators such as
Arriva Buses Wales
Arriva Buses Wales ( cy, Bysiau Arriva Cymru) is a bus operator providing services in northern Wales and Chester in northern England. It is a subsidiary of Arriva UK Bus.
History
Crosville Motor Services was formed in 1919 and operated serv ...
,
Arriva Midlands
Arriva Midlands is a bus operator providing services in the East Midlands and West Midlands areas of England. It is a subsidiary of Arriva UK Bus.
Arriva Midlands North Operations
In September 1981 Midland Red North was formed with 230 bus ...
,
TrawsCymru
TrawsCymru is the brand name for a network of regional bus services in Wales, sponsored by the Welsh Government. It was introduced as a replacement for the TrawsCambria network.
History Launch plans
In 2010, the Welsh Assembly ran a consultatio ...
,
Stagecoach North West, Llew Jones Coaches,
Lloyds Coaches
Lloyds Coaches operates bus and coach services in mid Wales. It is a small family-run independent firm. The company is based at the old Crosville bus depot opposite Machynlleth railway station. It was established in 2001.
History
Lloyds Coac ...
, M&H Coaches, Pat's Coaches,
Tanat Valley Coaches
Tanat Valley Coaches operates bus and coach services in Montgomeryshire and Shropshire, in the United Kingdom.
The family-run firm is based in Llanrhaeadr-ym-Mochnant.[Arriva Sapphire
Arriva Sapphire is a premium brand used by various Arriva bus subsidiaries in the United Kingdom.
History
In February 2013, Arriva UK Bus announced that it would launch a premium service under the Sapphire brand for its bus services in the U ...]
1 between Wrexham bus station and
Chester railway station, and the TrawsCymru T3 Wrexham to
Barmouth
Barmouth ( cy, Abermaw (formal); ''Y Bermo'' (colloquial)) is a seaside town and community (Wales), community in the county of Gwynedd, northwestern Wales, lying on the estuary of the Afon Mawddach and Cardigan Bay. Located in the Historic coun ...
service.
Former tramways
There was an electric tramway between 1903 and 1927, connecting Wrexham to Rhosllanerchrugog, operated by
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 route was long, connecting the mining villages with Wrexham city centre, and General railway station.
It was later replaced with
motor bus
A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a road vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van. It is most commonly used in public transport, but is also in use for cha ...
es in 1937.
Demography
![Wrexham pop pyramid](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/46/Wrexham_pop_pyramid.svg)
At the 2021 census, the county borough recorded a population of 135,100, and is the
tenth most populous principal area in Wales, the same rank as 2011.
This population is a small increase of 0.2% from the
2011 census and lower than the
national average of a 1.4% increase in population in 2021. The county borough is ranked thirteenth in population growth among principal areas, with both Denbighshire (2.2%) and Flintshire (1.6%) growing faster, although Powys also increased by 0.2%, and
Conwy
Conwy (, ), previously known in English as Conway, is a walled market town, community and the administrative centre of Conwy County Borough in North Wales. The walled town and castle stand on the west bank of the River Conwy, facing Deganwy on ...
(also in ceremonial Clwyd) shrunk by 0.4%.
The four communities at the centre of Wrexham city have a population of 43,422 (2011 census), accounting for of the population of the county borough. Although the city of Wrexham may be considered to extend further out from these four communities of Acton, Caia Park, Offa and Rhosddu. The wider
Wrexham built-up area, including Wrexham, urban villages such as Gwersyllt, Brymbo and New Broughton, as well as Bradley and Rhostyllen, have a population of 65,692 (2011 census), of the county borough. The other largest settlement is
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 ...
with a population of 9,694 (2011 census, community) and its built-up area including Penycae, Cefn Mawr and Ruabon had a population of 25,362
(2011 census). The county borough has 1,300 more females than males, with 68,200 females () to 66,900 males ().
The county borough is
twelfth in population density of the principal areas of Wales, with 268 people per square kilometre, more than the national average of 150. The most populous five-year age group are those aged 50–54 with 10,100 people ().
With a 19.5% growth in those aged 65 years and over, a decrease of 3.9% aged 15–64, and a decrease of 3.6% of children under 15 years old. In a 2020 population projection, Wrexham County Borough's population is expected to shrink slightly by 2028.
The average age in the county borough is 42 years, with more than 25% of the population being in the 45 to 64 age cohort in 2011.
At the 2011 census, 96.9% of the population was recorded to be White, made of 93.1% English/Welsh/Scottish/Northern Irish/ British, 0.4% Irish and 3.4% other White. The next largest eithnic group in 2011 was Asian/Asian British at 1.7%, with 0.6% identifying as Indian. 0.5% of the 2011 population were Black, and 0.2% other ethnic.
In 2011, 93.7% of the population was born in the United Kingdom, 69.2% from Wales, 23.4% from England, 0.8% from Scotland, and 0.3% from Northern Ireland. 0.3% from the Republic of Ireland, 3.4 from the European Union (excluding Ireland), and 2.6% from other countries. 71.2% held a
British passport
A British passport is a travel document issued by the United Kingdom or other British dependencies and territories to individuals holding any form of British nationality. It grants the bearer international passage in accordance with visa requ ...
, 24.3% no passport, 3.3% an
EU member passport, and 1.2% other.
From the 2011 census, 95.8% of the population over 16 had
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
at their main household language. 65.1% of the population classed themselves as part of a religion, of which: 63.5% were
Christian
Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...
, 0.6%
Muslim
Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...
, 0.4%
Hindu
Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...
and 0.6% other. 27.4% had no religion, and 7.5% religion not stated.
66% of waste is either recycled, reused or composted in the county borough between 2018 and 2019, 3% higher than the Welsh average.
In 2011, 94.7% of the population identified with a UK nation identity consisting of either a Welsh/English/Scottish/Northern Irish or British identity, with 60.3% having part or full Welsh identity. 0.4% had a mixed identity between Welsh/English/Scottish/Northern Irish/British and another identity. 3.4% of the population had other non-UK identities.
Some of the top 10% deprived areas in Wales are located in the county borough, these five Lower Super Output Areas (LSOAs) are; Queensway 1, Wynnstay, Plas Madoc, Queensway 2 and Cartrefle 2.
Welsh-language
![Hillside paths in the valley - geograph](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/27/Hillside_paths_in_the_valley_-_geograph.org.uk_-_2508605.jpg)
Only 12.9% of Wrexham County Borough's population at the 2011 census could speak
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 ...
, lower than the national average of 19%, making the county borough largely
anglophone
Speakers of English are also known as Anglophones, and the countries where English is natively spoken by the majority of the population are termed the ''Anglosphere''. Over two billion people speak English , making English the largest language ...
. The highest proportion of Welsh-language speakers in the county borough is in the rural Ceiriog Valley ward, where 31.2% can speak the Celtic language. The ward of Wynnstay in Wrexham has the lowest proportion of Welsh-language speakers with 7.7%. Therefore, Welsh is more likely to be spoken in more rural areas of the county borough.
Health
Health in the county borough has been managed since 2009 by the
NHS Wales
NHS Wales ( cy, GIG (Gwasanaeth Iechyd Gwladol) Cymru) is the publicly-funded healthcare system in Wales, and one of the four systems which make up the National Health Service in the United Kingdom.
NHS Wales was formed as part of the public ...
local health board
NHS Wales has been organised into administrative units known as Local Health Boards (LHB, ) since 2003. Following a reorganisation in 2009, there are currently seven local health boards in Wales. Local health boards may use an operational name ...
,
Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board
Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board (BCUHB) ( cy, Bwrdd Iechyd Prifysgol Betsi Cadwaladr) is the local health board of NHS Wales for the north of Wales. It is the largest health organisation in Wales, providing a full range of primary, commun ...
which covers all of
North Wales
, area_land_km2 = 6,172
, postal_code_type = Postcode
, postal_code = LL, CH, SY
, image_map1 = Wales North Wales locator map.svg
, map_caption1 = Six principal areas of Wales common ...
. Prior to Betsi Cadwaladr LHB, there was a separate Wrexham LHB and the
North East Wales NHS Trust
North East Wales NHS Trust ( cy, Ymddiriedolaeth GIG Gogledd Ddwyrain Cymru) was an NHS Trust in Wales. The headquarters of the Trust were in the Maelor Hospital, in Wrexham. It was founded on 1 April 1999, when the NHS Trusts in Wales were rec ...
based at
Wrexham Maelor Hospital
The Wrexham Maelor Hospital ( cy, Ysbyty Maelor Wrecsam) is a district general hospital for the north east region of Wales. It is managed by Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board.
History
The hospital has its origins in the Wrexham Union Workho ...
.
, the life expectancy in the county borough is 65 years for both Males and Females.
Hospitals
The main general hospital in the county borough is
Wrexham Maelor Hospital
The Wrexham Maelor Hospital ( cy, Ysbyty Maelor Wrecsam) is a district general hospital for the north east region of Wales. It is managed by Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board.
History
The hospital has its origins in the Wrexham Union Workho ...
in Wrexham, opened in 1985, and has an
Accident and Emergency department
An emergency department (ED), also known as an accident and emergency department (A&E), emergency room (ER), emergency ward (EW) or casualty department, is a medical treatment facility specializing in emergency medicine, the acute care of pati ...
.
A
Private hospital
A private hospital is a hospital not owned by the government, including for-profits and non-profits. Funding is by patients themselves ("self-pay"), by insurers, or by foreign embassies. Private hospitals are commonly part, albeit in varying degr ...
known as Spire Yale, operated by
Spire Healthcare
Spire Healthcare Group plc is the second-largest provider of private healthcare in the United Kingdom. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.
History
Spire Healthcare was formed from the sale of B ...
is located next to Wrexham Maelor Hospital. There is a smaller
community hospital in Chirk, and a former
Polish
Polish may refer to:
* Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe
* Polish language
* Poles
Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, w ...
community hospital in Penley, the latter opened in 1946 for treating
Polish people
Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, who share a common history, culture, the Polish language and are identified with the country of Poland in Cen ...
following 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 opposin ...
, and was closed in 2002. There is also an Adult Male-only Independent
Mental health hospital
Psychiatric hospitals, also known as mental health hospitals, behavioral health hospitals, are hospitals or wards specializing in the treatment of severe mental disorders, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, eating disorders, dissociative ...
known as the New Hall Hospital near Ruabon. The Wrexham & East Denbighshire War Memorial Hospital, located in Wrexham city centre, was built in the aftermath of
World War I
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 ...
and
fundraise
Fundraising or fund-raising is the process of seeking and gathering voluntary financial contributions by engaging individuals, businesses, charitable foundations, or governmental agencies. Although fundraising typically refers to efforts to gathe ...
d by the local population from 1918 to 1927, to commemorate those killed in the war. The hospital closed in 1986, and now serves as part of
Yale College
Yale College is the undergraduate college of Yale University. Founded in 1701, it is the original school of the university. Although other Yale schools were founded as early as 1810, all of Yale was officially known as Yale College until 1887, ...
(now part of Coleg Cambria).
Education
Higher and further education
![Wrexham Glyndwr University (51406097698)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9e/Wrexham_Glyndwr_University_%2851406097698%29.jpg)
The county borough houses one university, located in the city of Wrexham,
Wrexham Glyndŵr University
, mottoeng = Confidence through Education
, logo = Wrexham Glyndŵr University Logo.svg
, image = Coat of arms of Wrexham Glyndŵr.svg
, image_size = 180px
, caption = Coat of arms
Flag
, established = 1887, as Wrexham School of Scien ...
, awarded university status in 2008.
Bangor University
, former_names = University College of North Wales (1884–1996) University of Wales, Bangor (1996–2007)
, image = File:Arms_of_Bangor_University.svg
, image_size = 250px
, caption = Arms
...
has a healthcare school near Wrexham Maelor Hospital. The main
further education
Further education (often abbreviated FE) in the United Kingdom and Ireland is education in addition to that received at secondary school, that is distinct from the higher education (HE) offered in universities and other academic institutions. I ...
provider in the county borough is
Coleg Cambria
Coleg Cambria in North East Wales is one of the UK's largest colleges, with over 7000 full-time and 20,000 part-time students, and has international links covering four continents. Coleg Cambria was created following the merger of Deeside College ...
,
formed in 2013 from the merger of
Yale College, Wrexham
Yale College, Wrexham (''Coleg Iâl'') is now part of Coleg Cambria.
Formerly a further education college situated in Wrexham, North Wales, Yale College, Wrexham merged with Deeside College in August 2013 to create Coleg Cambria, the college f ...
and
Deeside College
Deeside College ( Welsh: ''Coleg Glannau Dyfrdwy'') (now part of Coleg Cambria) is located in Connah's Quay, Flintshire, North Wales. It was formerly a further education colle.g in August 2013 to create the college for North East Wales, one o ...
in Flintshire. Coleg Cambria also provides some
higher education
Higher education is tertiary education leading to award of an academic degree. Higher education, also called post-secondary education, third-level or tertiary education, is an optional final stage of formal learning that occurs after completi ...
, and has two main sites in Wrexham, at Yale Grove Road in the city centre, and Bersham Road to the south-west of the city centre in
Offa
Offa (died 29 July 796 AD) was King of Mercia, a kingdom of Anglo-Saxon England, from 757 until his death. The son of Thingfrith and a descendant of Eowa, Offa came to the throne after a period of civil war following the assassination of Æt ...
.
Schools
There are a total of 68
schools
A school is an educational institution designed to provide learning spaces and learning environments for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is sometimes compulsor ...
in the county borough.
Of those, nine are
secondary school
A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' secondary education, lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) ...
s, including one
Welsh-medium secondary school of
Ysgol Morgan Llwyd
Ysgol Morgan Llwyd is a Welsh-medium comprehensive school in Wrexham, in north-east Wales, UK. It is the first, and is the only Welsh-medium secondary school in Wrexham County Borough. It is named after the seventeenth century preacher and aut ...
, and the only shared-faith secondary school in Wales of
St Joseph's Catholic and Anglican High School. Three secondary schools have
Sixth forms; those being
The Maelor School
The Maelor School, Penley (Welsh: Ysgol Maelor) is a mixed comprehensive school situated in the village of Penley, Wrexham County Borough, in north-east Wales. As of February 2008, the school had a total of 794 pupils aged 11–18 of whom 138 ...
, Ysgol Morgan Llwyd, and
Ysgol Rhiwabon
Ysgol Rhiwabon ("Ruabon School") is a historic comprehensive school in Ruabon, Wrexham, Wales for 11- to 16-year-olds. The headteacher is Melanie Ferron-Evans. In 2003 the Estyn Report concluded that "Ysgol Rhiwabon provides good opportunities ...
.
The other five secondary schools are
Ysgol Bryn Alyn
Ysgol Bryn Alyn is a secondary school in the county borough of Wrexham, Wales. Its catchment area includes its local primary schools within Gwersyllt and other nearby villages.
Curriculum
At Key Stage 3 (KS3), students at Ysgol Bryn Alyn are ...
, Ysgol y Grango,
Darland High School
Darland High School is a mixed, non-denominational high school in Rossett, Wales, established in 1958. Its current head teacher is Joanne Lee.
History
1958 – 1971
Darland High School opened in September 1958 for 234 pupils, 10 members of s ...
,
Rhosnesni High School
Rhosnesni High School, also known as Ysgol Rhosnesni High School or simply Ysgol Rhosnesni, is an English-medium mixed comprehensive secondary school in Rhosnesni, Wrexham, Wales. It was created in 2003 and maintained by Wrexham County Boroug ...
, and
Ysgol Clywedog
Ysgol Clywedog (English: meaning ''Clywedog School''), is a comprehensive secondary school which serves parts of the city of Wrexham in north-east Wales, in the community of Offa.
Ysgol Clywedog is located in the south-west suburbs of Wrexham ...
.
There is a
special school
Special education (known as special-needs education, aided education, exceptional education, alternative provision, exceptional student education, special ed., SDC, or SPED) is the practice of educating students in a way that accommodates th ...
of St Christophers in Wrexham. For the 2015/2016 school year eight of the fifty-nine primary schools at the time were Welsh-medium or bilingual.
In 2019, secondary schools in Wrexham were criticised by
Estyn
Estyn is the education and training inspectorate for Wales. Its name comes from the Welsh language verb ''estyn'' meaning "to reach (out), stretch or extend". Its function is to provide an independent inspection and advice service on quality ...
, the Welsh education and training inspectorate, for having the poorest attendance of the principal areas in Wales.
Twinning
*
Märkischer Kreis
The Märkischer Kreis is a district ('' Kreis'') in central North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Neighbouring districts are Unna, Soest, Hochsauerland, Olpe, Oberbergischer Kreis, Ennepe-Ruhr, and the city of Hagen.
History
The district was create ...
,
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
*
Racibórz
Racibórz (german: Ratibor, cz, Ratiboř, szl, Racibōrz) is a city in Silesian Voivodeship in southern Poland. It is the administrative seat of Racibórz County.
With Opole, Racibórz is one of the historic capitals of Upper Silesia, being t ...
,
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...
Wrexham County Borough is twinned with the German district of
Märkischer Kreis
The Märkischer Kreis is a district ('' Kreis'') in central North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Neighbouring districts are Unna, Soest, Hochsauerland, Olpe, Oberbergischer Kreis, Ennepe-Ruhr, and the city of Hagen.
History
The district was create ...
and the Polish town of
Racibórz
Racibórz (german: Ratibor, cz, Ratiboř, szl, Racibōrz) is a city in Silesian Voivodeship in southern Poland. It is the administrative seat of Racibórz County.
With Opole, Racibórz is one of the historic capitals of Upper Silesia, being t ...
.
The first twinning was established on 17 March 1970 between the former Kreis Iserlohn and Wrexham Rural District. Its early success ensured that, after local government reorganisation in both countries in the mid-seventies, the twinning was taken over by the new councils of Märkischer Kreis and Wrexham Maelor Borough Council and, in 1996, by Wrexham County Borough Council.
In 2001 Märkischer Kreis entered a twinning arrangement with Racibórz, a county in Poland, which was formerly part of
Silesia
Silesia (, also , ) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at around 8,000,000. Silesia is split ...
, Germany. In September 2002, a delegation from Racibórz visited Wrexham and began discussions about cooperation which led to the signing of the Articles of Twinning between Wrexham and Racibórz in March 2004. The Wrexham area has strong historical links with Poland. Following
World War II
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 opposin ...
, many service personnel from the
Free Polish armed forces who had been injured received treatment at
Penley
Penley ( cy, Llannerch Banna) is a village in the County Borough of Wrexham, in Wales close to the border with Shropshire, England, and had a population of 606 as of the 2011 census.
The village was, until 1974, in an exclave of the ancient ...
Polish Hospital. Many of their descendants remain in the area.
Culture and tourism
![Overton Yew Tree](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2c/Overton_Yew_Tree.jpg)
In 2015, it is estimated the county borough attracted 1.86 million visitors, and brought in more than £100 million for the tourism industry.
Three of the
Seven Wonders of Wales
The Seven Wonders of Wales ( cy, Saith Rhyfeddod Cymru) is a traditional list of notable landmarks in north Wales, commemorated in an anonymously written rhyme:
The rhyme is usually supposed to have been written sometime in the late 18th or ear ...
are located in the county borough, those wonders being:
St Giles' Parish Church,
All Saints' Church
All Saints Church, or All Saints' Church or variations on the name may refer to:
Albania
*All Saints' Church, Himarë
Australia
* All Saints Church, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory
* All Saints Anglican Church, Henley Brook, Western Aust ...
in Gresford, and the
at
St Mary's Church in Overton.
Elihu Yale
Elihu Yale (5 April 1649 – 8 July 1721) was a British-American colonial administrator and philanthropist. Although born in Boston, Massachusetts, he only lived in America as a child, spending the rest of his life in England, Wales and India ...
, after which
Yale University
Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...
is named after, is buried in Wrexham, with his tomb located at St Giles' Parish Church. Local archives relating to the city and county borough are held at the
A. N. Palmer Centre for Local Studies and Archives
The A.N. Palmer Centre for Local Studies and Archives, or simply the Wrexham Archives, holds the archives for the city of Wrexham. The archives are held at County Buildings, on Regent Street, Wrexham, and run by Wrexham County Borough Council as ...
, in
Wrexham County Borough Museum
Wrexham County Borough Museum (or simply Wrexham Museum) is a local history museum in Wrexham, Wrexham County Borough, Wales. It is located within County Buildings, alongside the A. N. Palmer Centre for Local Studies and Archives and a proposed ...
, Wrexham.
![Maes yr Eisteddfod, Wrecsam - geograph](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1d/Maes_yr_Eisteddfod%2C_Wrecsam_-_geograph.org.uk_-_2541329.jpg)
Since 1876, the county borough has hosted the
National Eisteddfod of Wales
The National Eisteddfod of Wales (Welsh language, 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 Eur ...
eight times, six hosted in or near Wrexham in , , , , and ; with Rhosllanerchrugog hosting in and . Also held in 1876, was the Wrexham Art & Industry Exhibition.
The first Wrexham Science Festival was held in 1998.
Focus Wales
Focus Wales (stylised as FOCUS Wales) is an international multi-venue showcase music and arts festival held annually in Wrexham, Wales. It is Wales' biggest music industry event and was first held in 2010. The event showcases emerging Welsh mus ...
, an international new music festival is hosted in the city of Wrexham.
Tŷ Pawb
Tŷ Pawb (; ) is a multi-purpose centre in Wrexham, Wales. It serves as a venue for arts, cultural and community events, as well as being a market, art gallery and museum. A redevelopment of the former Wrexham People's Market ()) prior to its ...
, an art and cultural centre in the city plays host to many cultural events and exhibitions.
Wales Comic Con
Wales Comic Con (WCC; dually-branded as Wales Comic Con: Telford Takeover since 2019 and as Wales Comic Con: Homecoming since 2022) is a tri-annual fan convention in the United Kingdom, first held in Wrexham, North Wales in 2008, until the ...
was founded in 2007 and its first event held in Wrexham in 2008, prior to the moving of its events to
Telford
Telford () is a town in the borough of Telford and Wrekin and ceremonial county of Shropshire, England, about east of Shrewsbury, south west of Stafford, north west of Wolverhampton and from Birmingham in the same direction. With an est ...
in 2019 (as Wales Comic Con: Telford Takeover) due to the small venue at Glyndŵr University.
There are two public market halls in Wrexham city centre, the Butcher's Market and General Market.
A third, People's Market, was converted to the Tŷ Pawb cultural centre in 2018. A weekly Monday market is held in Queen's Square in Wrexham.
Tourism accounts for £116 million and 1,600 jobs for the county borough, increasing 38% between 2012 and 2017.
In 2020, a science discovery centre known as "
Xplore!
Xplore! Science Discovery Centre, branded simply as Xplore!, is a science centre in Wrexham, Wales. It is currently based between Henblas Street and Chester Street in Wrexham city centre. Formerly known as Techniquest@NEWI and Techniquest Gl ...
" opened in Wrexham city centre, succeeding the
Techniquest
Techniquest is a science discovery centre located in Cardiff Bay. It gives visitors a hands-on approach to science and includes a science theatre, a planetarium, and an exhibition space with over 100 interactive exhibits aimed at visitors of a ...
centre at Glyndŵr University.
There are
adventure playground
An adventure playground is a specific type of playground for children. Adventure playgrounds can take many forms, ranging from "natural playgrounds" to "junk playgrounds", and are typically defined by an ethos of unrestricted play, the presence ...
s at The Venture in Caia Park and
The Land in
Plas Madoc
Plas Madoc ( cy, Plas Madog) is a housing estate and former electoral ward near Acrefair, in the Cefn community in Wrexham County Borough, Wales. It is located seven miles to the south-west of Wrexham, and contains The Land adventure playgro ...
.
The oldest surviving
engine house
__NOTOC__
An engine house is a building or other structure that holds one or more engines. It is often practical to bring engines together for common maintenance, as when train locomotives are brought together.
Types of engine houses include:
* m ...
in Wales is present at Penrhos near
Brymbo.
In October 2021, the
council's bid for
UK City of Culture
UK City of Culture is a designation given to a city (or a local area from 2025) in the United Kingdom for a period of one calendar year, during which the successful bidder hosts cultural festivities through culture-led regeneration for the ye ...
in 2025 made it onto the competition's shortlist of only 8 shortlisted places in the UK, outbidding 12 other places (20 applied in total) and being the only one of the five bids from Wales making it onto the shortlist. In March 2022, Wrexham County Borough's bid for City of Culture made onto the competition's shortlist of only four places, the only non-English bid.
On 31 May 2022, Wrexham lost to
Bradford
Bradford is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Bradford district in West Yorkshire, England. The city is in the Pennines' eastern foothills on the banks of the Bradford Beck. Bradford had a population of 349,561 at the 2011 ...
's
bid.
Public art and symbols
Notable buildings and structures such as St Giles' Church, Chirk Castle and Pontcysyllte Aqueduct also act as symbols for the county borough.
The "Acton Dog" has become a symbol of Wrexham city, inspired by the four
greyhound
The English Greyhound, or simply the Greyhound, is a breed of dog, a sighthound which has been bred for coursing, greyhound racing and hunting. Since the rise in large-scale adoption of retired racing Greyhounds, the breed has seen a resurge ...
fibre glass statues on top of Acton Gate at the entrance of the former
Acton Estate, they were the symbol of the Cunliffe family.
Some settlements in the county borough host a
colliery
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 ...
wheel as a welcome sign, highlighting the areas coal-mining industry heritage.
"
Babs Babs or BABS may refer to:
People
* Nickname of Barbara Windsor (1937-2020), British actress
* Babs McMillan, Australian actress
* Babs Olusanmokun, American actor
* Babs Reingold, American artist
* Babs Fafunwa (1923-2010), Nigerian educationist ...
" was a modified
Higham Special
Chitty Bang Bang was the informal name of a number of celebrated British racing cars, built and raced by Count Louis Zborowski and his engineer Clive Gallop in the 1920s, which inspired the book, film and stage musical ''Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang' ...
sport racing car designed in the county borough. Designed, built and driven by
John Godfrey "J.G." Parry-Thomas from Wrexham, it set the land speed record of in
Pendine Sands
Pendine Sands ( cy, Traeth Pentywyn) is a beach on the shores of Carmarthen Bay on the south coast of Wales. It stretches west to east from Gilman Point to Laugharne Sands. The village of Pendine ( cy, Pentywyn, link=no) is close to the wester ...
,
Carmarthenshire
Carmarthenshire ( cy, Sir Gaerfyrddin; or informally ') is a county in the south-west of Wales. The three largest towns are Llanelli, Carmarthen and Ammanford. Carmarthen is the county town and administrative centre. The county is known as ...
in April 1926.
Parry-Thomas was killed in the car on the beach,
aged 42, during his attempt on 3 March 1927 to regain his speed record from
Malcolm Campbell
Major Sir Malcolm Campbell (11 March 1885 – 31 December 1948) was a British racing motorist and motoring journalist. He gained the world speed record on land and on water at various times, using vehicles called ''Blue Bird'', including a 1 ...
.
The car was buried beneath the
sand dunes
A dune is a landform composed of wind- or water-driven sand. It typically takes the form of a mound, ridge, or hill. An area with dunes is called a dune system or a dune complex. A large dune complex is called a dune field, while broad, fl ...
on the beach until 1969, when it was later recovered, restored and remained on display at the
Pendine Museum of Speed
The Pendine Museum of Speed was dedicated to the use of Pendine Sands for land speed record attempts. It was opened in 1996 in the village of Pendine, on the south coast of Wales, and was owned and run by Carmarthenshire County Council. The muse ...
until 2018, when it was temporarily relocated to
Beaulieu Motor Museum,
until the completion of the Pendine Sands of Speed Museum.
Waking the Dragon was a proposed bronze sculpture to be built near Chirk, it was first proposed in 2010, and granted permission in 2011, with progress stalling by 2016 due to a lack of funding.
Castles
![Chirk Castle 2016 002](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e1/Chirk_Castle_2016_002.jpg)
Chirk Castle
Chirk Castle ( cy, Castell y Waun) is a Grade I listed castle located in Chirk, Wrexham County Borough, Wales.
History
The castle was built in 1295 by Roger Mortimer de Chirk, uncle of Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March as part of King Edward ...
is located to the south of the county borough,
and there are notable
remains of a medieval castle in Holt in the county borough's north-east.
There was historically a
motte and bailey castle
A motte-and-bailey castle is a European fortification with a wooden or stone keep situated on a raised area of ground called a motte, accompanied by a walled courtyard, or bailey, surrounded by a protective ditch and palisade. Relatively easy to ...
at
The Rofft
The Rofft was a historic site at Marford in the Wrexham County Borough. It was initially a pre-historic camp, and later a motte and bailey castle. There are no visible remains of the site today.
Pre-Norman Conquest (1066)
The Rofft was initial ...
site in
Marford
Marford is a village in Wrexham County Borough, Wales, near the Wales-England border.
Marford covers some , where the hills of north-east Wales meet the Cheshire Plain. Distant landmarks that can be seen clearly from Marford include Eaton Hall ...
, and another former motte and bailey castle known as "Wristlesham" in
Erddig
Erddig Hall ( cy, Neuadd Erddig; or simply Erddig; ) is a Grade-I listed National Trust property in Wrexham, Wales. Standing south of Wrexham city centre, it comprises a country house built during the 17th and 18th centuries amidst a 1,900 ac ...
.
Chirk Castle, a
National Trust
The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...
property, is located on the outskirts of Chirk.
It is also within the
Clwydian Range and Dee Valley
, iucn_category =V
, iucn_ref =
, photo =Sunny Hillside, Frosty Valley Dee Valley Wales (11014647076).jpg
, photo_width =
, photo_alt =Image of the view of the Dee Valley from Moel Y Gamelin
, photo_caption = ...
AONB
An Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB; , AHNE) is an area of countryside in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, that has been designated for conservation due to its significant landscape value. Areas are designated in recognition of thei ...
, which extends to the Chirk Castle Estate.
Holt Castle is located in the town of Holt, along the banks of the River Dee next to the English border.
It was built between 1283 and 1311 by Earls of Surrey, John de Warenne and his grandson, following
Llywelyn ap Gruffudd
Llywelyn ap Gruffudd (c. 1223 – 11 December 1282), sometimes written as Llywelyn ap Gruffydd, also known as Llywelyn the Last ( cy, Llywelyn Ein Llyw Olaf, lit=Llywelyn, Our Last Leader), was the native Prince of Wales ( la, Princeps Wall ...
, the
Prince of Wales
Prince of Wales ( cy, Tywysog Cymru, ; la, Princeps Cambriae/Walliae) is a title traditionally given to the heir apparent to the English and later British throne. Prior to the conquest by Edward I in the 13th century, it was used by the rulers ...
' defeat.
Churches
The three of the
Seven Wonders of Wales
The Seven Wonders of Wales ( cy, Saith Rhyfeddod Cymru) is a traditional list of notable landmarks in north Wales, commemorated in an anonymously written rhyme:
The rhyme is usually supposed to have been written sometime in the late 18th or ear ...
present in the county borough are all or part of churches.
St Giles' Parish Church is a 16th-century gothic church located in the historic centre of Wrexham.
All Saints' Church
All Saints Church, or All Saints' Church or variations on the name may refer to:
Albania
*All Saints' Church, Himarë
Australia
* All Saints Church, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory
* All Saints Anglican Church, Henley Brook, Western Aust ...
, sometimes described as the "perfect Cheshire church in Wales", is a late-15th century church in
Gresford, and in
Overton-on-Dee
Overton ( cy, Owrtyn) or Overton-on-Dee is a village and community in Wrexham County Borough, Wales. It is situated close to the Welsh-English border on the edge of an escarpment that winds its way around the course of the River Dee, from whic ...
, there is
St Mary the Virgin Church, with its ring of Yew Trees being one of the seven wonders of Wales.
![Eglwys San Silyn Wrecsam St Giles Church Wrexham 35](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fe/Eglwys_San_Silyn_Wrecsam_St_Giles_Church_Wrexham_35.JPG)
Wrexham is also home to
Wrexham Cathedral
The Cathedral Church of Our Lady of Sorrows, also known as St Mary's Cathedral or Wrexham Cathedral, is a Roman Catholic cathedral in Wrexham, Wales. It is the seat of the Bishop of Wrexham, and mother church of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Wrex ...
(''Cathedral Church of Our Lady of Sorrows'' or ''St Mary's Cathedral''), a
Catholic
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
Cathedral
A cathedral is a church that contains the '' cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denomination ...
which is the
seat
A seat is a place to sit. The term may encompass additional features, such as back, armrest, head restraint but also headquarters in a wider sense.
Types of seat
The following are examples of different kinds of seat:
* Armchair (furniture), ...
of the
Bishop of Wrexham
The Bishop of Wrexham is the Ordinary of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Wrexham in the Province of Cardiff in Wales.
The diocese covers an area of and consists of the Welsh historic counties of Anglesey, Caernarfonshire, Denbighshire, Flintsh ...
, and
mother church
Mother church or matrice is a term depicting the Christian Church as a mother in her functions of nourishing and protecting the believer. It may also refer to the primary church of a Christian denomination or diocese, i.e. a cathedral or a metro ...
of the
Roman Catholic Diocese of Wrexham
The Diocese of Wrexham, is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in Wales. The diocese is a suffragan in the ecclesiastical province of the metropolitan Archdiocese of Cardiff.
History
The diocese was erect ...
since 1987. The cathedral also hosts a chapel dedicated to
Richard Gwyn
Richard Gwyn (ca. 1537 – 15 October 1584), also known by his anglicised name, Richard White, was a Welsh teacher at illegal and underground schools and a Bard who wrote both Christian and satirical poetry in the Welsh language. A Ro ...
, a martyr who died in Wrexham.
Remaining Catholic churches are part of the
Wrexham Deanery.
Other major churches include St Mary's Church in Ruabon, and St Chad's Church in Holt, the latter having
English Civil War
The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of re ...
bullet holes present in the building.
Country estates and halls
The most notable country estate is at
Erddig Hall
Erddig Hall ( cy, Neuadd Erddig; or simply Erddig; ) is a Grade-I listed National Trust property in Wrexham, Wales. Standing south of Wrexham city centre, it comprises a country house built during the 17th and 18th centuries amidst a 1,900 ac ...
, a
Grade-I listed National Trust
The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...
property, located to the south of Wrexham. Situated on an
escarpment
An escarpment is a steep slope or long cliff that forms as a result of faulting or erosion and separates two relatively level areas having different elevations.
The terms ''scarp'' and ''scarp face'' are often used interchangeably with ''escar ...
above the River Clywedog, the
18th century
The 18th century lasted from January 1, 1701 ( MDCCI) to December 31, 1800 ( MDCCC). During the 18th century, elements of Enlightenment thinking culminated in the American, French, and Haitian Revolutions. During the century, slave trad ...
country house
An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a town house. This allowed them to spend time in the country and in the city—hence, for these peopl ...
is surrounded by a estate, including parkland and woodlands.
Another historic estate is the
Wynnstay estate near Ruabon. Notably the home of the
Williams-Wynn family, the Wynnstay Hall stands above the River Dee overlooking the Vale of Llangollen and Y Berwyn. The family vacated the building in 1948, with it first turned into a school, and now houses and apartments.
Trevalyn Hall
Trevalyn Hall in Rossett, a Grade II* listed building, is an Elizabethan manor house near Wrexham in Wales. It was built by John Trevor in 1576. The Trevor family of Trevalyn were one of the leading families in East Denbighshire by about 1600 wit ...
, a Grade II listed manor house in Rossett, has also been converted to separate homes in the 1984.
Marchwiel Hall
Marchwiel Hall is a Grade II listed building in the village of Marchwiel, Wrexham County Borough in North Wales.
History
Marchwiel Hall was a seat of the Broughton family and by 1837 was occupied by Townshend Mainwaring, who then moved to Galltfa ...
, a 19th-century private
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 ...
hall is situated near
Marchwiel
Marchwiel ( cy, Marchwiail) is a village and community in Wrexham County Borough, Wales.
It is about 2 miles south-east of Wrexham city on the A525 road towards Bangor-on-Dee. The community has an area of 1,488 hectares and a population of 1,4 ...
. The estate is home to a
cricket ground
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...
and
pavilion
In architecture, ''pavilion'' has several meanings:
* It may be a subsidiary building that is either positioned separately or as an attachment to a main building. Often it is associated with pleasure. In palaces and traditional mansions of Asia ...
, which serves as the home for the Marchwiel and Wrexham Cricket Club, on the only open part of the estate to the public. The hall has been on sale for £2.5 million.
Brynkinalt Hall
Brynkinalt Hall ( cy, Neuadd Bryncunallt; or simply Brynkinalt (); also spelled as Brynkinallt or Bryn-kinallt) is a Grade-II* listed private property, built in 1612, near Chirk, Wrexham County Borough, Wales. The hall is surrounded by an est ...
is a
Grade-II* listed private property, built in 1612, near
Chirk
Chirk ( cy, Y Waun) is a town and community in Wrexham County Borough, Wales, south of Wrexham, between it and Oswestry. At the 2011 census, it had a population of 4,468. Historically in the traditional county of Denbighshire, and later Clwy ...
.
Iscoyd Park
Iscoyd Park is a three-storey redbrick country house in Wrexham County Borough, Wales. It has a slate roof built in the early 18th century. It was sold in 1737 to William Hanmer. The house and estate was then purchased by Philip Lake Godsal in 184 ...
located near the border with Shropshire to the east in English Maelor, serves as a wedding venue.
Pen-y-Lan Hall, another Grade II listed building, located near Ruabon, has become known for
Ghost
A ghost is the soul or spirit of a dead person or animal that is believed to be able to appear to the living. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to rea ...
sightings, with Ghost hunting events held at the hall.
Other halls include:
Nant-y-Ffrith Hall,
Tudor Court,
The Gelli,
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 ...
and the former
Brymbo Hall
Brymbo Hall, one of Britain's lost houses, was a manor house located near Brymbo outside the town of Wrexham, North Wales. The house, reputed to have been partly built to the designs of Inigo Jones,''Encyclopædia Britannica'', vol 24, 1911, p. ...
, a
lost British country house.
Scheduled monuments
Notable people
Tourist attractions
Industrial heritage
= Bersham
=
Bersham Colliery
Bersham Colliery was a large coal mine located near Rhostyllen in Wrexham County Borough, Wales. The mine accessed seams found in the Denbighshire Coalfield.
History
The Wrexham area in the 19th Century was highly industrialised. At the peak t ...
was opened in 1864, as the Glan-yr-afon Colliery, located near Rhostyllen. It was operated by the Bersham Coal Company, and it wasn't until 10 years later in 1874 that coal was produced at the site. The colliery was closed and partially demolished in December 1986. Its No.2 shaft headgear with its colliery wheel and an engine house with an electric winding gear, as well as other buildings remain standing as part of a small industrial estate. The buildings for the No.2 shaft have been proposed to form a small mining museum for the former colliery.
Bersham Ironworks
Bersham Ironworks were large ironworks at Bersham, near Wrexham, Wales. They are most famous for being the original working site of John Wilkinson. They were also the first site in the world to use a new way of boring holes in cannon and steam ...
were opened in 1715 by Charles Lloyd, and are situated in the
Clywedog Valley
The River Clywedog is a river in Wrexham County Borough, Wales. Its uses have been watering crops, powering industrial machinery but is now used as walking trails or geography trips. The river originates to the west of Wrexham, and joins the ...
.
By the 1750s it was producing iron
cannon
A cannon is a large- caliber gun classified as a type of artillery, which usually launches a projectile using explosive chemical propellant. Gunpowder ("black powder") was the primary propellant before the invention of smokeless powder ...
s.
Isaac Wilkinson
Isaac Wilkinson (baptism, baptised 6 May 1695 - 31 January 1784) was an England, English industrialist, one of the founders of the iron industry and pioneer of the Industrial Revolution. However, his business ethics were precarious and his commerci ...
took over in 1753, and produced cannons for the
Seven Years' War
The Seven Years' War (1756–1763) was a global conflict that involved most of the European Great Powers, and was fought primarily in Europe, the Americas, and Asia-Pacific. Other concurrent conflicts include the French and Indian War (1754 ...
.
In 1763 it was passed to
John "Iron Mad" Wilkinson, who developed a new method of gun manufacture with Francis Bacon, where the cannons were first cast solid then bored out afterwards.
Bersham reached its peak in 1795 and closed in 1812. A
Smelting works was opened in Brymbo in 1793.
Bersham Heritage Centre, in the Bersham Ironworks, operated from 1983 until 2014, and was the home for the Wrexham County Borough Museum's Industrial History collection, and performed as the centre of Wrexham's Industrial Heritage.
= Brymbo
=
![Y Bwa ( The Arc) sculpture - geograph](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/33/Y_Bwa_%28_The_Arc%29_sculpture_-_geograph.org.uk_-_250240.jpg)
Steel was a former industry for the county borough, with the
Brymbo Steelworks
The Brymbo Steel Works was a former large steelworks in the village of Brymbo near Wrexham, Wales. In operation between 1796 and 1990, it was significant on account of its founder, one of whose original blast furnace stacks remains on the site ...
reaching its peak in steel production in the 1960s and early 1970s. Over 2,000 workers were employed at the steelworks until its closure in 1990. There's a sculpted archway, "the arc", in Lord Street, Wrexham to commemorate the industry.
In 2020, the site of the former steelworks were proposed to be re-developed into a visitor attraction and community hub with funding from the
National Lottery.
= Minera
=
Lead Mines
Lead is a chemical element with the symbol Pb (from the Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metal that is denser than most common materials. Lead is soft and malleable, and also has a relatively low melting point. When freshly cut, le ...
in
Minera
Minera ( cy, Mwynglawdd; ) is a village and community in Wrexham County Borough, Wales. It adjoins the village of Coedpoeth.
The community, which in addition to Minera village includes a number of smaller hamlets such as Gwynfryn and New Brigh ...
, opened in 1845, mining
lead
Lead is a chemical element with the symbol Pb (from the Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metal that is denser than most common materials. Lead is soft and malleable, and also has a relatively low melting point. When freshly cu ...
until its closure in 1914. The site has since been converted into a country park, covering of grassland, woodland and the former lead mines, it also hosts a tourist centre.
Notable sites and bridges
![Chirk Aqueduct - geograph](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/42/Chirk_Aqueduct_-_geograph.org.uk_-_2981704.jpg)
There are various
aqueducts
Aqueduct may refer to:
Structures
*Aqueduct (bridge), a bridge to convey water over an obstacle, such as a ravine or valley
*Navigable aqueduct, or water bridge, a structure to carry navigable waterway canals over other rivers, valleys, railw ...
and
viaduct
A viaduct is a specific type of bridge that consists of a series of arches, piers or columns supporting a long elevated railway or road. Typically a viaduct connects two points of roughly equal elevation, allowing direct overpass across a wide v ...
s in the south of the county borough, crossing the River Ceiriog and River Dee. These include:
Chirk Aqueduct
Chirk Aqueduct is a high and long navigable aqueduct that carries what is now the Llangollen Canal across the Ceiriog Valley near Chirk, on the England-Wales border, spanning the two countries.
History
The aqueduct was designed by civil engine ...
,
Chirk Viaduct
The Chirk Viaduct ( cy, Traphont y Waun) is a Grade II* listed buildings in Wrexham County Borough, Grade II* listed railway viaduct over the River Ceiriog between England and Wales. The viaduct carries the Shrewsbury–Chester line from the Welsh ...
,
Pontcysyllte Aqueduct
The Pontcysyllte Aqueduct (; cy, Traphont Ddŵr Pontcysyllte) is a navigable aqueduct that carries the Llangollen Canal across the River Dee in the Vale of Llangollen in northeast Wales.
The 18-arched stone and cast iron structure is for use ...
, and
Cefn Mawr Viaduct. There is also a
canal tunnel at Chirk.
The main canal is the
Llangollen Canal
The Llangollen Canal ( cy, Camlas Llangollen) is a navigable canal crossing the border between England and Wales. The waterway links Llangollen in Denbighshire, north Wales, with Hurleston in south Cheshire, via the town of Ellesmere, Shropshi ...
from
Llangollen
Llangollen () is a town and community, situated on the River Dee, in Denbighshire, Wales. Its riverside location forms the edge of the Berwyn range, and the Dee Valley section of the Clwydian Range and Dee Valley Area of Outstanding Natural Beau ...
which travels to Chirk before entering England. Sections of the historically proposed and never completed
Ellesmere Canal
The Ellesmere Canal was a waterway in England and Wales that was planned to carry boat traffic between the rivers Mersey and Severn. The proposal would create a link between the Port of Liverpool and the mineral industries in north east Wales an ...
were proposed to pass right through the centre of the county borough, from Chester in the north to meet the River Ceiriog at Chirk until reaching Ellesmere.
Notable bridges include:
Pont Cysyllte
Pont Cysyllte,[Cysylltau Bridge; Pont Cysyllte](_blank)
RCA ...
,
Bangor-on-Dee Bridge
Bangor Bridge (also known as the Bangor-on-Dee Bridge) is a Grade I listed buildings in Wrexham County Borough, Grade I listed bridge crossing the River Dee, Wales, River Dee in Bangor-on-Dee, Wrexham County Borough, Wales. It is situated on t ...
and
Holt Bridge
Holt Fleet Bridge, also known as Holt Bridge, is a cast-iron arch bridge over the River Severn, at Holt in Worcestershire, England. It has a span of ; it was designed by Thomas Telford and opened in 1828. It is Grade II listed, and is similar ...
.
World Heritage Site
![WalesC0047](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0d/WalesC0047.jpg)
There is a
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...
World Heritage Site
A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...
in the county borough, the
Pontcysyllte Aqueduct and Canal, containing the
Pontcysyllte Aqueduct
The Pontcysyllte Aqueduct (; cy, Traphont Ddŵr Pontcysyllte) is a navigable aqueduct that carries the Llangollen Canal across the River Dee in the Vale of Llangollen in northeast Wales.
The 18-arched stone and cast iron structure is for use ...
, constructed in 1805 and the tallest navigable canal boat crossing in the world, and of the
Llangollen Canal
The Llangollen Canal ( cy, Camlas Llangollen) is a navigable canal crossing the border between England and Wales. The waterway links Llangollen in Denbighshire, north Wales, with Hurleston in south Cheshire, via the town of Ellesmere, Shropshi ...
.
It was designated in June 2009, following the 33rd meeting of the World Heritage Committee in Seville. The Trevor Basin is located northwards of the aqueduct, and in 2021 was awarded funding from the
UK Government's Levelling up fund.
Brymbo Fossil Forest
The Brymbo Fossil Forest, a
palaeobotanitcal site,
is located on the
former iron and steelworks site closed in 1990, it is roughly the size of half an association football pitch, and is home to a wide variety of fossilised plants and trees such as arborescent
club mosses and
horsetails
''Equisetum'' (; horsetail, snake grass, puzzlegrass) is the only living genus in Equisetaceae, a family of ferns, which reproduce by spores rather than seeds.
''Equisetum'' is a "living fossil", the only living genus of the entire subclass Eq ...
, dating over 300 million years ago, from the
Early Carboniferous
Early may refer to:
History
* The beginning or oldest part of a defined historical period, as opposed to middle or late periods, e.g.:
** Early Christianity
** Early modern Europe
Places in the United States
* Early, Iowa
* Early, Texas
* Early ...
period.
Some fossils were transferred and conserved at
National Museum Wales
National may refer to:
Common uses
* Nation or country
** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen
Places in the United States
* National, Maryland, ce ...
, with them set to return should a suitable venue be ready.
Discovered during coal-mining in 2003, with many fossils discovered the following year, it was designated as a
Site of Special Scientific Interest
A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle of ...
by
Natural Resources Wales
Natural Resources Wales ( cy, Cyfoeth Naturiol Cymru) is a Welsh Government sponsored body, which became operational from 1 April 2013, when it took over the management of the natural resources of Wales. It was formed from a merger of the Count ...
in 2015.
Local councillors describe the site to be a potential World Heritage Site, with hopes to become the county borough's second site of such designation.
A tourist attraction including a museum and visitor centre, to provide a safe home for the fossils, is proposed on the site, using the old former steelwork buildings.
Media
Calon FM
Calon FM is a community radio station serving Wrexham and surrounding areas.
The station is owned and operated by Wrexham Community Broadcasting and broadcasts from studios at the Wrexham Enterprise Hub in the city centre with its transmitter at ...
is the community radio station for the city of Wrexham.
Global Media & Entertainment
Global Media & Entertainment Limited, trading as Global, is a British media company formed in 2007. It is the owner of the largest commercial radio company in Europe having expanded through a number of historical acquisitions, including Chrysa ...
, which owns
Capital FM and operates
Heart FM
Heart is a British radio network and brand of 13 adult contemporary local stations operated by Global throughout the United Kingdom, broadcasting a mix of local and networked programming. Ten of the Heart stations are owned by Global, while th ...
(on behalf of
Communicorp UK), broadcasts
Capital North West and North Wales,
Heart North and Mid Wales
Heart North and Mid Wales is a regional radio station owned by Communicorp UK and operated by Global Radio as part of the Heart network. It broadcasts to North and Mid Wales from studios in Gwersyllt, near Wrexham.[< ...]
and some broadcasts of
Capital Cymru
Capital Cymru is a local Welsh-language radio station owned and operated by Global. The station broadcasts to Gwynedd and Anglesey from studios in Gwersyllt, Wrexham via the Arfon transmitting station.
Previously, the station formed part of th ...
from their studios in Gwersyllt, Wrexham, the former studios of the
Marcher Radio Group
Marcher Radio Group Ltd, previously Marcher Sound Ltd, was a British media organisation which operated several radio stations in north Wales and northwest England. The company, now owned by Global Radio (but legally still existing,) founded the ...
.
BBC Cymru Wales
BBC Cymru Wales is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcaster in Wales.
It is one of the four BBC national regions, alongside the BBC English Regions, BBC Northern Ireland and BBC Scotland. Established in 1964, BBC Cymru Wales is ...
has a local radio station in Wrexham for some local broadcasts.
The Leader is the local newspaper in Wrexham. There is also a local media website known as ''Wrexham.com''.
Music
![Stiwt04LB](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2a/Stiwt04LB.jpg)
Theatr Stiwt (Stiwt Theatre) in
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 ...
, with 450 seats, opened in 1926, and hosts various drama and musical performances.
The Grove Park Theatre, described as Wrexham's "oldest amateur theatre", is located on Hill Street in Wrexham since 1954. The 890-seat William Aston Hall in Wrexham Glyndŵr University, and the 150-seat Studio Theatre in
Coleg Cambria
Coleg Cambria in North East Wales is one of the UK's largest colleges, with over 7000 full-time and 20,000 part-time students, and has international links covering four continents. Coleg Cambria was created following the merger of Deeside College ...
Yale
Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wor ...
also acts as a venue for events.
The Wrexham Musical Theatre Society is based at the 120-seat Riverside Studio Theatre.
The county borough is home to numerous choirs such as Brymbo, Y Rhos, Rhos Orpheus, Dyffryn Ceiriog and
Fron Male Voice Choir The Froncysyllte Male Voice Choir ( cy, Côr Meibion Froncysyllte), also known as the Fron Choir ( cy, Côr Fron), is an amateur male voice choir based in the village of Froncysyllte (pronounced roughly ''vron-cuss-ulth/ tay''), Wrexham County Borou ...
.
The latter is regarded as the oldest boy-band in the world.
Museums
County Borough Museum
Wrexham County Borough Museum
Wrexham County Borough Museum (or simply Wrexham Museum) is a local history museum in Wrexham, Wrexham County Borough, Wales. It is located within County Buildings, alongside the A. N. Palmer Centre for Local Studies and Archives and a proposed ...
is the main museum in the county borough. Located in Wrexham city centre on Regent Street, neighbouring Wrexham Cathedral (St Mary's Cathedral), St Mark's Car Park, and city centre shops. The museum building ("
County Buildings") was built in 1857 as a military barracks.
In 1877, the militia moved to
Hightown Barracks
Hightown Barracks is a military installation in Wrexham, Wales.
History
The barracks were built in the Fortress Gothic Revival Style and completed in 1877. Their creation took place as part of the Cardwell Reforms which encouraged the localis ...
, with the County Buildings converted to a police station and
Magistrates' court
A magistrates' court is a lower court where, in several jurisdictions, all criminal proceedings start. Also some civil matters may be dealt with here, such as family proceedings.
Courts
* Magistrates' court (England and Wales)
* Magistrate's Cour ...
in 1879.
The police vacated the building to Bodhyfryd in 1976–77, with the building opened as a museum in 1996 and refurbished in 2010–11.
The museum hosts the
A. N. Palmer Centre for Local Studies and Archives
The A.N. Palmer Centre for Local Studies and Archives, or simply the Wrexham Archives, holds the archives for the city of Wrexham. The archives are held at County Buildings, on Regent Street, Wrexham, and run by Wrexham County Borough Council as ...
, the local archives for the city of Wrexham, and the building is proposed to also host a football museum.
Proposed National Football Museum
A
Football Museum for Wales
A ''national football museum'' dedicated to Welsh association football in Wrexham has been proposed by various politicians in both the Welsh Government and local councils, with Wrexham County Borough Council being the leading contender for a m ...
is proposed to be set up in Wrexham, within the
Wrexham Museum building on Regent Street.
Unlike
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...
and
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
, Wales lacks a museum commemorating national football. The museum would occupy the currently unoccupied upper floors of the building, and exist alongside the Wrexham Museum. The museum is funded and developed by the
Welsh Government
The Welsh Government ( cy, Llywodraeth Cymru) is the Welsh devolution, devolved government of Wales. The government consists of ministers and Minister (government), deputy ministers, and also of a Counsel General for Wales, counsel general. Minist ...
and
Wrexham County Borough Council
Wrexham County Borough Council () is the governing body for Wrexham County Borough, a Principal area of Wales, principal area in North Wales, north Wales, covering Wrexham and the surrounding area.
History
Elections take place every five years ...
, and is projected to open by 2024.
Wrexham was chosen due being the location where the
FAW was founded in 1876 and having the
oldest club and oldest football ground in Wales.
Gallery
File:St Giles' Church, Wrexham (geograph 4885639 cropped).jpg, St Giles' Parish Church, Wrexham
File:Under Pontcysyllte.jpg, Pontycysyllte Aqueduct, within a UNESCO World Heritage Site
A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...
File:Erddig Hall (14513467238).jpg, Erddig Hall
Erddig Hall ( cy, Neuadd Erddig; or simply Erddig; ) is a Grade-I listed National Trust property in Wrexham, Wales. Standing south of Wrexham city centre, it comprises a country house built during the 17th and 18th centuries amidst a 1,900 ac ...
, Wrexham
File:Glynceiriogvillageview.jpg, Glyn Ceiriog
Glyn Ceiriog is the principal settlement of the Ceiriog Valley and a community in Wrexham County Borough, north-east Wales. Glyn Ceiriog translates simply as Ceiriog Valley, though there are other villages in the valley. The village and communit ...
File:Pont Rhedynfre - Holt or Farndon Bridge, Holt, Wrexham, Wales 16.jpg, Farndon-Holt Bridge, Holt
File:StiwtTheatreRhosllannerchrugog.jpg, Stiwt Theatre, Rhosllannerchrugog
File:Chirk Castle - Adam Tower.jpg, Chirk Castle
Chirk Castle ( cy, Castell y Waun) is a Grade I listed castle located in Chirk, Wrexham County Borough, Wales.
History
The castle was built in 1295 by Roger Mortimer de Chirk, uncle of Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March as part of King Edward ...
, Chirk
Chirk ( cy, Y Waun) is a town and community in Wrexham County Borough, Wales, south of Wrexham, between it and Oswestry. At the 2011 census, it had a population of 4,468. Historically in the traditional county of Denbighshire, and later Clwy ...
See also
*
List of places in Wrexham County Borough for a list of towns and villages
*
North Wales
, area_land_km2 = 6,172
, postal_code_type = Postcode
, postal_code = LL, CH, SY
, image_map1 = Wales North Wales locator map.svg
, map_caption1 = Six principal areas of Wales common ...
*
Wrexham Maelor
Wrexham Maelor ( cy, Wrecsam Maelor) was a local government district with borough status, being one of six districts in the county of Clwyd, north-east Wales, from 1974 to 1996.
History
The borough was created on 1 April 1974, under the Local G ...
*
Wrexham Rural District
Wrexham was a rural district in the administrative county of Denbighshire from 1894 and 1974.
The rural district took over the existing Wrexham Rural Sanitary District. It consisted of the following civil parishes:
* Abenbury
* Acton†
* Allin ...
Notes
References
External links
Council website*
Wrexham.com WebsiteNHS Review of substance misuse including Ward Deprivation Map and detailed population/age group figures(
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Principal areas of Wales
County boroughs of Wales