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 Esclusham ( cy, Esclus or ''Esclys'') is a community and electoral ward in Wrexham County Borough, Wales. The community includes the villages of Bersham, Rhostyllen, Aberoer, Llwyneinion and Pentre Bychan, as well as a number of smaller settlemen ...

. Bersham was historically a major industrial centre of the area, but despite this the village still retains a rural feeling.

Historical significance

The village holds special importance for economic historians, for not only did it house the workshops of the skilled

Davies brothers Davies is a patronymic surname of English or Welsh origin. There are two main theories concerning its beginnings, neither of which has been definitively proven. The first theory contends that it may be a corruption of "Dyfed", the name of a medie ...

, it was one of the cradles of the Industrial Revolution. This is the place where British iron making began in 1670, where smelting

iron ore Iron ores are rocks and minerals from which metallic iron can be economically extracted. The ores are usually rich in iron oxides and vary in color from dark grey, bright yellow, or deep purple to rusty red. The iron is usually found in the fo ...

with coke began in 1721, and where John Wilkinson, the 'Iron Mad' pioneer of the Industrial Revolution, set up shop in 1761. For many years the area was one of the most important iron manufacturing centres in the world. The Bersham Ironworks Museum tells the story of the man who bored cannon for the

American War of Independence The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

and cylinders for

James Watt James Watt (; 30 January 1736 (19 January 1736 OS) – 25 August 1819) was a Scottish inventor, mechanical engineer, and chemist who improved on Thomas Newcomen's 1712 Newcomen steam engine with his Watt steam engine in 1776, which was fun ...

's revolutionary

steam engine A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a cylinder. This pushing force can be trans ...

that changed the face of the world.

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 ...

, the last working coal mine in the former

Denbighshire Coalfield The Denbighshire Coalfield in the historic county of Denbighshire in north-east Wales is one of the smaller British coalfields. It extends from near Caergwrle in the north, southwards through Wrexham, Ruabon and Rhosllannerchrugog to Chirk in th ...

, was not actually in the village of Bersham but situated nearby in the village of Rhostyllen, it closed in 1986. The collapse of a shaft from the colliery in the 1970s seriously affected the structural security of the nearby Erddig House allowing compensation of £120,000 to be claimed by the National Trust against the National Coal Board.

Plas Power Woods

Plas Power Woods comprise 33.7ha of woodland running along the River Clywedog between

Coedpoeth Coedpoeth () is a village and community in Wrexham County Borough, Wales. The built-up area with Minera had a population of 5,723 in the 2011 census. Locality Coedpoeth is on a hill between the Clywedog and Gwenfro valleys, surrounded by coun ...

and Bersham, and stretches to the Nant Mill Wood situated upstream to the east on the Clywedog Trail. The vast majority of the woodland is ancient woodland although some parts were replanted with

conifer Conifers are a group of conifer cone, cone-bearing Spermatophyte, seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the phylum, division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a single ...

s and, locally, with

beech Beech (''Fagus'') is a genus of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to temperate Europe, Asia, and North America. Recent classifications recognize 10 to 13 species in two distinct subgenera, ''Engleriana'' and ''Fagus''. The ''Engle ...

and/or sycamore as late as the 1960s. The Woodland Trust is gradually restoring the native broadleaf woodland character of the plantation areas. Several features of historical importance are present; a section of Offa's Dyke runs across the Clywedog Valley through Plas Power Woods. Several Listed structures are also present including Plas Power Park wall, an ornate cast iron Victorian era bridge and railings and the Western Weir, Nant Bridge, Bersham Lodge and Caeau Wier.

Bersham Church and the FitzHugh family

St Mary's in Plas Power is a 19th-century parish church in the heart of the village. The church was founded and built by Thomas Lloyd FitzHugh in 1875. His wife Emily Mary from Charlecote in Warwickshire took a great interest in the building and is the reason the architect and organ builder were both from that county. It was originally built without a bell tower; however, one was added some years later. When Captain Godfrey FitzHugh was killed on active service in

Palestine __NOTOC__ Palestine may refer to: * State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia * Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia * Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East ...

in 1917 his widow Ethel had the bells installed in his memory. They consist of a carillon of eight bells operated by hand and are still in use today.

External links

www.geograph.co.uk Photos of Bersham and surrounding areaWelsh Coal Mines - histories and information
{{authority control Villages in Wrexham County Borough Mining communities in Wales