Rhosddu () is a suburb and

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

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

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

, covering the north-western parts of 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 ...

and comprises the wards of Grosvenor,

Garden Village The garden city movement was a 20th century urban planning movement promoting satellite communities surrounding the central city and separated with greenbelts. These Garden Cities would contain proportionate areas of residences, industry, and ...

and

Stansty Stansty is an area and electoral ward in Wrexham County Borough, Wales, lying to the immediate north-west of the city of Wrexham. It is a former civil parish and township. Stansty is also an electoral ward to Wrexham County Borough Council. The ...

. At the 2011 Census, the population of the community was 6,840 and 11.8% of people aged 3+ spoke Welsh.

Administration

Rhosddu was formed as a new

ecclesiastical parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish priest ...

by an Order in Council in 1886. The parish contained 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 ...

s of

Acton Acton may refer to: Places Antarctica * Mount Acton Australia * Acton, Australian Capital Territory, a suburb of Canberra * Acton, Tasmania, a suburb of Burnie * Acton Park, Tasmania, a suburb of Hobart, Tasmania, formerly known as Acton Canada ...

, Bieston and Gourton (from the parish of Wrexham), the township of

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 ...

Riffri (from the parish of Gresford), and the township of

(from the parish of Gwersyllt).Rhosddu, St James

GENUKI GENUKI is a genealogy web portal, run as a charitable trust. It "provides a virtual reference library of genealogical information of particular relevance to the UK and Ireland". It gives access to a large collection of information, with the emphas ...

In 1972, Rhosddu reverted to the parish of

. The area of Rhosddu was in the

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 ...

of Stansty, which was part of the old Wrexham Municipal Borough. The administrative structures of the Municipal Borough were abolished in 1974, under the terms of the

Local Government Act 1972 The Local Government Act 1972 (c. 70) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales on 1 April 1974. It was one of the most significant Acts of Parliament to be passed by the Heath Gov ...

. Rhosddu was created as one of the communities 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 ...

after a 1985 boundary review, which brought four new communities into being within the city of Wrexham itself (Rhosddu,

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 ...

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, ...

, and Acton).

History

The name Rhosddu is formed on the

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 ...

words ''rhos'', "moor" or " rush pasture", and ''ddu'', "black". The name may derive from the presence of coal and peat below the poorly drained surface as evidenced by old field names in the neighbouring Stansty area which indicate similar features e.g. 'Tirodd Duon' (''black lands''). It is likely that the area was common land in Medieval times used by tenants of the manor as rough pasture for cattle grazing. Rhosddu Farm (also known as Walnut Tree Farm) was first recorded in 1762 in the possession of the Griffiths family and was located on the site of the Walnut Tree public house on New Road. The first housing developments in the Rhosddu area began from 1856 following the arrival of the railway and the location of associated goods and carriage sheds in the area. The population increased further as a result of the Wrexham and Action Colliery which opened in the late 1860s. St James' church was built in Cefn sandstone to designs by W. Turner of Wrexham. The foundation was laid on 30 September 1874 and it was opened for worship in January 1876, although it was not consecrated until 27 April 1886. The church is now a

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

building, being considered a good example of a late 19th-century church retaining many original features.Church of St James, Rhosddu, Wrexham
, Wrexham County Borough Council Rhosddu School (originally known as Stansty Park Board School) opened in 1877 and moved into its current premises on Price's Lane in 1915. Grosvenor Road

Conservation Area Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural, ecological or cultural values. There are several kinds of protected areas, which vary by level of protection depending on the ena ...

is situated to the north west of the commercial city centre and incorporates Grosvenor Road, Grove Road and parts of Gerald Street, Regent Street, King Street, Grove Park Road, Rhosddu Road and part of the

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 ...

Campus.

Dissenters' Burying Ground

The Dissenters' Burying Ground on Rhosddu Road was originally a field of about one acre on land given to the Wrexham Nonconformists during the early 1600s by the Puritan Daniel Lloyd of Pen y Bryn Farm. The graveyard was probably laid out during the 1650s during the

Interregnum An interregnum (plural interregna or interregnums) is a period of discontinuity or "gap" in a government, organization, or social order. Archetypally, it was the period of time between the reign of one monarch and the next (coming from Latin '' ...

period. By the mid-18th century, the graveyard was being used and maintained by the Baptist Church and, in 1788, an ongoing ownership dispute of the Ground was resolved allowing Presbyterians to be buried there upon payment of a fee to the Baptist Church. Hay was grown and sold to pay for a grave digger and other expenses. During the night of the Wrexham races, in the mid-1840s, all but one of the brass memorial plates were stolen from the tombs, thus destroying many family histories. The last burial took place in 1901. When the Ground was closed to new burials in 1888, it contained 27 family vaults, a number of brick graves and 920 private family earthen graves. The graveyard was later landscaped and is now a public park. Many notable people are buried here including the great Puritan

Morgan Llwyd Morgan Llwyd (1619 – 3 June 1659) was a Puritan Fifth Monarchist and Welsh language poet and prose author. Biography Morgan Llwyd was born to a cultured and influential family in the parish of Maentwrog, Gwynedd. His grandfather, Huw ...

(d.1659) and the ironmaster William Wilkinson (d.1808). Margaret Lloyd George unveiled a memorial to Morgan Llwyd in 1912.

Residents

John Godfrey Parry-Thomas, the engineer and motor-racing driver, was the son of the curate of Rhosddu and lived in the area during his childhood.

Sports

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 ...

played their home games in the 1881–82 and 1882–83 seasons at Rhosddu Recreation Ground (changing the club's name to Wrexham Athletic for one season), before moving back to 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 ...

for the 1883–84 season, where they have remained.

Gallery

File:Memorial at Rhosddu Road Graveyard, Wrexham (1).JPG, Morgan Llwyd Memorial, Dissenters' Burial Ground File:St James' church, Rhosddu (1).JPG, St James' Church File:The Community Church, Rhosddu (2).JPG, The Community Church, Prices Lane (previously 'Price's Lane Ebeneser Welsh Presbyterian Chapel'), built 1873 File:Park Lodge - geograph.org.uk - 658322.jpg, Park Lodge, an example of the neo-gothic style prevalent amongst houses along Rhosddu Road

References

{{Wrexham Communities in Wrexham County Borough Areas of Wrexham