RhosllanerchrugogDavies, Jenkins and Baines (eds) ''The Welsh Academy Encyclopedia of Wales'', 2008, p.752 (also spelled Rhosllannerchrugog, or simply Rhos) is a village and

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

in Wrexham County Borough,

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 west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

. It lies within the historic county of

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

. The entire built-up area including Penycae, Ruabon and

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

had a population of 25,362.

Etymology

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

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

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

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

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

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

), "''heathery''", although an etymology based on crugog, "hilly", "rough", has also been suggested.Morgan, ''A handbook of the origin of place-names in Wales and Monmouthshire'', 1887, p.50 The name of the mining village which later grew up on nearby moorland was usually written as "Rhos Llanerchrugog", ("the Llanerchrugog moor", literally "moor, heath of the heather glade"Gelling, Nicholaisen and Richards (eds) ''The names of towns and cities in Britain'', 1970, p.160) in the early and mid 19th century, but later often became written as "Rhos-llanerchrugog" and finally as a single word. The spelling "Rhosllannerchrugog" has also since 1997 been used as an alternative to the legal community name.227. Alternative Community Names, Minutes of the Corporate Policy and Resources Committee
WCBC, 14-07-97 Locally, it is usually known simply as Rhos, or (in Welsh English) as "the Rhos". In the dialect of the area this is invariably pronounced r̥əus in opposition to the Standard Welsh ̥oːsJones, ''Language Obsolescence and Revitalization'', 1998, p.372

History

The village was originally within the ancient parish of Ruabon and the

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

of Morton Above (i.e. Morton, or moor town, above Offa's Dyke) or Morton Wallichorum (the ''Welsh Morton''). In 1844 Morton Above, along with part of the neighbouring township of Dynhinlle Ucha, became part of the newly created parish of Rhosllanerchrugog.Rhosllanerchrugog
GENUKI, 12-01-18 The Llanerchrugog estate itself was owned by the Jones family from at least the 1400s to the 19th century;''Burke's Peerage'', v1, 1858, p.635;Burke, B. 1854-5, A visitation of the seats and arms of the noblemen and gentlemen of Great Britain and Ireland, 204. Available, https://archive.org/details/visitationofseat185402burk in 1649 the landowner John Jones of Llanerchrugog claimed a detailed genealogy going back 2400 years to Dyfnwal Moelmud, and attempted to use his ancient rights of ownership to argue he should be exempt from taxes.''The Transactions of the Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion'', 1948, p.393 The development of the village can be attributed largely to the

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when ...

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

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

were granted the right to dig for coal at Rhos in their borough charter of 1563. A coal mining community was established during the 18th century, and grew substantially from the 1840s onwards. Unlike many other mining villages in the district and in other parts of Wales, the majority of early immigration to Rhos was from Welsh-speaking upland agricultural areas in West Wales, giving the village a distinct linguistic identityDodd, A.H. ''Welsh and English in East Denbighshire: a Historical Retrospect'', Transactions of the Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion, 1940, p.52 which it has retained until the present day. The proportion of Welsh-speakers in Rhos did not fall below 50% until the time of the 1981 census. By the early 18th century the Rhosllanerchrugog mines were the property of the future

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

, of Wynnstay, a member of the area's major landowning family and a prominent Jacobite. At the accession of George I in August 1714, Williams-Wynn incited the miners of Rhos to march to Wrexham, singing Jacobite songs, to sack two Dissenting meeting houses, to smash the windows of Whig tradesmen and to prevent the bells of Wrexham church ringing to celebrate the accession.Evans, ''A History of Wales 1660-1815, 1976, p.57Hughes, ''Royal Wales and its people'', 1957, p.65 The available notes of Mr Kenrick, minister of the New Meeting, dispute many of these assertions. In Wrexham, it was on July 15, 1715 (before George I's accession), that Tory resentment overflowed into riots that were mainly directed at the Dissenters. The New Meeting House was destroyed and the Old Meeting House was badly damaged. The colliers came into town on July 20, 1715 to help and protect the rioters. Upon request from the Dissenters, Watkin Williams-Wynn interceded and persuaded the men to desist. Sporadic rioting continued, at least until October 20, 1715, which was the King's Coronation Day. The Jacobite politics of the district's landlord and his tenants is popularly thought to be the source of the nickname "Jackos" or "Jacos" still applied to inhabitants of Rhos.James,
A short history of Newbridge
ruabon.com 13-01-18 A symbol of Rhos' coal-mining and

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

heritage is seen in the "Stiwt", the

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

in Broad Street. This was erected and paid for by the miners, during the general strike of 1926, as, a social and cultural centre for the community. The Welsh Religious Revival of 1904 also had a major impact on Rhos. The

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

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

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

in 1945 and 1961, and the Celtic League was founded there in 1961 during the Eisteddfod. The many informal fringe performances around this event were memorialised in the poem "The Cross Foxes" by Harri Webb, remembering the night when in Rhos "''we drank the pub dry''".Davies "A oes heddwch?" in Hughes-Freeland (ed) ''Ritual, Performance, Media'' 2003, p.156 With a population of over 10,000, the modern

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

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

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

Architecture

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

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

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

Church of St John Evangelist A grade II

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

, built in 1852 to a design by

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

and consecrated on 4 October 1853. A good example of a Romanesque Revival church, it is Norman style, with coursed and squared sandstone and slate roofs. It has a cruciform plan with

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

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

and

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

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

war graves War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...

of a British and a Canadian soldier of the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

.PENUEL WELSH BAPTIST CHAPEL, HIGH STREET, RHOSLLANERCHRUGOG
Coflein, RCAHMW The chapel was the starting point site of

R. B. Jones Rhys Bevan Jones (19 September 1869 – 10 April 1933) was a Welsh evangelical preacher. He was the founding Principal (academia), principal of the South Wales Bible Training Institute. Jones was born in Dowlais, attended Pontypool Baptist College ...

's campaign in the village during the religious revival in 1904–05. One of the chapel's ministers was Lewis Valentine. Rhosllanerchrugog - geograph

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

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

facade. There is a 1908 organ by

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

: the composer Caradog Roberts was the organist here between 1904 and 1935. Jerusalem chapel, Rhosllanerchrugog - geograph

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

Religious Revival 1904-1905

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

Musical heritage

Rhos is also renowned for its rich musical heritage, and has its own concert hall at the Stiwt Theatre. Composers from the village include Caradog Roberts, best known for the hymn tune " Rachie"; and Arwel Hughes, conductor and composer of the hymn tune "Tydi a Roddaist". Notable performers from Rhos include the baritone James Sauvage and pianist Llŷr Williams. Rhos is home of several

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

s, including the Rhos Male Voice Choir (''Côr Meibion Rhosllannerchrugog''); the Rhos Orpheus Male Voice Choir (''Côr Orffiws Y Rhos''); Johns' Boys Male Chorus (''Côr Meibion Johns' Boys''); a Pensioners' Choir (''Côr Pensiynwyr Rhosllannerchrugog''); a Girls' Choir (''Côr Merched Rhosllannerchrugog''); and the Rhos Singers (Cantorion Rhos), a mixed voice choir. The male voice choirs have performed in many countries, and consistently enjoy success at national and international level. They have benefited from world-class conductors, the most notable of recent years being John Glyn Williams, John Daniel, Emyr James and Aled Phillips. The ''Rhos Prize Silver Band'' was formed in 1884, but later became known as the ''Hafod Colliery Band''. After the closure of Hafod colliery in 1968 the band was renamed ''Rhos and District Silver Band''. In 2001, the band changed its name to ''Wrexham Brass'' and is now based at the Glyndŵr University campus in Wrexham.

Dialect

The village is well known for its unique dialect of the

Welsh language Welsh ( or ) is a Celtic language of the Brittonic subgroup that is native to the Welsh people. Welsh is spoken natively in Wales, by some in England, and in Y Wladfa (the Welsh colony in Chubut Province, Argentina). Historically, it h ...

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

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

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

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

isation of vowels and as seen in the vowel of the name ''Rhos'', locally r̥əus Another typical feature is the contraction of verbal phrases, so that for example ("I had") is rendered as ogaiand ("I have to") as haimi These features are to an extent becoming lost in younger speakers under the influence of Welsh medium education. The Rhos dialect is also known for a unique vocabulary. The main example is a word that has become synonymous with the village: the demonstrative adjective ''nene'' (pronounced approximately eːneː, meaning "that", or more specifically "that over there".Jones, 1998, pg. 375 While the related forms ''ene'' ("that") and ''dene'' ("there ..is") are found in other parts of North-East Wales, ''nene'' is specific to Rhos. The word's association with the village is reflected in the title of the community's monthly newspaper, ''Nene'', founded by the campaigner and local historian Ieuan Roberts ("Ieu Rhos", 1949–2016).Life of jailed Welsh language campaigner remembered in new book
''Daily Post'', 4-07-17 In usage ''Nene'' is also combined with ''ene''; an example is the question "''Be 'di nene ene?''" - "What's that there?"

Cemetery controversy

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

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

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

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

Notable people

Official portrait of Susan Elan Jones crop 2

:See :People from Rhosllanerchrugog * James Sauvage (1849–1922) baritone singer. * Robert Roberts (1865-1945), footballer with 38 caps for Crewe Alexandra F.C. and 2 for

* Caradog Roberts (1878—1935), composer, organist and choirmaster. * Isaac Daniel Hooson (1880–1948), solicitor and poet. * Thomas William Jones, Baron Maelor (1898–1984), politician, MP for Merioneth * Idwal Jones (1900–1982), politician, MP for Denbigh * Arwel Hughes (1909–1988), orchestral conductor and composer. * Meredith Edwards (1917–1999), character actor and writer. * Tom Ellis (1924–2010), politician, MP for

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; cy, Wrecsam; ) is a city and the administrative centre of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. It is located between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley, near the border with Cheshire in England. Historically in the count ...

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

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

* Aled Roberts (1962–2022), politician and Welsh Language Commissioner, 2019-2022. * Mark Lewis Jones (born 1964), actor *

Susan Elan Jones Susan Elan Jones (born 1 June 1968) is a former British Labour Party politician, who was elected at the 2010 general election as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Clwyd South, replacing the previous Labour MP Martyn Jones after his retire ...

(born 1968 in Ponciau), politician, MP for Clwyd South * Llŷr Williams (born 1976 in Pentre Bychan), concert pianist. * Daniel Lloyd (born 1982), actor and singer-songwriter

Stiwt Theatre

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

Transport

The village was once linked to the Great Western Railway by the

Rhos Branch The Ruabon Brook Tramway was a Welsh branch railway line linking the Ruabon coalfield to the Shropshire Union Canal at Froncysyllte, with a private extension into the Monsanto works at Cefn Mawr which reconnected to the main line at Trevor. The ...

, which ran to the village from nearby

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

Ruabon Brook Tramway The Ruabon Brook Tramway was a Welsh branch railway line linking the Ruabon coalfield to the Shropshire Union Canal at Froncysyllte, with a private extension into the Monsanto works at Cefn Mawr which reconnected to the main line at Trevor. The ...

) Wynn Hall, although goods trains ran through to

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

wharf on the Shropshire Union Canal via Plas Bennion and

Acrefair () is a village in the county borough of Wrexham, North East Wales, in the community of Cefn. It was formerly part of the ancient parish of Ruabon, and is located between Wrexham and Llangollen. It is close to the villages of Trevor, Cefn Maw ...

. A second line also passed through nearby

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

, branching off from Legacy, with halts at Fennant Road, Aberderfyn and Ponkey Crossing, and joining the main line again at Wynnville, Ruabon. Regular passenger service had ceased on all of these lines by the 1930s, and the village has since relied on road transport. Rhosllannerchrugog was also the end of the line of the

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

. The tram service began operating in 1903, and originally ran from Penybryn in Wrexham to the New Inn in Johnstown, but this was soon extended up Gutter Hill to Duke Street in Rhos. The company had its depot and staging area in nearby Johnstown. The trams were eventually and gradually replaced by buses owned by the same company, which was renamed the Wrexham & District Transport Company; for many years tram lines were visible outside the garage at the bottom of Gutter Hill. Several local companies operated bus services in the village. The red and cream buses of Phillips & Son of Rhostyllen ran from Wrexham to Rhos via Johnstown, and at one time on to Tainant, from 1927 until it was taken over by Crosville in 1979. T. Williams & Sons ran a service from Rhos to Wrexham from the 1920s until 1986. The last surviving independent local company, Wright & Son, ran a service from Pen-y-cae to Wrexham via Rhos, and later via Ponciau also. When the bus industry was deregulated in 1986 there was fierce competition between Wright's and the much larger Crosville. Wright's ceased operations in 1993, leaving Crosville as the sole service provider in the area. Crosville itself became part of the Arriva group, which still operates a frequent bus service between Rhos and Wrexham city centre. The nearby A483 road provides links to

Liverpool Liverpool is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the List of English districts by population, 10th largest English district by population and its E ...

and

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

to the north and

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

Swansea Swansea (; cy, Abertawe ) is a coastal city and the second-largest city of 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 west, the C ...

and

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. It forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a ...

to the south.

Bibliography

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

References

External links

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