Minera (; ) is a village and

community A community is a social unit (a group of people) with a shared socially-significant characteristic, such as place, set of norms, culture, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given g ...

Wrexham County Borough Wrexham County Borough () is a Principal areas of Wales, county borough, with city status in the United Kingdom, city status, in the North East Wales, north-east of Wales. It borders the English ceremonial counties of Cheshire and Shropshire to ...

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

. It adjoins the village of

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 c ...

. The community, which in addition to Minera village includes a number of smaller hamlets such as Gwynfryn and New Brighton and large areas of farmland, had a total population of 1,608 at the 2001 census,Minera
Office for National Statistics increasing slightly to 1,617 at the 2011 Census.

History

The name Minera has an unusual source, being derived from the

low Latin Late Latin is the scholarly name for the form of Literary Latin of late antiquity.Roberts (1996), p. 537. English dictionary definitions of Late Latin date this period from the 3rd to 6th centuries CE, and continuing into the 7th century in ...

for "mine" or "ore".Palmer, A. N. ''A History of Ancient Tenures of Land in North Wales and the Marches'', pp.243-44 This name was recorded as early as 1339. The parallel Welsh name ''Mwynglawdd'' translates roughly as "ore mine". In common with many Welsh settlements, Minera did not develop as a compact 'village' in the English understanding of the word until the 19th century. Under the

manorial Manorialism, also known as seigneurialism, the manor system or manorial system, was the method of land ownership (or "tenure") in parts of Europe, notably France and later England, during the Middle Ages. Its defining features included a large, ...

administration imposed after the mediaeval English conquest of Wales, Minera existed as a manor and

township A township is a form of human settlement or administrative subdivision. Its exact definition varies among countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, this tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Canad ...

within the Lordship of Bromfield. Unlike many of the surrounding manors, such as

Esclusham Esclusham ( 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 settlements, ...

Eglwyseg 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 ...

le and

Ruabon Ruabon (; ) is a village and community in Wrexham County Borough Wrexham County Borough () is a Principal areas of Wales, county borough, with city status in the United Kingdom, city status, in the North East Wales, north-east of Wales. I ...

, land tenure within Minera was mostly servile, rather than free.Palmer, p.234 The history of Minera is closely related to that of its lead mines. Although earlier use, dating back perhaps as far as the Roman occupation, has been suggested, the first clear documentary evidence of the industry appears during the reign of

Edward I Edward I (17/18 June 1239 – 7 July 1307), also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots (Latin: Malleus Scotorum), was King of England from 1272 to 1307. Concurrently, he was Lord of Ireland, and from 125 ...

, when miners from Minera were sent to

Cornwall Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...

to help develop the tin mining industry.Clwyd-Powys Metal Mines Survey
Clwyd-Powys Archaeological Trust Extraction of lead and coal was later joined by the quarrying of silica stone and

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

, with three lime kilns being recorded in operation at Minera Mill in 1620.Davies, J. C
Minera
BBC North East Wales Further industrial development took place in the 19th century. The lead mines expanded under the guidance of engineer

John Taylor John Taylor, Johnny Taylor or similar is the name of: Academics *John Taylor (Oxford), Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University, 1486–1487 * John Taylor (classical scholar) (1704–1766), English classical scholar *John Taylor (English publisher) ...

and the

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 ...

came into operation, while a branch of the

North Wales Mineral Railway The North Wales Mineral Railway was formed to carry coal and ironstone from the mineral-bearing area around Wrexham to the River Dee wharves. It was extended to run from Shrewsbury and formed part of a main line trunk route, under the title t ...

was built in 1844 to serve the area.

Governance

electoral ward A ward is a local authority area, typically used for electoral purposes. In some countries, wards are usually named after neighbourhoods, thoroughfares, parishes, landmarks, geographical features and in some cases historical figures connected t ...

in the same name exists. This ward stretches north to Broughton and at the 2011 Census had a population of 2,472.

Churches

There is thought to have been a "

chapel of ease A chapel of ease (or chapel-of-ease) is a church architecture, church building other than the parish church, built within the bounds of a parish for the attendance of those who cannot reach the parish church conveniently, generally due to trav ...

" to Wrexham parish church as early as 1577: built of wood, it was successively rebuilt in 1728-33 and 1815.Minera, St Mary

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 ...

The growing population of the area meant that Minera (previously a township of the parish of Wrexham) was created as a separate

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 pries ...

in 1844. In 1864-5 the old church, which had become dilapidated, was demolished and a new church was built to designs by Kennedy and Rogers of Bangor, preserving the outlines and interior of the old building. Minera's first Wesleyan Methodist chapel was built in 1804; it was originally named Minera Chapel, but in 1859, it was renamed Pen-y-Bryn.

Recent history

The lead and zinc mining industry declined in the early years of the 20th century, the mines finally closing in 1914 (the engine house of the Meadow Shaft remained standing in a derelict condition until the early 1990s when it was restored). Despite the loss of its traditional industries the village of Minera expanded rapidly in the period after

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, thanks to the construction of

council housing Public housing in the United Kingdom, also known as council housing or social housing, provided the majority of rented accommodation until 2011, when the number of households in private rental housing surpassed the number in social housing. D ...

estates. 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. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

of Minera, whose boundaries approximated those of the old township of Minera, was replaced by the community of Minera 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 ...

; the records of the old Minera Parish Council are held in the Denbighshire Record Office.

Football

Reports exist of the short-lived Minera Rovers and Minera Victoria contesting the Welsh Amateur Cup in

1890 Events January * January 1 – The Kingdom of Italy establishes Eritrea as its colony in the Horn of Africa. * January 2 – Alice Sanger becomes the first female staffer in the White House. * January 11 – 1890 British Ultimatum: The Uni ...

and

1891 Events January * January 1 ** A strike of 500 Hungarian steel workers occurs; 3,000 men are out of work as a consequence. **Germany takes formal possession of its new African territories. * January 4 – The Earl of Zetland issues a ...

. By 1898 another local team, Minera St Marys, had joined the

Denbighshire League The Denbighshire League was a league in the early days of Welsh football. Originally titled the Welsh Senior League, it ran from 1890 until 1902. It was mainly made up of teams from the Wrexham area, with sporadic entrants from Mid Wales and the N ...

. Minera St Marys only lasted one season in this competition, taking on the fixtures of Cerney Swifts and finishing second from bottom. Whilst other Minera teams existed, none competed in any recognised leagues again until 1981 when Minera joined Welsh National League Wrexham Area Division 4. The team spent three seasons in Division 4 before finishing third in 1984 and gaining promotion to Welsh National League Wrexham Area Division 2 (formerly Division 3, renamed in 1984 following introduction of Premier Division). Minera stayed in this division until 1990 when they folded.

References

External links

BBC Wales mini-site.Minera Historyphotos of Minera and surrounding area on geograph
{{authority control Villages in Wrexham County Borough Communities in Wrexham County Borough The Lordship of Bromfield and Yale Wards of Wrexham County Borough