Ruabon

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Ordnance Survey
OS grid reference:	SJ303438
Administration
Country:	Wales
Principal area:	Wrexham County Borough
Ceremonial county:	Clwyd
Historic county:	Denbighshire
Post office and telephone
Post town:	WREXHAM
Postal district:	LL14 6xx
Dialling code:	01978
Politics
UK Parliament:	Clwyd South
National Assembly for Wales:	Clwyd South & North Wales
European Parliament:	Wales

Ruabon (Welsh: Rhiwabon) is a village in the county borough of Wrexham in north-east Wales.

1 Early History
2 The Old Parish
3 Wild Wales
4 The Wynns of Wynnstay
5 Industry
6 Ruabon Grammar School
7 Offa's Dyke
8 Railways
9 Famous Former Residents
10 Music
11 Sources
12 See also
13 External links

[edit] Early History

There is evidence that a settlement existed in Ruabon in the Bronze Age. In 1898 building works in the centre of Ruabon exposed a cist or stone urn containing cremated human remains dating from 2000 years BC. In 1917 the remains of a Bronze Age round barrow was discovered on the playing fields of Ruabon Grammar School which contained human remains, a flint arrowhead and a bronze axe.

Overlooking Ruabon is Caerddin (or Gardden), an ancient hill fort surrounded by circular ditches, dating back to the Iron Age.

[edit] The Old Parish

The ancient parish of Ruabon (derived from the Welsh Rhiw Fabon, hillside of Mabon, a local Welsh saint), was made up of the townships of: Ruabon (which also included the hamlets of Belan, Bodylltyn, Hafod, and Rhuddallt); Cristionydd Cynrig (also known as Y Dref Fawr or Cristionydd Kenrick in English); Coed Cristionydd; Cristionydd Fechan (also known as Y Dref Fechan or Dynhinlle Uchaf); Dinhinlle Isaf; Moreton Anglicorum (the “English Moreton” or Moreton Below the dyke); and Moreton Wallichorum (the “Welsh Moreton” or Moreton Above the dyke). An older English spelling, Rhuabon, can sometimes be seen.

In 1844, Coed Cristionydd and part of Cristionydd Cynrig became part of the new parish of Rhosymedre; and Cristionydd Fechan and Moreton Above became part of the new parish of Rhosllanerchrugog. Later in 1879, Dynhinlle Uchaf and the remainder of Cristionydd Cynrig became the new parish of Penycae.

Ruabon is in the historic county of Denbighshire, and between 1889 and 1974 was administered by Denbighshire County Council. From 1974 until 1996 it was administered as part of Clwyd. From 1996 it has been administered as part of the County Borough of Wrexham.

[edit] Wild Wales

In the 1850s the English writer George Borrow toured Wales and wrote an account of his journey in the book “Wild Wales”: “Rhiwabon … a large village about half way between Wrexham and Llangollen. I observed in this place nothing remarkable, but an ancient church. My way from hence lay nearly west. I ascended a hill, from the top of which I looked down into a smoky valley. I descended, passing by a great many collieries, in which I observed grimy men working amidst smoke and flame. At the bottom of the hill near a bridge I turned round. A ridge to the east particularly struck my attention; it was covered with dusky edifices, from which proceeded thundering sounds, and puffs of smoke. A woman passed me going towards Rhiwabon; I pointed to the ridge and asked its name; I spoke English. The woman shook her head and replied "Dim Saesneg" (English: "No English"). "This is as it should be," said I to myself; "I now feel I am in Wales."

The Wynnstay Arms Hotel with the Arms of the Williams-Wynn family on the hanging sign

The clock and tower of St. Mary's Parish Church

[edit] The Wynns of Wynnstay

The Williams-Wynn family were major landowners in north and mid Wales and also across the English border. For centuries they had a great influence on the political, cultural, social and literary life of Wales. Although the family owned several houses throughout Wales, the seat of the family was at Wynnstay in Ruabon. The fifth baronet became so powerful that he was given the unofficial title of “Prince of Wales”.

Wynnstay had passed into the possession the Wynn family (as they were then known) through marriage. The estate, originally known simply as Rhiwabon, was owned by the Eyton family who later changed its name to Watstay. On inheriting the estate, Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn took on the additional surname of Wynn and commissioned the building of a new mansion, to be known as Wynnstay, to replace the original building.

The arms of the Williams-Wynn family show an eagle with the Welsh motto "Eryr Eryrod Eryri" which translates into English as "The Eagle of Eagles of the Land of Eagles", the Land of Eagles being Snowdonia and reflecting the families origins in that part of Wales.

One of Wales’ greatest harpists was under the patronage of the Williams-Wynn’s. John Parry (“John Parry Ddall, Rhiwabon”) was born in about 1710 on Pen Llyn and was blind from birth. He lived on the Wynnstay estate but spent much of his time at the family’s London home where he performed on the Welsh triple harp for London's cultural elite.

Parts of the grounds were landscaped by Capability Brown and the park was regarded as one of the largest and most important in Wales, containing several important monuments; a column by James Wyatt, erected in 1790 as a memorial to the fourth baronet; the Nant y Belan Tower and the Waterloo Tower. In 1858 the ‘old’ Wynnstay was destroyed by fire, with many valuable manuscripts being lost. Sir Watkin built a new mansion on the same site.

Owing to heavy death duties, the Williams-Wynn’s moved from Wynnstay to nearby Plas Belan, a house in the estate grounds, and finally left Ruabon for ever in 1948, severing a link with Ruabon of over two centuries. Much of the estate was put up for sale and the house became a private school, Lindisfarne College (which took its name from the island of Lindisfarne in Northumbria although it had no connection with the island). The school itself closed in bankruptcy in 1994 and the house was converted into luxury apartments. The organ at Wynnstay was built by Snetzler in 1774 for Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn’s London home in St James's Square but was moved to Wynnstay in 1863. During the sale of Wynnstay and its contents, the organ, and many other treasures, were acquired for the nation and are now displayed at the National Museum in Cardiff. The woodlands within the estate were taken over by the Forestry Commission and the trees were felled and replaced by conifers. Further destruction took place when parts of the estate grounds were built over during the construction of the Ruabon bypass.

[edit] Industry

The Ruabon area was formerly heavily industrialised with large deposits of iron, coal and clay. Iron was worked in Gyfelia and Cinders as far back as the Middle Ages but heavy industry dominated the entire parish in the 18th and 19th centuries. Coal was extracted from pits at The Green, Plas Madoc, Plas Bennion, Wynn Hall, Afon Eitha, Cristionydd, Groes, Plas Isaf, Plas Kynaston, Gardden, Brandie, Aberderfyn, Ponkey and Rhos but many of these were hit by flooding in 1846 and ceased production. Later collieries were built at Wynnstay, Vauxhall and Hafod. Hafod Colliery, the last working colliery in the Ruabon coalfield, closed in 1968. The colliery’s coal tip has since been preserved as Parc Bonc yr Hafod.

Iron was worked at Ruabon; Acrefair; Cefn Mawr and Plas Madoc; and zinc at Wynn Hall. In 1867 Robert Graesser, an industrial chemist from Obermosel in Saxony, established a chemical works at Plas Kynaston in Cefn Mawr to extract paraffin oil and wax from the local shale. This was the start of the long association between the chemical industry and Cefn Mawr. Much of the mineral wealth of the area was exported by canal over the Pontcysyllte Aquaduct on the Shropshire Union Canal, until the railway reached Ruabon in 1855.

At Afongoch there were three clay companies very close together: (1) "Monk & Newell" was situated on the east side of the Ruabon-Wrexham road. It closed in the 1920s and the site was later used for housing ('Newell Drive') and the adjacent flooded claypit (Monk's Pool) is now used by a local angling club.; (2) The “Ruabon Brick & Terra Cotta Ltd." or "Jenks' Terracotta Works" (or "Gwaith Jinks") was situated on the west side of the Ruabon-Wrexham road (off Tatham Road) but with its original clay pit to the east of the Ruabon-Wrexham road, separated from the Monk & Newell clay pit by the Afon Goch. Founded by the Hague family of the Gardden in about 1883 and managed by Henry Jenks. It produced bricks, chimney pots, finials, cornices and encaustic tiles. It was taken over by Dennis' in the 1960s but closed in the mid 1970s. The works site is now an industrial estate as is the original clay pit; (3) The "Tatham Brick & Tile Works" or "Afongoch & Tatham Tileries" - at Afongoch, on the west side of the Ruabon-Wrexham road, off Tatham Road. Opened about 1860 by Henry Richard Bowers & Co. of Penbedw, Acrefair it produced bricks, pipes and chimney-pots. It closed about 1910 when the clay pit was taken over by Jenks' Terracotta Works. The clay pit is now used for landfill.

At Hafod, the Cornish engineer Henry Dennis founded a clay works next to the Hafod colliery. The Dennis company became world famous for its tiles and still operates today.

At Cinders, the "Wynnstay Brickworks" was to the right of the Ruabon-Overton road near Cinders Farm. It produced bricks, tiles and drainage pipes for the Wynnstay estate.

Other large brickworks existed at Pant, Rhosllanerchrugog, Acrefair, Trefor and Newbridge.

[edit] Ruabon Grammar School

It was generally assumed that the school was founded in 1575 as this was the date which appeared on the school badge. However, this date is uncertain as the early school records were completely destroyed in 1858 during the catastrophic fire which gutted Wynnstay, where the records were being kept at the time. Today a date of 1618 is thought to be more accurate.

Records show that Thomas Ednyfed (or Nevitt), a Welshman who had made his fortune as a draper in London, England became one of the first benefactors of the school. The school developed as a boys' boarding school. The school originally stood at the top of Ysgoldy Hill, opposite the church, but in 1858 moved to a new site on the Penycae road between Mill Farm and Offa's Dyke. This new building had teaching rooms and a kitchen downstairs with dormitories upstairs.

Ruabon Grammar School for Boys became a Denbighshire county secondary school in 1894 and new buildings, including classrooms and laboratories were added in 1896, with further major building works taking place in the 1920s and 1940s.

The school's Latin motto was Absque Labore Nihil (English: Nothing Without Labour).

In 1922 a secondary school for girls, later to be known as the Ruabon Grammar School for Girls, was built adjacent to the boy's school. This was housed in temporary wooden buildings and remained so until a new school was opened, opposite the boy's school, in 1962.

The school's Welsh motto was Gorau Trysor Enw Da (English: The Best Treasure is a Good Name).

In 1967 the Ruabon Boys Grammar School and the Ruabon Girls Grammar School amalgamated to form the present comprehensive school, Ysgol Rhiwabon. This school is now housed in the buildings of the former girl's grammar school. The site of the former boys' grammar school has been redeveloped for housing with some of the original buildings being conserved.

Famous ex-pupils of Ruabon Boy's Grammar School include:

Frank Harris, writer
Isaac Daniel Hooson, poet and novelist
Llewelyn Kenrick, the 'father' of Welsh football
Griffith William Hughes, composer and conductor
Arwel Hughes, composer and conductor
Meredith Edwards, actor
James Idwal Jones, Member of Parliament (Labour) for Wrexham from 1955 to 1970
Thomas William Jones (later Lord Maelor), Member of Parliament (Labour) for Merionethshire from 1951 to 1966
Tom Ellis, Member of Parliament (Labour) for Wrexham from 1970 to 1983 (but defected to the SDP in 1981)
David Ian Jones, currently Member of Parliament (Conservative) for Clwyd West

Famous ex-pupils of Ysgol Rhiwabon include:

Mark Hughes, former Manchester United F.C., Blackburn Rovers F.C. and Wales footballer.
Bryn Law, Sky Sports reporter.

[edit] Offa's Dyke

Substantial remains of Offa's Dyke (Welsh: Clawdd Offa) can be seen on the western outskirts of Ruabon. This massive earthwork, stretching from Chepstow in the south to Prestatyn in the north, was constructed in the late 8th century by Offa, King of Mercia, as a boundary between Saxon Mercia and Celtic Wales. Traces of an earlier dyke, Wat’s Dyke, can be seen on the eastern side of the Ruabon.

It would be several centuries before the lands to the east of Offa's Dyke would be returned to Wales.

[edit] Railways

Ruabon is connected to the National Rail Network by the Shrewsbury to Chester Line which was formerly part of the Great Western Railway mainline from London Paddington to Birkenhead Woodside. Intercity services call at Ruabon railway station en route to destinations including Cardiff, Birmingham, Chester and Holyhead. The railway here was also the junction to the now closed Ruabon to Barmouth line, along sections of which now run the Llangollen Railway, Bala Lake Railway and the Mawddach Trail, now a cycle track.

[edit] Famous Former Residents

Llewelyn Kenrick (1847-1933): The 'father' of Welsh football born in Wynn Hall, Ruabon.
Henry Dennis (1825-1906): Industrialist
Henry Dyke Dennis (1863-19??): Industrialist
Reuben Haigh (1879-1951): Industrialist
William Ellis Bailiff (1882-1972): Welsh international footballer from Ruabon.
Edward Bowen: Welsh international footballer from Ruabon.
Edward Hughes: Welsh international footballer from Ruabon.
Robert Albert Jones: Welsh international footballer from Ruabon.
Robert William Matthews: Welsh international footballer from Plas Bennion, Ruabon.
Emrys Ellis: Welsh international footballer from Plas Bennion, Ruabon.
Alfred Ernest Payne (1849-1927): English cricketer who played for the MCC and England. Born in Pentre Ucha, Oswestry and died at Pen y Nant, Rhosymadoc, Ruabon.
Will Roberts (1907-2000): Welsh industrial artist born in Ruabon.
John Downman (1750-1824): English artist born near Ruabon.