Everything about Ruabon totally explained
Ruabon is a village and
community in the County Borough of
Wrexham in north-east
Wales.
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
Y Gardden, an ancient
hill fort surrounded by circular
ditches, dating back to the
Iron Age.
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; Morton Anglicorum (the “English Morton” or Morton Below the dyke); and Morton Wallichorum (the “Welsh Morton” or Morton 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
Rhosllannerchrugog.
Later in 1879, Dynhinlle Uchaf and the remainder of Cristionydd Cynrig became the new parish of
Penycae.
Ruabon was 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.
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'm in Wales."
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'd 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 of 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 family's 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.
There was also a fire in the stables adjoining the hall during the
Second World War while the hall was used as billetting for officers.
Owing to heavy death duties, the Williams-Wynns 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. Lady 'Daisy' Williams Wynn continued to live at Belan for much longer than 1948.
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
Northumberland although it had no connection with the island). The school itself closed in
bankruptcy in 1994 and the house was converted into luxury flats.
The organ at Wynnstay was built by Snetzler in 1774 for Sir
Watkin Williams-Wynns
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.
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,
Germany 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 Aqueduct on the
Shropshire Union Canal, until the railway reached Ruabon in 1855. The site was later acquired by the American chemical company
Monsanto, their first venture in Europe, but in 1995 it was rebranded as Flexys, a specialist in chemicals and additives for the rubber industry. The site is now operated as
Solutia .
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,
Rhos,
Acrefair, Trefor and Newbridge.
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 classrooms 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 .
In 1922 a secondary school for girls, later to be known as the Ruabon Grammar School for Girls, was built adjacent to the boys' school. This was housed in temporary wooden buildings and remained so until a new school was opened, opposite the boys' school, in 1962.
The school's Welsh motto was
Gorau Trysor Enw Da .
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 girls' 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 Boys' Grammar School include:
- Tom Ellis, Member of Parliament (Labour) for Wrexham from 1970 to 1983 (but defected to the SDP in 1981)
- Frank Harris, writer
- Isaac Daniel Hooson, poet and novelist
- Meredith Edwards, actor
- Arwel Hughes, composer and conductor
- Griffith William Hughes, composer and conductor
- David Ian Jones, currently Member of Parliament (Conservative) for Clwyd West
- 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
- Llewelyn Kenrick, the 'father' of Welsh football
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.
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.
Railways
Ruabon is connected to the National Railway 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.
SS Ruabon
The British merchant ship Ruabon, a steamer of was captured and sunk by the infamous German submarine U-20 on 2 May, 1916. The ship was torpedoed about 160 miles/258 km W by S of the island from Ushant in Brittany on route from Seville, Spain to Troon, Scotland. The ship was owned by John Cory & Sons of Cardiff.
Famous former residents
William Ellis Bailiff (1882-1972): Welsh international footballer
Edward Bowen: Welsh international footballer
Henry Dennis (1825-1906): Industrialist
John Downman (1750-1824): English artist born.
Henry Dyke Dennis (1863-19??): Industrialist
Emrys Ellis: Welsh international footballer from Plas Bennion
Reuben Haigh (1879-1951): Industrialist
Edward Hughes: Welsh international footballer
Robert Albert Jones: Welsh international footballer
Llewelyn Kenrick (1847-1933): The 'father' of Welsh football born in Wynn Hall
Robert William Matthews: Welsh international footballer from Plas Bennion
John Parry Ddall (1710?-1782): Blind harpist of Wynnstay
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.
Will Roberts (1907-2000): Welsh industrial artist.
Music
Rhiwabon, hymn tune
Clychau Rhiwabon, harp tuneFurther Information
Get more info on 'Ruabon'.
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