Wrexham County Borough
Wrexham County Borough is a county borough, with city status, in the north-east of Wales. It borders the English ceremonial counties of Cheshire and Shropshire to the east and south-east respectively along the England–Wales border, Powys to the south-west, Denbighshire to the west and Flintshire to the north-west. The city of Wrexham is the administrative centre. The county borough is part of the preserved county of Clwyd.
The county borough has an area of and a population of 136,055. The north of the county borough is relatively urbanised and centred on Wrexham, with a population of 44,785, its industrial estate and several outlying villages, such as Brynteg and Gwersyllt. To the north east is the border village of Holt, while to the south of Wrexham, Rhosllanerchrugog, Ruabon, Acrefair and Cefn Mawr are the main urban villages. Further south again is the town of Chirk, near the border with Shropshire, while the Ceiriog Valley to the south-east and English Maelor to the south-west of the county borough are rural. The county borough was historically split between Denbighshire and Flintshire, with it all later being part of the county of Clwyd.
The county borough is flat in the east and hilly in the west. The long salient to the south-west incorporates most of the Ceiriog Valley and includes part of the Berwyn range. The River Ceiriog forms part of the Shropshire border in its lower stages before meeting the Dee east of Chirk. The Dee itself enters the county borough near Cefn Mawr and flows east and then north-east toward Cheshire, creating a wide plain. It forms part of the border before fully entering England at the county borough's north-east corner. The north-west of the county borough, down to Chirk, is part of the Clwydian Range and Dee Valley AONB, and includes the Ruabon Moors uplands.
Wrexham includes the remains of two significant medieval castles: Chirk, which is now a country house, and Holt, of which only fragments remain. The county borough has a strong industrial history; a notable early business is Bersham Ironworks, in the Clywedog Valley, which operated between 1715 and 1812 and pioneered cannon manufacture. The area is part of the North Wales Coalfield and significant mining took place in the nineteenth century. Tanning and brewing were also significant industries. The Pontcysyllte Aqueduct near Cefn Mawr is an important surviving piece of early industrial infrastructure and has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The contemporary economy of the county borough has diversified into industries such as engineering, pharmaceuticals, electronics, and food processing, with agriculture dominant in the south-east and south-west. The county borough also contains Wrexham University, one of Wales' three Roman Catholic cathedrals, Wrexham Industrial Estate and the UK's largest prison, HMP Berwyn.
History
Borough status
In 1848, concerns over the sanitary conditions, in particular the threat of cholera, in the growing town of Wrexham, led to locals launching a petition in February 1857 for the town to be incorporated. In September 1857, the town was granted a charter, spanning the two townships of the town, Wrexham Abbot and Wrexham Regis, as well as part of Esclusham Below, and forming the borough of Wrexham, with a borough council and mayor under the terms of the Municipal Corporations Act 1835. During incorporation the town was also given a coat of arms.Between 1894 and 1974, as part of Denbighshire; the remaining civil parishes surrounding but excluding the town were part of the Wrexham Rural District, civil parishes in the Maelor region were part of the Overton Rural District, renamed Maelor Rural District in 1953. Whereas civil parishes in Chirk and the Ceiriog Valley were from 1894 part of either the Chirk Rural District or Llansillin Rural District, until they were merged into the Ceiriog Rural District in 1935, and abolished in 1974 to become part of Clwyd's Glyndŵr district.
The Local Government Act 1958 formed the Local Government Commission for Wales tasked to review the potential reform of local government in Wales. In their 1963 report, the commission rejected proposals for the establishment of Wrexham as a county borough.
Status within Clwyd, then as County Borough
The borough of Wrexham, Wrexham Rural District, Marford and Hoseley and the neighbouring Flintshire exclave of the Maelor Rural District, were abolished in 1974, all being absorbed into the Wrexham Maelor district of the then administrative county of Clwyd. Chirk and the Ceiriog Valley were part of the Glyndŵr district.Clwyd itself was abolished in 1996 as an administrative county, becoming a preserved county for ceremonial lieutenancy purposes.
Wrexham was established as a county borough in 1996, containing all of the former Clwyd district of Wrexham Maelor, and the communities of Chirk, Glyntraian, Llansantffraid Glyn Ceiriog and Ceiriog Ucha from the Glyndŵr district.
Following formation in 1996, there were discussions over the boundary between the newly created principal areas of Denbighshire and Wrexham County Borough, in particular over the lower Dee Valley and Llangollen area. Llangollen, Llangollen Rural and Llantysilio were all considered to potentially all or partly become part of Wrexham County Borough. Referendums were held in the communities, with the community of Llangollen Rural, originally in Denbighshire in 1996, transferred to Wrexham County Borough in 1997 through the enacting of "The Denbighshire and Wrexham Order 1996" on 1 April 1997.
Referendums by Llangollen Town Council were held in 1993 and 2000, with the latter resulting in a narrow majority of nineteen votes for staying in Denbighshire, and the Welsh Assembly accepting the result by confirming the boundaries in 2002.
On 1 September 2022, the county borough was awarded city status on behalf of Wrexham's application.
Geography
Wrexham County Borough is a landlocked principal area in Wales. It is a "border county" in the Welsh Marches border region. It is bordered by the English counties of Cheshire to the east and Shropshire to the south and south-east, and the Welsh counties of Flintshire to the north, Denbighshire to the west, and Powys to the south-west.Parts of the Berwyn range and Maesyrchen Mountains, some part of the Clwydian Range and Dee Valley Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty since 2011, border the county borough to its west. To the east across the River Dee, the county borough meets the Cheshire Plain.
The county borough's boundaries can be characterised by two protrusions from the largely contiguous borders surrounding the city of Wrexham, sometimes defined as Maelor Gymraeg. To the south-east of the city, across the River Dee, the English Maelor extends to almost meet the English town of Whitchurch, Shropshire and Fenn's Moss. To the south-west, a large salient of the county borough to the west of Chirk, along the River Ceiriog and the surrounding Ceiriog Valley meets the Berwyn range and the Powys border. The highest point in the county borough is Craig Berwyn, rising 790 metres on the Wrexham-Powys border in the Berwyn range.
There are two upland areas in the county borough, both located on its western edge. The Berwyn mountains, and the Ruabon and Esclusham Mountains. The Berwyns and Ruabon Mountain are designated SSSIs and SACs.
The county borough is within the preserved county of Clwyd, and between 1974 and 1996 as part of the then administrative county of Clwyd, the present-day county borough was divided into the districts of Wrexham Maelor and Glyndŵr. Before Clwyd's establishment in 1974, the modern-day county borough was part of the historic counties of Denbighshire, and Flintshire.
Offa's and Wat's Dyke, and their respective pathways pass through the county borough. Other pathways include the Dee Way Walk, and Maelor Way. The Fenn's, Whixall and Bettisfield Mosses National Nature Reserve is located in the south-east of the county borough along the Wrexham-Shropshire border.
The county borough is largely urban and industrial surrounding Wrexham, but largely rural for the rest of the county borough, with areas of farmland and rural estates. Woodlands cover 9.4% of the county borough, lower than the national average of 14%.
The main settlement of the county borough is the city of Wrexham with 44,785 inhabitants in 2021. Its neighbouring villages include Gwersyllt, Rhostyllen, Brymbo, Bradley and New Broughton. These, along with Wrexham, formed Wales' fourth largest urban area with 65,692 inhabitants in 2011. The sole other town in the county borough is Chirk. The main villages of the county borough are Rhosllanerchrugog, Ruabon, Cefn Mawr, Coedpoeth, Gresford, Llay, Holt, Llansantffraid Glyn Ceiriog, Llanarmon Dyffryn Ceiriog, Bangor-on-Dee and Marchwiel.
Rhosllanerchrugog's built-up area extends to Ruabon, Cefn Mawr and Acrefair, with a total population of 25,362 in 2011.
There are of principal rivers in the county borough, including the River Dee, Ceiriog, Alyn and Clywedog, as well as important streams.
The River Dee is the main river in the county borough, flowing from Denbighshire in the west into the county borough passing Froncysyllte, under Pontcysyllte Aqueduct, and passing Chirk, until it flows north-east towards England, cutting off the county borough's south-east salient of Maelor Saesneg and later forming part of the border between Wales and England. River Alyn, a tributary of the Dee, flows in the north of the county borough.
There are various small lakes in the county borough. While there are 3000 ponds, mainly concentrated in Hanmer, Maelor and Overton.
There is a veteran tree, said to be over 1,000 years old, near Chirk, known as the Oak at the Gate of the Dead. There are also some caves under Esclusham Mountain to the west of the county borough, with caves such as: Ogof Dydd Byraf and Ogof Llyn Parc.