Wynn Hall is a 17th-century house in the old hamlet of Bodylltyn in Ruabon, Wrexham, Wales standing at the junction of the Penycae Road and Plas Bennion Road. It was built in about 1649 by William Wynn and is a Grade II* listed building. [1]
During the English Civil War Wiliam Wynn served on the Parliamentarian side and was imprisoned at Denbigh Castle. Wynn was one of the commissioners named in the 1650 Act for Propagating the Gospel in Wales. During the 17th and 18th centuries the family was connected with the development of the nonconformist cause in the Wrexham area. He died in 1692 and was buried in the Dissenters' Graveyard in Rhosddu, Wrexham. [2]
William Wynn's granddaughter Sarah, the daughter of Archibald Hamilton and Sarah Wynn, married the Rev. John Kenrick (1683–1745), minister of Chester Street Presbyterian Chapel, Wrexham which placed the house in the hands of the Kenrick family for over two centuries.
The Wynn Hall Colliery was opened by William Kenrick (1798–1865), the grandson of John, and consisted of two pits, the 'Foundry Pit' and the 'Rock Pit'. Both pits were "drowned out" in 1846, severely affecting coal production. The Kenricks also owned a spelter (zinc) works at nearby Copperas. [3]
William's cousin, Archibald Kenrick, was grandfather of cousins Harriet and Florence Kenrick, the first and second wives of the politician Joseph Chamberlain, mothers of Sir Austen Chamberlain and the British prime minister Neville Chamberlain respectively . Florence Kenrick's sister Louisa was the wife of Joseph Chamblerlain's brother Arthur; they were grandparents of the author Elizabeth Longford and great-grandparents of the Labour politician Harriet Harman.
Llewelyn Kenrick (1847–1933), the son of William Kenrick, was born at Wynn Hall. After attending Ruabon Grammar School he trained as a solicitor but always remained a keen football player. Kenrick was instrumental in forming the Football Association of Wales in 1876 at a meeting in the Wynnstay Arms Hotel in Ruabon. Kenrick captained the Welsh national side for their first game in 1876 in Glasgow, Scotland. He was later appointed coroner for East Denbighshire. [4]
This connection between the Kenricks and Wynn Hall ended in 1970 when the remaining members of the family sold the estate and emigrated to Australia.
For a short period of time Wynn Hall had its own halt on the Froncysyllte Branch (formerly the Ruabon Brook Tramway) which ran between Rhosllannerchrugog and the canal wharf at Froncysyllte. [5] Although this was primarily an industrial line, a rail motor service ran between Wrexham and Wynn Hall Halt (via Rhos) from 1905 to 1915; but following the closure of Wynn Hall Colliery the number of passengers fell, and from 1915 the passenger service was terminated at Rhos, though the line through Wynn Hall remained open for goods traffic until 1953. The track was lifted in the late 1950s and is now largely obliterated.
Cefn Druids Association Football Club is an inactive association football team based in the village of Cefn Mawr, Wrexham. The club played in the Cymru North after being relegated from the Cymru Premier in 2021–22 but withdrew ahead of the 2023-24 season.
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, 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.
Rhosllanerchrugog is a village and community in Wrexham County Borough, Wales. It lies within the historic county of Denbighshire. The entire built-up area including Penycae, Ruabon and Cefn Mawr had a population of 25,362.
Ruabon is a village and community in Wrexham County Borough, Wales. The name comes from Rhiw Fabon, rhiw being the Welsh word for "slope" or "hillside" and Fabon being a mutation from St Mabon, the original church name, of earlier, Celtic origin. An older English spelling, Rhuabon, can sometimes be seen.
Clwyd South is a constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom (Westminster). The constituency was created in 1997, and it elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post method of election.
Samuel Llewelyn Kenrick was a Welsh solicitor who became the founder of the Football Association of Wales and organised the first Welsh international football match against Scotland in 1876. As such he became the "father of Welsh football".
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.
Pen-y-cae is a village and community in Wrexham County Borough, Wales. The population of the community taken at the 2011 census was 3,389. It adjoins the larger village of Rhosllanerchrugog.
Rhostyllen is a village in Wrexham County Borough, Wales, south-west of the city of Wrexham. At the time of the 2001 census, area Wrexham 014A, which includes Rhostyllen itself, had a population of 1,383 in 599 households.
Ruabon Druids F.C. were a football club based in the village of Ruabon near Wrexham, Wales. The club was founded in October 1872 as 'Ruabon Rovers F.C.' by David Thomson and his brother, George, of Ruabon. In 1874 Ruabon Rovers F.C. became Plasmadoc F.C. before changing their name to Druids F.C. in 1876.
Trevor is a village in Wrexham County Borough, Wales. It is situated in the scenic Vale of Llangollen, on the A539 between Llangollen and Wrexham, in the community of Llangollen Rural, and in the historic county of Denbighshire.
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 The Shrewsbury and Chester Railway. It opened in 1846 from Chester to Ruabon, and in 1848 from Ruabon to Shrewsbury. It later merged with the Great Western Railway.
Daniel Grey was a Welsh medical practitioner who was prominent in the early days of Welsh football, making two appearances for the Wales national football team in the 1870s.
George Frederick Thomson was a Welsh amateur footballer who helped found the Druids club and played for Wales in their first two international matches.
David Thomson was an England-born Welsh amateur footballer who helped found the Druids club and played for Wales in their first international match. He has been described as "one of the pioneers of Welsh football".
The Ruabon Brook Tramway was a Welsh horse-drawn tramway linking the Ruabon coalfield to the Ellesmere Canal at Froncysyllte, with a private extension into the Monsanto works at Cefn Mawr which reconnected to the main line at Trevor. The area was rich in coal, clay and minerals.
The North Wales Miners' Association was a trade union representing coal miners in Wales.
The Ruabon railway branch lines were a network of railways built to serve the mineral bearing area west of Ruabon, which contained many coal and iron deposits, as well as limestone, and a small but dense network of railways developed to handle the minerals.
Legacy railway station was built close to the location of the disused Legacy Colliery when the Great Western Railway built the Rhos Branch in 1901. The disused line built to serve the colliery in 1876 was used by the Rhos branch for a short distance through Legacy Station to the newly formed Legacy junction where the Rhos branch diverged to follow a more Northerly route, eventually meeting the Pontcysyllte branch. Legacy Station was open from 1901 to 1931 for passenger traffic and until 1963 for goods traffic.
