Bangor-on-Dee

Last updated

Bangor-on-Dee
  • Welsh: Bangor-is-y-coed or Bangor Is-coed
Bangor-on-Dee High Street.jpg
The high street in Bangor-on-Dee
Wrexham UK location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Bangor-on-Dee
Location within Wrexham
Population1,110 (2011 Census) [1]
OS grid reference SJ388454
Community
  • Bangor is-y-Coed
Principal area
Preserved county
Country Wales
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Post town WREXHAM
Postcode district LL11
Dialling code 01978
Police North Wales
Fire North Wales
Ambulance Welsh
UK Parliament
Senedd Cymru – Welsh Parliament
List of places
UK
Wales
Wrexham
53°00′11″N2°54′40″W / 53.003°N 2.911°W / 53.003; -2.911

Bangor-on-Dee (Welsh : Bangor-is-y-coed or standardised Bangor Is-coed [2] ) is a village and community in Wrexham County Borough, Wales, on the banks of the River Dee. Until 1974 it was in the exclave of Flintshire known as the Maelor Saesneg, and from 1974 to 1996 in the county of Clwyd.

Contents

The community had a population of 1,110 at the 2011 Census.

Etymology

The anglicised name refers to the village's proximity to the River Dee. However, the older Welsh name, Bangor-is-y-Coed (or Bangor Is-Coed) literally means "Bangor" (a settlement with a wattle enclosure) "below the wood/trees". This form was first recorded in 1699, while an alternative name of the parish, "Bangor Monachorum" ("Bangor of the monks"), was first recorded in 1677. [3]

History

A monastery was established at Bangor in about AD 560 by Saint Dunod (or Dunawd) and was an important religious centre in the 5th and 6th centuries. [4] The monastery was destroyed in about 613 by the Anglo-Saxon king Æthelfrith of Northumbria after he defeated the Welsh armies at the Battle of Chester, which probably took place near Bangor-on-Dee; a number of the monks then transferred to Bardsey Island and appear among lists of saints. [5] Before the battle, monks from the monastery had fasted for three days and then climbed a hill to witness the fight and pray for the success of the Welsh; they were massacred on the orders of Æthelfrith. [6] The scholar Bede wrote that 1200 monks were slaughtered and only 50 escaped. [3] Other accounts are very different in terms of the numbers killed and the date: the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle , for example, states that 200 priests were slain at Chester in 607. [5] More than a millennium later, the massacre was recounted in a poem entitled "The Monks of Bangor's March" by Walter Scott, and put to music by Ludwig van Beethoven. Today no trace of the monastery remains and even its site is uncertain; it is possible that all the buildings, including the church, were built of wattle and daub. [6]

The settlement at Bangor is likely to have continued after the destruction of the monastery, although it was not mentioned in the Domesday Book, and it was an important site for pilgrims. A village was certainly in existence by 1300, when the present church of Saint Dunawd [7] is believed to have been built. [3] By the late 1690s, the historian Edward Lhuyd recorded that the village still had only 26 houses, but by the end of the 19th century it had significantly expanded, including a free school, a coaching inn, a shop, further houses and a brewery. [8]

The Bangor-on-Dee Bridge, a five-arched stone arch bridge across the River Dee, dates its reconstruction to 1658 and it is believed to have been reconstructed to the designs of Inigo Jones and replaced an older medieval bridge. [9] A 1903 suspension bridge by David Rowell & Co. is nearby at Pickhill Meadows. [10]

Transport

The former railway station as it was in 1962 Bangor-on-Dee Station, 1862854 5e291cdb.jpg
The former railway station as it was in 1962
Five-arched stone bridge spans the River Dee Bangor-on-Dee bridge.jpg
Five-arched stone bridge spans the River Dee

Bangor had a station on the Cambrian Railways' Wrexham to Ellesmere line which crossed the River Dee via an iron bridge to the north of the village. This line was opened in 1895 and ran through an entirely rural area. The line closed for passenger services in 1962.

Recreation

South-west of the village there is Bangor-on-Dee racecourse, a National Hunt racecourse. There are also two pubs, a basketball court and river activities such as fishing and rafting.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flintshire (historic)</span> Historic county of Wales

Flintshire, also known as the County of Flint, is one of Wales' thirteen historic counties, and a former administrative county. It mostly lies on the north-east coast of Wales.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clwyd</span> Preserved county of Wales

Clwyd is a preserved county of Wales, situated in the north-east corner of the country; it is named after the River Clwyd, which runs through the area. To the north lies the Irish Sea, with the English ceremonial counties of Cheshire to the east and Shropshire to the south-east. Powys and Gwynedd lie to the south and west respectively. Clwyd also shares a maritime boundary with Merseyside along the River Dee. Between 1974 and 1996, a slightly different area had a county council, with local government functions shared with six district councils. In 1996, Clwyd was abolished, and the new principal areas of Conwy County Borough, Denbighshire, Flintshire and Wrexham County Borough were created; under this reorganisation, "Clwyd" became a preserved county, with the name being retained for certain ceremonial functions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">River Dee, Wales</span> River in Wales and England

The River Dee is a river in the United Kingdom. It has a total length of 113 km and is largely located in Wales. The stretch between Aldford and Chester is within England, and two other sections form the border between the two countries.

The Maelor is an area of north-east Wales along the border with England. It is now entirely part of Wrexham County Borough.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">English Maelor</span> Area of Wrexham County Borough, east of the River Dee

English Maelor comprises one half of the Maelor region on the Welsh side of the Wales-England border, being the area of the Maelor east of the River Dee. The region has changed counties several times, previously being part of Cheshire and later a detached portion of Flintshire. The area is currently in Wales, despite its name, and administered as part of Wrexham County Borough.

Cadfan ap Iago was King of Gwynedd. Little is known of the history of Gwynedd from this period, and information about Cadfan and his reign is minimal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Overton-on-Dee</span> Village in Wales

Overton or Overton-on-Dee is a village and community in Wrexham County Borough, Wales. It is situated close to the Welsh-English border on the edge of an escarpment that winds its way around the course of the River Dee, from which Overton-on-Dee derives its name.

Maelor was a rural district in the administrative county of Flintshire, Wales, from 1894 to 1974. The area approximated to the hundred of Maelor or English Maelor, and was notable for forming a detached part of the county, surrounded by Cheshire, Denbighshire and Shropshire. The administrative centre was located at Overton.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Erbistock</span> Village in Wales

Erbistock is a village and community in Wrexham County Borough, Wales. The village lies on the banks of the River Dee.

Saint Dunod was the first Abbot of Bangor Iscoed of north-east Wales.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Llandegla</span> Village in Denbighshire, Wales

Llandegla or Llandegla-yn-Iâl is a village and community in the county of Denbighshire in Wales. In the 2011 census, the community had a population of 567.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Willington Worthenbury</span> Community in Wrexham County Borough, Wales

Willington Worthenbury is a community in Wrexham County Borough, Wales, and is situated near the England–Wales border.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saint Twrog</span> 6th-century Welsh saint

Saint Twrog - feast day 26 June - was a 6th-century Welsh saint who founded the church at Maentwrog, having come to Wales early in the Age of the Saints.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St Dunawd's Church</span> Church in Wrexham County Borough, Wales

St Dunawd's Church, is in the village of Bangor-on-Dee, Wrexham County Borough, Wales. It is designated by Cadw as a Grade II* listed building. The church is an active Anglican church in the deanery of Dee Valley, the archdeaconry of Wrexham and the diocese of St Asaph.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wych Brook</span> River in Wales and England

The Wych Brook, Worthenbury Brook and Red Brook, formerly known as the River Elfe, is a tributary of the River Dee in England and Wales, forming part of both the historic and present-day border between the two countries. The stream forms part of the border between Cheshire and Shropshire in England to the east, and Wales, particularly the Maelor Saesneg, to the west.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saint Elli</span> 6th-century Welsh saint

Saint Elli was a 6th-century Welsh saint, or possibly two saints. Llanelli, a town in Carmarthenshire and Llanelly, a village in the traditional county of Brecknockshire are both named after Elli.

Saint Dyfnog was an early Welsh saint. His feast day is 13 February.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ystrad Marchell</span> Welsh medieval commote

Ystrad Marchell was a medieval commote in the cantref of Ystlyg in the Kingdom of Powys. It roughly coincides with the parish of Welshpool.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Whitewell, Wrexham</span> Rural settlement in Wales

Whitewell is a dispersed rural settlement, and surrounding ecclesiastical parish, in the community of Bronington, in the east of Wrexham County Borough, Wales.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bangor Bridge</span> Bridge in Wrexham, Wales

Bangor Bridge is a Grade I listed bridge crossing the River Dee in Bangor-on-Dee, Wrexham County Borough, Wales. It is situated on the community boundary between Bangor-is-y-Coed and Sesswick. Located to the west of Bangor-on-Dee, it connects the village's high street and the A525 road bypass. The narrow bridge is a one-way traffic bridge, west to east, and is downstream (north) of the Bangor by-pass bridge.

References

  1. ↑ "Community population 2011" . Retrieved 17 November 2015.
  2. ↑ Bangor Is-coed is the preferred spelling by the Welsh Language Commissioner in Welsh. "Standardised Welsh Place names". www.welshlanguagecommissioner.wales. Retrieved 29 March 2023.
  3. 1 2 3 Bangor, St Dunawd, GENUKI
  4. ↑ Baring-Gould, Sabine; Fisher, John (1911). The Lives of the British Saints, Volume 2. London: The Honourable Society of the Cymmrodorion. p. 326. Retrieved 21 April 2015.
  5. 1 2 Baring-Gould, Sabine; Fisher, John (1911). The Lives of the British Saints, Volume 4. London: The Honourable Society of the Cymmrodorion. p. 298. Retrieved 21 April 2015.
  6. 1 2 Baring-Gould, Sabine; Fisher, John (1911). The Lives of the British Saints, Volume 2. London: The Honourable Society of the Cymmrodorion. p. 385. Retrieved 21 April 2015.
  7. ↑ Diocese of St. Asaph, St Dunawd, Bangor on Dee, accessed 30 July 2021
  8. ↑ Maelor Saesneg, Clwyd-Powys Archaeological Trust
  9. ↑ "Bangor Bridge, Bangor-Is-y-Coed (24030)". Coflein. RCAHMW . Retrieved 13 June 2022.
  10. ↑ "Bridgemeister - 1903 Pickhill (Pickhill Meadows) - Pickhill, Wales, United Kingdom". www.bridgemeister.com. Retrieved 14 March 2023.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.