Wrexham

Sister cities

• Racibórz
• Iserlohn

History

Human activity in the Wrexham area dates back to the Mesolithic period (8000 to 4300 BC), with tools made from flint being found to the east of the city. Two Bronze Age burial mounds are located to the west of the modern city centre A series of Iron Age hill-forts is located to the west of present-day Wrexham along the upland-lowland line suggesting the presence of an ancient tribal boundary. At the time of the Roman conquest of Britain, the area which Wrexham formed part of was held by a Celtic tribe called the Cornovii. A Roman civilian settlement was located in the Plas Coch area of Wrexham and excavations have revealed evidence of agriculture and trade with the wider Roman world. Following the end of Roman rule in Britain, Wrexham formed part of the Romano-British Kingdom of Powys. The Battle of Chester circa 615/616 marked the beginning of a long struggle between the Welsh and English for territory in this part of Wales. During the eighth century, the Anglo-Saxon royal house of Mercia pushed their frontiers westwards and established the earth boundaries of Wat's Dyke and Offa's Dyke to the west of the present city. It was probably during this first period of Mercian advance in the eighth century that the settlement of Wrexham was founded on the flat ground above the meadows of the River Gwenfro. The name Wrexham probably comes from the old English for Wryhtel's river meadow. The Mercians fought over north-east Wales during the eighth to tenth centuries but the Welsh Kings of Powys re-conquered the Wrexham area during the 11th century. Following the Welsh reconquest, Wrexham formed an integral part of the Powys lordship of Maelor and so does not appear in the Domesday Book of 1086. The first recorded reference to the town in 1161 is to a castle at…

Geography

Wrexham is not built on a major river, but on a relatively flat plateau between the lower Dee Valley and the Clwydian Range, the easternmost mountains of north-east Wales. This position enabled it to grow as a market town, as a crossroads between England and Wales, and later as an industrial hub – due to its rich natural reserves of iron ore and coal. But three small rivers flow through parts of the city: the Clywedog, Gwenfro and Alyn. Wrexham is also famed for the quality of its underground water reserves, which gave rise to its previous dominance as a major brewing centre. Originally a market town with surrounding urban villages, Wrexham has now coalesced with a number of urban villages and forms North Wales' largest city. Including adjacent urban areas to Wrexham, such as that of the Gwersyllt, Rhosllanerchrugog, Coedpoeth and Llay totals to a population of over 100,000 residents. Wrexham is approximately south of Chester, north-west of Shrewsbury, south-west of Manchester, and north of Cardiff.