Visit Wrexham Places

Welcome to Visit Wrexham Places
The Walkfo guide to things to do & explore in Wrexham

  

Wrexham Places Overview: History, Culture & Facts about Wrexham

---

Wrexham history

---

Early 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 town . Two Bronze Age burial mounds are located to the west of the modern town centre . At the time of the Roman conquest of Britain, the area was held by a tribe called the Cornovii .

Medieval

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 8th century, the Anglo-Saxon royal house of Mercia pushed their frontiers westwards . The name probably comes from the old English for Wryhtel’s river meadow .

Early Modern

Wrexham became part of the new shire of Denbighshire in 1536 . The main body of the church of St Giles was rebuilt in the late 15th and early 16th centuries . The economic character remained predominantly as an agricultural market town into the 17th century . During the English Civil War, most of the local Welsh gentry supported King Charles I .

Late Modern

Wrexham was known for its leather industry and by the 18th century there were a number of skinners and tanners in the town. The Industrial Revolution began in Wrexham in 1762 when the entrepreneur John Wilkinson (1728–1808), known as “Iron Mad Wilkinson”, opened Bersham Ironworks. Wilkinson’s steam engines enabled a peak of production at Minera Lead Mines on the outskirts of Wrexham. From the late 18th century numerous large-scale industrialised collieries operated in the southern section of the North East Wales coalfield, alongside hundreds of more traditional small-scale pits belonging to a mining tradition dating back to the Middle Ages. 18th century literary visitors included Samuel Johnson, who described Wrexham as “a busy, extensive and well-built town”, and Daniel Defoe who noted the role of Wrexham as a “great market for Welch flannel”. The artist J. M. W. Turner also visited the town in 1792-93 and 1794 which resulted in his drawings of St Giles Parish Church and surrounding buildings and a watercolour painting of a street scene. Rev. William Bingley described Wrexham in 1839 as “of such size and consequence as to have occasionally obtained the appellation of the metropolis of North Wales”. Wrexham gained its first newspaper in 1848. The Market Hall was built in 1848, and in 1863 a volunteer fire brigade was founded. In addition to brewing, tanning became one of Wrexham’s main industries. In the mid 19th century Wrexham was granted borough status. By 1851, the population of Wrexham was 6,714; within thirty years this had increased to 10,978 as the town became increasingly industrialised. Wrexham benefited from good underground water supplies which were essential to the brewing of beer: by the mid-19th century, there were 19 breweries in and around the town. Wrexham Lager brewery was established in 1882 in Central Road and became the first brewery in the United Kingdom to produce lager beer. A permanent military presence was established in the town with the completion of Hightown Barracks in 1877. The Poyser Street drill hall was completed in 1902. When the 1912 National Eisteddfod of Wales was held at Wrexham, T.H. Parry-Williams achieved for the first time the feat, almost unheard of since, of winning both the Chair and the Crown. Parry-Williams later recalled returning home to Rhyd-ddu, where had been working as a hired hand upon the farm of a relative. Upon telling his employer of his double-victory, Parry-Williams was advised to, “seek grace.” When Parry-Williams then explained that both victories had gained him £40, the relative shouted in angry disbelief, “Ac mi gwnest nhw i gyd ar dy din!!!” (“And you earned them all sitting on your arse!!!!”) By 1913, the North East Wales coal field was producing up to 3 million tonnes a year and employed over 10,000 people, dominating the economic and cultural life of the area. One of the worst mining disasters in British history occurred at Gresford Colliery in 1934 when underground explosions and a subsequent fire cost the lives of 266 men. However the industry went into decline after the First World War, and of the seven large-scale collieries operating in the Wrexham area in 1946, only two functional collieries remained by 1968. The last pit to close in the Borough was Bersham Colliery in 1986.The leatherworks in Pentrefelin and Tuttle Street, the many coal mines in the area, the brickworks in Abenbury, Brymbo Steelworks and the breweries all closed in the latter half of the 20th century. Wrexham suffered from the same problems as much of industrialised Britain and saw little investment in the 1970s. In the 1980s and 1990s, the Welsh Development Agency (WDA) funded a major dual carriageway (the A483) bypassing Wrexham town centre and connecting it with nearby Chester and with England’s trunk road network. New shopping areas have been created within the town at Henblas Square, Island Green and Eagles Meadow and the Wrexham Industrial Estate, previously used in the Second World War, has become home to many manufacturing businesses. Wrexham Town Hall, an early 18th century arcaded structure with an assembly hall on the first floor, which had been built at the top of Town Hall, was demolished to improve traffic flows in the area in February 1940. Wrexham’s former police station on Regent Street, originally the barracks for the Royal Denbighshire Militia, is now home to Wrexham County Borough Museum. The museum has two galleries devoted to the history of the town and its surrounding communities. The museum also holds the archive of the Royal Welch Fusiliers; battalions were stationed in Wrexham during the First World War. The collection is notable for containing original documents in the handwriting of Siegfried Sassoon, Robert Graves, J. C. Dunn and other notable members of the RWF, as well as official records.

Wrexham culture & places

In October 2021, Wrexham County Borough was shortlisted for the UK City of Culture 2025. The borough has been shortlisted to be the UK city of Culture in October 2021.

Performing arts

A company of actors (anterliwtwyr) from Wrexham is recorded as appearing in Shrewsbury in Henry VIII’s reign . The town is referenced in the late-Jacobean Beaumont and Fletcher play, ‘The pilgrim’ (1647), in which the stock Welshman declares that “Pendragon was a shentleman, marg you, Sir, and the organs at Rixum were made by relevations” The town hosted the National Eisteddfod in 1888, 1912, 1933 and 1977, as well as an unofficial event in 1876 .

Visual arts

Tŷ Pawb (formally Oriel Wrecsam and the People’s Market) is Wrexham’s largest facility for visual arts and exhibitions, and offers other resources including an indoor market, food court and performance spaces . Other galleries include Undegun Arts Space on Regent Street and TWIG on Lord Street .

Music

Central Station opened in 1999, the venue had a capacity of approximately 650, attracting a number of international acts . William Aston Hall at Glyndŵr University is a 900-seat venue designed to accommodate a range of events from conferences and exhibitions to theatrical performances . The Racecourse Ground re-introduced live music to its summer schedule in 2016 .

Media

Two commercial radio stations broadcast from the Wrexham area . BBC Cymru Wales has a studio and newsroom for radio, television and online services based at Glyndŵr University .

Wrexham economy & business

Shopping

Eagles Meadow is a shopping and leisure development in the town, and contains shops such as M&S, Boots, and an Odeon Cinema . Hope Street with major retailers such as New Look, WHSmith and Claire’s and Bank Street with independent businesses .

Finance and professional services

Development Bank of Wales signed a lease for its new headquarters in Wrexham . Moneypenny is the UK’s largest outsourced switchboard and personal assistant service . DTCC collates and analyses company information for investment banks and financial organisations .

Industries

Wrexham Industrial Estate is one of the largest industrial areas in Europe and is home to over 340 businesses creating employment for over 10,000 people . Industrial estate also hosts a 2,100 capacity Category C male prison, costing £212 million, which was built on the former Firestone Site .

Residential development

The central area of Wrexham has also seen a number of purpose-built residential developments as well as conversions of older buildings to residential use . Outside the town centre new estates are being developed in several areas .

Wrexham geography / climate

Wrexham is not built on a major river, but on a relatively flat plateau between the lower Dee Valley and easternmost mountains of north-east Wales. The position enabled it to grow as a market town, as a crossroads between England and Wales, and later as an industrial hub. Three small rivers flow through parts of the town: the Clywedog, Gwenfro and Alyn.

You can visit Wrexham places with Walkfo Wrexham to hear history at Wrexham’s places whilst walking around using the free digital tour app. Walkfo Wrexham has 66 places to visit in our interactive Wrexham map, with amazing history, culture & travel facts you can explore the same way you would at a museum or art gallery with information audio headset. With Walkfo, you can travel by foot, bike or bus throughout Wrexham, being in the moment, without digital distraction or limits to a specific walking route. Our historic audio walks, National Trust interactive audio experiences, digital tour guides for English Heritage locations are available at Wrexham places, with a AI tour guide to help you get the best from a visit to Wrexham & the surrounding areas.

“Curated content for millions of locations across the UK, with 66 audio facts unique to Wrexham places in an interactive Wrexham map you can explore.”

Walkfo: Visit Wrexham Places Map
66 tourist, history, culture & geography spots

---

–

Wrexham historic spots	Wrexham tourist destinations	Wrexham plaques	Wrexham geographic features
Walkfo Wrexham tourism map key: places to see & visit like National Trust sites, Blue Plaques, English Heritage locations & top tourist destinations in Wrexham

  

Best Wrexham places to visit

---

Wrexham has places to explore by foot, bike or bus. Below are a selection of the varied Wrexham’s destinations you can visit with additional content available at the Walkfo Wrexham’s information audio spots:

Borras Park Borras Park (Welsh: Parc Borras / Parc Bwras) is an electoral division in the community of Acton in Wrexham County Borough, Wales. The name is derived from the nearby area of Borras. At the time of the 2001 Census, the population was 2,517 in 1,065 household, reducing to 2,359 at the 2011 Census.

Ysgol Morgan Llwyd Ysgol Morgan Llwyd is a Welsh-medium comprehensive school in Wrexham, north-east Wales. It is named after the seventeenth century preacher and author Morgan Lillwyd. The school has been open at its present location in Cefn Road since 2000.

Caia Park Caia Park (Welsh: Parc Caia) is a local government community in Wrexham County Borough, Wales. It was created in 1985 after a boundary commission review of the four community areas within the town of Wrexham, the others being Acton, Offa, and Rhosddu. At the 2001 census, the community had a population of 11,882 in 5,019 households, increasing to 12,602 in 2011.

Rhosddu Rhosddu (Welsh pronunciation) is a local government community in Wrexham County Borough, Wales. At the 2011 Census, the population of the community was 6,840 and 11.8% of people aged 3+ spoke Welsh.

Wrexham General railway station Wrexham General is the main railway station in north-east Wales. The station was first opened in 1846 and expanded in 1912. It is currently operated by Transport for Wales, but services are also provided by Avanti West Coast.

Wrexham County Borough Wrexham County Borough is a principal area with county borough status in the preserved county of Clwyd, Wales. The county borough was formed on 1 April 1996 and has a population of nearly 135,000 inhabitants. The area has strong links with coal-mining and has only two urban towns, Chirk and Holt.

Llwyn Isaf Llwyn Isaf (“lower grove”) is a green space in the centre of Wrexham. It is surrounded on two sides by the town’s guildhall and on another by the Library Arts Centre. The space is most popular with students from Yale College.

Gresford Colliery Gresford Colliery was a coal mine located a mile from the North Wales village of Greffford, near Wrexham. The mine was a one-mile-long mine located near the village of Gresford.

A. N. Palmer Centre for Local Studies and Archives A.N. Palmer Centre for Local Studies and Archives holds archives for the town of Wrexham. The centre is named after local historian Alfred Neobard Palmer.

Wrexham Town Centre Wrexham Town Centre is the largest shopping area in north and mid Wales. It is enclosed by the inner ring road of the town. Many of its streets are pedestrianised.

Visit Wrexham plaques