Gwersyllt () is an urban village and

community A community is a social unit (a group of people) with a shared socially-significant characteristic, such as place, set of norms, culture, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given g ...

Wrexham County Borough Wrexham County Borough () is a Principal areas of Wales, county borough, with city status in the United Kingdom, city status, in the North East Wales, north-east of Wales. It borders the English ceremonial counties of Cheshire and Shropshire to ...

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

. The densely populated village is one of

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in the North East Wales, north-east of Wales. It lies between the Cambrian Mountains, Welsh mountains and the lower River Dee, Wales, Dee Valley, near the England–Wales border, borde ...

's largest and is situated in the north western suburbs of the city, bordering the nearby villages of

Llay Llay (; meaning meadow; ) is a village and Community (Wales), community in Wrexham County Borough, Wales. It borders several other villages including Gwersyllt and Gresford. At the United Kingdom Census 2001, 2001 Census, the total population of ...

, Cefn-y-Bedd, Brynteg, and Pentre Broughton. The community, also including the villages of Summerhill, Sydallt, Rhosrobin and Bradley, had a total population of 10,056 at the 2001 census,Gwersyllt Community
, Office for National Statistics rising to 10,677 at the 2011 Census. The

name A name is a term used for identification by an external observer. They can identify a class or category of things, or a single thing, either uniquely, or within a given context. The entity identified by a name is called its referent. A person ...

is usually stated to be derived from the Welsh word, ''gwersyll'', meaning "campsite", with the final ''t'' common in the area's dialect.Palmer, A. N. ''A History of Ancient Tenures of Land in North Wales and the Marches'', 1910, p.127 This is, however, a comparatively modern form, and during the mediaeval period the name was written as "Wershull" or "Wersull", with "Gwershull" and "Wersham" occurring in the 16th century. It is therefore possible that the present name, like others in the area, is a Welsh adaptation of an earlier English name ending in "-hull" (i.e. "hill"). A derivation from the genitive singular of

Old English Old English ( or , or ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...

''wearga'', with the meaning " hefelon's hill", "

gallows A gallows (or less precisely scaffold) is a frame or elevated beam, typically wooden, from which objects can be suspended or "weighed". Gallows were thus widely used to suspend public weighing scales for large and heavy objects such as sa ...

tree hill", has been suggested by placename scholar Melville Richards,''Archaeologia Cambrensis'', v. CXII, 1964, p.161 although an original form of ''Wersiges-hyll'' from an Old English personal name has also been suggested.''Nomina'', v.XI, 1987, p.104

History

Gwersyllt was originally a

township A township is a form of human settlement or administrative subdivision. Its exact definition varies among countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, this tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Canad ...

of the parish of

Gresford Gresford (; ) is a village and community in Wrexham County Borough, Wales. According to the 2001 Census, the population of the community, which also includes the village of Marford, was 5,334, reducing to 5,010 at the 2011 census. The Grad ...

, and by 1833 had 834 inhabitants.Gwersyllt, Holy Trinity
GENUKI The gradual increase of the area's population in the industrial era led to Gwersyllt being formed as a new parish in 1851, combining the old township of Gwersyllt and parts of the neighbouring township of Stansty. The parish church, from plans by Thomas Penson, was consecrated at the same time.Gwersyllt, Holy Trinity
, Church Plans Online The village grew rapidly with the local

coal mining Coal mining is the process of resource extraction, extracting coal from the ground or from a mine. Coal is valued for its Energy value of coal, energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to Electricity generation, generate electr ...

industry and the area was home to several collieries, of which many features still remain. In 1896, the Gwersyllt coal mine owned by Edward Griffiths had 185 employees with 167 below ground. It was in operation by 1881. The area was situated between the collieries of the Moss Valley and Bradley and benefitted from good rail links on the former

Wrexham, Mold and Connah's Quay Railway The Buckley Railway was opened from Buckley to a connection with the Chester to Holyhead main line on 7 June 1862, to convey coal and finished brickworks products from the Buckley area. Numerous short tramroads had existed in the area from the ...

Birkenhead Birkenhead () is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England. The town is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the west bank of the River Mersey, opposite Liverpool. It lies within the Historic counties of England, historic co ...

, Ellesmere, Brymbo and New Brighton. A canal also was planned to run through the community with the intention of forming part of the

Ellesmere Canal The Ellesmere Canal was a waterway in England and Wales that was planned to carry boat traffic between the rivers Mersey and Severn. The proposal would create a link between the Port of Liverpool and the mineral industries in north east Wales an ...

. Evidence of the canal cuttings can still be seen alongside the Sydallt junction between the Summerhill Bottom Road and A541 Mold Road, and a local street, named ''Heol-y-Camlas'', meaning ''Canal Road'' in Welsh, lies on the former canal alignment. In the mid-20th century, large council estates were built amongst the existing village, extending the size of the community and its services substantially.

Governance

Prior to 1974, the

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

of Gwersyllt fell into the County of

Denbighshire Denbighshire ( ; ) is a county in the north-east of Wales. It borders the Irish Sea to the north, Flintshire to the east, Wrexham to the southeast, Powys to the south, and Gwynedd and Conwy to the west. Rhyl is the largest town, and Ruthi ...

and the Wrexham Rural District (however some areas in Gwersyllt were moved to Wrexham Borough in the 20th Century). In 1974, the civil parish became a

of the Borough of Wrexham Maelor, in the County of Clwyd. Since further reorganisation in 1996, the community has been part of the County Borough of Wrexham and the wider preserved county of Clwyd. Gwersyllt

Community Council A community council is a public representative body in Great Britain. In England they may be statutory parish councils by another name, under the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007, or they may be non-statutory bodies. ...

covers a wider area, including Summerhill, Bradley, Rhosrobin,

Moss Mosses are small, non-vascular plant, non-vascular flowerless plants in the taxonomic phylum, division Bryophyta (, ) ''sensu stricto''. Bryophyta (''sensu lato'', Wilhelm Philippe Schimper, Schimp. 1879) may also refer to the parent group bryo ...

, Parkwall and Sydallt. For local government purposes, the Community is split into three subdivisions; Gwersyllt North, Gwersyllt West and Gwersyllt East & South.

Facilities

Leisure and lifestyle

A number of leisure and lifestyle facilities are available for local residents. Gwyn Evans Sports Centre, named after a local councillor and school teacher, is a council-operated

leisure centre A leisure centre, sports centre, or recreation centre is a purpose-built building or site, usually owned and provided by the local government authority, where people can engage in a variety of sports and exercise, and keep fit. Typical facilit ...

, consisting of a 25-metre

swimming pool A swimming pool, swimming bath, wading pool, paddling pool, or simply pool, is a structure designed to hold water to enable Human swimming, swimming and associated activities. Pools can be built into the ground (in-ground pools) or built abo ...

and multi-use sports hall, within the grounds of local secondary school, Ysgol Bryn Alyn. The school additionally offers an outdoor

astroturf AstroTurf is an American subsidiary of SportGroup that produces artificial turf for pitch (sports field), playing surfaces in sports. The original AstroTurf product was a pile (textile), short-pile synthetic turf invented in 1965 by Monsanto. Si ...

multi-use games area, situated adjacent to the leisure centre. The newly built Gwersyllt Community Resource Centre provides a large bookable function hall and meeting rooms, along with Gwersyllt Library, which is open six days a week.

Religion

Gwersyllt is predominantly served by two churches, namely Gwersyllt Congregational Church of the

evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes evangelism, or the preaching and spreading of th ...

faith, and Holy Trinity Church, which is part of the

Church in Wales The Church in Wales () is an Anglican church in Wales, composed of six dioceses. The Archbishop of Wales does not have a fixed archiepiscopal see, but serves concurrently as one of the six diocesan bishops. The position is currently held b ...

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

denomination. Both date from the Victorian era, with the Congregational Church being the older of the two.

Education

Gwersyllt has four schools within the community borders: Gwersyllt Community Primary School, Ysgol Heulfan, Ysgol Bro Alun, and Ysgol Bryn Alyn. Gwersyllt CP and Ysgol Heulfan are both English-medium primary schools. Gwersyllt CP was created in 2007 by the amalgamation of Ysgol y Gaer Infant School with Gwersyllt County Primary Junior School, and Ysgol Heulfan was created in 2005 by the merger of Ysgol Bryn Golau Infants, Ysgol Y Drindod Juniors and Ysgol Powys. Ysgol Bro Alun is a Welsh-medium primary school which opened in 2013. As of 2022, 34.3% of statutory school age pupils spoke Welsh at home. Ysgol Bryn Alyn is an 11-16 English-medium secondary school. Post-16 education is provided by Coleg Cambria, formerly Yale College, Wrexham. Welsh-medium pupils from Gwersyllt attend Wrexham's 11-18 secondary school, Ysgol Morgan Llwyd. A centre for alternative curriculum programmes continues in the former building of Ysgol Powys.

Health

Pen-y-Maes Health Centre is the local clinic, being staffed by doctors, nurses and regular health visitors, and also incorporates a pharmacy. Women in the Gwersyllt West ward had the lowest life expectancy at birth, 72.6 years, of any ward in England and Wales in 2016.

Industry

Gwersyllt's former heavy industries of coalmining and manufacturing have declined over the 20th Century. Much of the former land of these industries has been reclaimed, mostly as housing. However a number of industrial warehouses continue, namely of building supplies, car sales and double-glazing window manufacturing. The Studios is the headquarters of the former Marcher Radio Group, which produces and broadcasts radio programmes to the local Capital FM stations, formally Marcher Sound, Buzz 97.1,

Coast 96.3 Heart North Wales Coast (formerly Coast 96.3 and originally Marcher Coast FM) was an independent local radio station broadcast along the North Wales coast, and owned & operated by Global Radio. The station, which broadcast from studios in Colwy ...

, Champion FM 103, along with Smooth Wales (formerly Classic Gold).

Transport

The A541 road, locally known as the Mold Road is the main thoroughfare into Wrexham southbound, and northwards through south

Flintshire Flintshire () is a county in the north-east of Wales. It borders the Irish Sea to the north, the Dee Estuary to the north-east, the English county of Cheshire to the east, Wrexham County Borough to the south, and Denbighshire to the west. ...

onto

Mold A mold () or mould () is one of the structures that certain fungus, fungi can form. The dust-like, colored appearance of molds is due to the formation of Spore#Fungi, spores containing Secondary metabolite#Fungal secondary metabolites, fungal ...

. The community is also nearby to the A483 road via the Gresford and Wrexham junctions. Gwersyllt railway station provides hourly services by rail on the Borderlands Line, southbound to Wrexham Central, and northbound onto Bidston, changing for

Merseyrail Merseyrail is a commuter rail network which serves Merseyside and adjacent areas of Cheshire and Lancashire in the North West England, North West of England. Merseyrail serves 69 Railway station, stations, 67 of which it manages, across two lin ...

services to Liverpool Central. All services are operated by

Transport for Wales Transport for Wales (TfW; ; ) is a not-for-profit company owned by the Welsh Government and managed at arms length by its appointed board. TfW oversees the Transport for Wales Group (TfW Group) consisting of itself and its subsidiaries: Trans ...

, predominantly using Class 150 and Class 153 diesel multiple units. Public bus transport is provided by Arriva Buses Wales on services from Wrexham to Summerhill, Mold,

Flint Flint, occasionally flintstone, is a sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as the variety of chert that occurs in chalk or marly limestone. Historically, flint was widely used to make stone tools and start ...

and

Deeside Deeside () is the name given to a predominantly industrial conurbation of towns and villages in Flintshire and Cheshire on the England–Wales border, Wales–England border lying near the canalised stretch of the River Dee, Wales, River Dee t ...

on Monday to Saturdays. A reduced service operates on Sundays and bank holidays, subsidised by Wrexham Council and provided by Arriva.

References

External links

Gwersyllt Community CouncilGwersyllt photographs, books and memoriesWelsh Coal Mines - research the local pit's historiesphotos of Gwersyllt and surrounding area on geograph
{{authority control Villages in Wrexham County Borough Communities in Wrexham County Borough