Coedpoeth

Coedpoeth, , is a village in the county borough of Wrexham in Wales.

History

The etymology of the placename is from Celtic coed "wood" with an uncertain second element. The name was recorded as Cedpette in 1186. Its name translates into English as meaning burnt wood or hot wood, which is popularly believed to derive from the production of charcoal for the smelting of iron and lead that was carried out in this area as far back as Roman times. (It is possible that the name describes the parched woodland covering higher, well-drained land.)

The village was surrounded by natural resources such as lime, iron ore, coal, and lead, and many ruins show the industrial past of the area. The earliest industry was iron making (smelting) and a portion of the village has roads with "Smelt" in their name.

Coedpoeth is a former industrial village, which developed during the 18th and 19th centuries, providing the manpower for the quarries, leadmines (Minera Leadmines), limeworks (Minera Limeworks), steelworks (Brymbo Steel Mill), coal mining (Vron Colliery) and John Wilkinson's Bersham Ironworks.

Transport

The village once had its own railway station on the Wrexham and Minera Branch of the Great Western Railway — albeit in name only as it was sited in the parish of Minera. A campaign was launched in 1905 by the business people of Coedpoeth to have a branch line laid from the station to the village centre, one mile distant. Local business claimed the station's location was of little benefit to them. The Great Western Railway company did not share a similar opinion and the campaign was abandoned in 1906.

The 20th century saw a decline in industries, and all have now disappeared, including the station. Today Coedpoeth is a dormitory village supporting people who work in Wrexham, and a provider of goods for local farms and hamlets. However, these small shops face fierce competition from large retail chain stores in Wrexham.

Today, the village is linked to Wrexham by three bus services, one run by George Edwards and Son another is Arriva and GHA Coaches at night.

Education

Coedpoeth has three primary schools: Penygelli Infants, Penygelli Juniors and Ysgol Bryn Tabor (a Welsh-medium school). Ysgol Bryn Tabor and Penygelli Infants used to be connected together on the same site. However a new school complex was opened in April 2006, and Penygelli Infants and Penygelli Juniors are now one school. Ysgol Bryn Tabor are now on the old Penygelli Infants site.

Locality

Coedpoeth is surrounded by countryside with views of the Cheshire plain and the town of Wrexham. It has the neighbouring Clywedog valley, containing several walks. The highest point of the village is Rock Place at 800 feet (245 m) above sea-level. The neighbouring village of Bwlchgwyn, is one of several claiming to be the highest village in Wales, at 1090 feet (333 m). The area is prone to heavy snowfall, and has suffered terrible flooding in recent years. This was all localised flooding caused by the all too familiar result of intensive residential development being introduced onto an ageing and now inappropriate drainage system.