Broughton, Wrexham

Broughton
Welsh: Brychdyn

Moss Valley
Broughton
 Broughton shown within Wrexham
Population 7,454 (2011)
OS grid referenceSJ307526
CommunityBroughton
Principal areaWrexham
CountryWales
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post town WREXHAM
Postcode district LL11
Dialling code 01978
Police North Wales
Fire North Wales
Ambulance Welsh
EU Parliament Wales
UK ParliamentClwyd South
Welsh AssemblyClwyd South
List of places
UK
Wales
Wrexham

Coordinates: 53°03′58″N 3°01′59″W / 53.066°N 3.033°W / 53.066; -3.033

Broughton (Welsh: Brychdyn) is a local government community, the lowest tier of local government, part of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. It has an area of 469 hectares and had a population of 6,498 in the 2001 census, increasing to 7,454 at the 2011 Census.[1] The area is dominated by the Moss Valley, which historically was known for its coal mining. Today it is operated as a country park, and there is a golf course of the same name in the vicinity.

History

Broughton was recorded in the reign of Henry VII as one of the townships of the manor of Eglwysegle (a name preserved in the area known as Eglwyseg near Llangollen), part of the lordship of Bromfield. The Wrexham historian Alfred Neobard Palmer noted:

Three villages [called Broughton] are situated in that part of Wales which was settled by Englishmen. They appear in Domesday as "Brochetune" or "Broctune," which can hardly mean anything else than "Brook-town". The brook which may have given the Bromfield Broughton its name is now almost always dry, but "Rhyd Broughton" (or Broughton ford) preserves the memory of it.[2]

Under the ecclesiastical administration the township of Broughton was part of the parish of Wrexham, and later of Brymbo. Population changes led to it being made a parish in its own right in 1909.[3]

The corresponding civil parish of Broughton, which was ultimately based on the boundaries of the ancient township, became the community of Broughton under the terms of the Local Government Act 1972.[4] It today contains the villages of Moss, Pentre Broughton, Brynteg, New Broughton, Southsea and Caego.[5] The majority of the villages date from the 19th century, when the area became heavily industrialised through coal mining and its proximity to the Brymbo Steelworks.[6] A number of coal mines were located in the area known as Moss Valley,[7] along with a number in Pentre Broughton near Brymbo such as the Brynmally and Pwll Cadi collieries.[8] Most of the area's coal mines had closed by the 1930s and the Moss Valley has now been reclaimed as a park.[7] Continuing development has urbanised much of the rest of the community's area, with some agricultural land remaining in the south and east. The Moss Valey Golf Club was built in the 1980s by five designers, and was initially run by the local council.[9]

References

  1. "Community population 2011". Retrieved 18 November 2015.
  2. Palmer, A. N. and Owen, E. A History of Ancient Tenures of Land in North Wales and the Marches, 2nd ed, 1910, p.245
  3. "Broughton, St Paul's". GENUKI. Retrieved 25 April 2016.
  4. "Wrexhm County Borough Council" (PDF). NWN Media. Retrieved 25 April 2016.
  5. "Broughton Estate Office". Wrexham County Borough Council. Retrieved 25 April 2016.
  6. The Official Guide to the Great Western Railway. 1897. p. 306.
  7. 1 2 "Moss Valley Country Park" (PDF). Retrieved 25 April 2016.
  8. Nurse, Keith (1998). Footsteps to the Past: A Welsh Quest. K. Nurse. p. 52. ISBN 978-0-9534219-0-9.
  9. "Moss Valley Golf Course". Welshgolfcourses.com. Retrieved 25 April 2016.
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