Secret Wrexham

Explore Wrexham's secret hidden history through a fascinating selection of stories, facts and photographs.

The town of Wrexham and its immediate vicinity has a rich heritage of industry, including coal, iron and steel, brewing, tanning, brick and tile making and lead mining. In Secret WrexhamJohn Idris Jones takes the reader on a tour of the town’s past, illustrated by his own photographs. Here you’ll meet John ‘Iron Mad’ Wilkinson, who made cannons for the American Civil War; the striking remains of the once huge Bersham Colliery; John Godfrey Parry-Thomas, the racing driver who broke the land speed record on Pendine Sands; and Rosemarie Frankland, Britain’s first Miss World.Outside of this area is extensive farmland with interesting, charming towns and villages. From Chirk, the author takes you up the magical Ceiriog Valley, and in Penley he gives an account of the Polish camp that became a hospital for wounded US soldiers. In a woodland in Overton he finds the grave of the extraordinary horse Poethlyn, who won the Grand National in 1919. The nineteen-year-old Luciano Pavarotti also features, who visited Llangollen for the International Eisteddfod in 1955. This wide-ranging illustrated collection tells the story of Wrexham’s varied past in an informative and engrossing way.