Coedpoeth is a village in the county borough of Wrexham in north-east Wales.
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 typical former industrial village, having developed during the 18th and 19th centuries, providing the manpower for the quarries, leadmines (Minera Leadmines), limeworks (Minera Limeworks), steelworks (Brymbo Steel Mill), coalmines (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.
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 chains in Wrexham.
Today, the village is linked to Wrexham by two bus services, one run by George Edwards and Son and the other by Arriva.
Education
Coedpoeth has three primary schools: Penygelli Infants, Penygelli Juniors and Ysgol Bryn Tabor (a Welsh-medium school). Ysgol Bryn Tabor and Penygelli Infants are connected together on the same site. A new school complex is being built on the somewhat large playing grounds of Penygelli Juniors, so that Ysgol Bryn Tabor can use the existing Penygelli Infants and expand into a larger school. This building work has now been completed and Penygelli Infants and Penygelli Juniors are now one school.
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 800 feet (245 metres) above sea-level. The neighbouring village of Bwlchgwyn, is one of several claiming to be the highest village in Wales, at 1090 feet (333 metres). The area is prone to heavy snowfall, and has suffered terrible flooding in recent years. This was all localised flooding caused by earlier generations� failure to see the risk of flooding in a village on the crest of the hill. |
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