Bangor-on-Dee
Encyclopedia
Bangor-on-Dee is a local government community
, the lowest tier of local government, part of Wrexham County Borough in Wales
. It is a village
in the ancient district of Maelor
in Wales
, situated on the banks of the River Dee
. The village is in the county borough of Wrexham
; until 1974 it was in the exclave of Flintshire
traditionally known as the Maelor Saesneg, and from 1974-1996 was in the county of Clwyd
.
The village and its surrounding local government community
had a total population of 1,266 in 517 households at the time of the 2001 census.
name is Bangor-is-y-Coed, literally meaning "Bangor (i.e. a settlement within a wattle fence
) below the wood/trees". This form was first recorded in 1699, while an alternative name of the parish, "Bangor Monachorum" ("Bangor of the monks"), is first recorded in 1677.
was established at Bangor in about AD 560 by Saint Dunod
and was an important religious centre in the 5th and 6th centuries. This monastery was destroyed in about AD 616 when Aethelfrith
, the King of Northumbria
, defeated the Kingdom of Powys at the Battle of Chester
. The scholar Bede
wrote that 1200 monks were slaughtered before the attack. More than a millennium later, the massacre was recounted in a poem entitled "The Monks of Bangor's March" by Sir Walter Scott, and put to music by Ludwig Van Beethoven
. Today no trace of the monastery remains and even its site is uncertain.
The settlement at Bangor is nevertheless likely to have continued after this date, although it was not mentioned in the Domesday Book
. A village was certainly in existence by 1300, when the present church is believed to have been built. By the late 1690s, the historian Edward Lhwyd recorded that the village still had only 26 houses, but by the end of the 19th century it had significantly expanded, including a free school, coaching inn
, a shop, further houses and a brewery
.
The five-arched stone arch bridge
across the River Dee dates from about 1660 and it is believed to have been built by Inigo Jones
. A 1903 suspension bridge
by David Rowell & Co.
is nearby at Pickhill Meadows.
Bangor had a station on the Cambrian Railways
' Wrexham to Ellesmere
line which crossed the River Dee via an iron bridge to the north of the village. This line was opened in 1895 and ran through an entirely rural area. The line closed for passenger services in 1962.
Today there is only a local bus service that runs to the nearby towns of Wrexham
and Whitchurch.
, a National Hunt racecourse
. There are also two lively pubs, a basket ball court and river activities such as fishing and rafting.
Community (Wales)
A community is a division of land in Wales that forms the lowest-tier of local government in Wales. Welsh communities are analogous to civil parishes in England....
, the lowest tier of local government, part of Wrexham County Borough in Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
. It is a village
Village
A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet with the population ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand , Though often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New...
in the ancient district of Maelor
Maelor
Maelor is a border area of north-east Wales. It originated as a Cantref of the Kingdom of Powys, focused on Bangor-on-Dee.-History:The Maelor was first divided from the rest of Wales by the construction of Offa's Dyke in the eighth century, but was reclaimed for Wales during the reign of Stephen...
in Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
, situated on the banks of the River Dee
River Dee, Wales
The River Dee is a long river in the United Kingdom. It travels through Wales and England and also forms part of the border between the two countries....
. The village is in the county borough of Wrexham
Wrexham (county borough)
Wrexham is a county borough centred on the town of Wrexham in north-east Wales. The county borough has a population of 130,200 inhabitants. Just under half of the population live either within the town of Wrexham or its surrounding conurbation of urban villages. The remainder living to the south...
; until 1974 it was in the exclave of Flintshire
Flintshire (historic)
Flintshire , also known as the County of Flint, is one of thirteen historic counties, a vice-county and a former administrative county, which mostly lies on the north east coast of Wales....
traditionally known as the Maelor Saesneg, and from 1974-1996 was in the county of Clwyd
Clwyd
Clwyd is a preserved county of Wales, situated in the north-east, bordering England with Cheshire to its east, Shropshire to the south-east, and the Welsh counties of Gwynedd to its immediate west and Powys to the south. It additionally shares a maritime border with the metropolitan county of...
.
The village and its surrounding local government community
Community (Wales)
A community is a division of land in Wales that forms the lowest-tier of local government in Wales. Welsh communities are analogous to civil parishes in England....
had a total population of 1,266 in 517 households at the time of the 2001 census.
Etymology
The commonly used anglicised name refers to the village's proximity to the River Dee. However, the traditional WelshWelsh language
Welsh is a member of the Brythonic branch of the Celtic languages spoken natively in Wales, by some along the Welsh border in England, and in Y Wladfa...
name is Bangor-is-y-Coed, literally meaning "Bangor (i.e. a settlement within a wattle fence
Fence
A fence is a freestanding structure designed to restrict or prevent movement across a boundary. It is generally distinguished from a wall by the lightness of its construction: a wall is usually restricted to such barriers made from solid brick or concrete, blocking vision as well as passage .Fences...
) below the wood/trees". This form was first recorded in 1699, while an alternative name of the parish, "Bangor Monachorum" ("Bangor of the monks"), is first recorded in 1677.
History
A monasteryMonastery
Monastery denotes the building, or complex of buildings, that houses a room reserved for prayer as well as the domestic quarters and workplace of monastics, whether monks or nuns, and whether living in community or alone .Monasteries may vary greatly in size – a small dwelling accommodating only...
was established at Bangor in about AD 560 by Saint Dunod
Saint Dunod
Saint Dunod was a late 6th/early 7th century Abbot of Bangor-on-Dee of north-east Wales.Dunod is best known as being the only Welsh ecclesiastic mentioned by name, in Bede's Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum, as having been at the meeting of the Welsh bishops with Saint Augustine of...
and was an important religious centre in the 5th and 6th centuries. This monastery was destroyed in about AD 616 when Aethelfrith
Æthelfrith of Northumbria
Æthelfrith was King of Bernicia from c. 593 until c. 616; he was also, beginning c. 604, the first Bernician king to also rule Deira, to the south of Bernicia. Since Deira and Bernicia were the two basic components of what would later be defined as Northumbria, Æthelfrith can be considered, in...
, the King of Northumbria
Northumbria
Northumbria was a medieval kingdom of the Angles, in what is now Northern England and South-East Scotland, becoming subsequently an earldom in a united Anglo-Saxon kingdom of England. The name reflects the approximate southern limit to the kingdom's territory, the Humber Estuary.Northumbria was...
, defeated the Kingdom of Powys at the Battle of Chester
Battle of Chester
The Battle of Chester was a major victory for the Anglo Saxons over the native Britons near the city of Chester, England in the early 7th century. Æthelfrith of Northumbria annihilated a combined force from the Welsh kingdoms of Powys, Rhôs and possibly Mercia...
. The scholar Bede
Bede
Bede , also referred to as Saint Bede or the Venerable Bede , was a monk at the Northumbrian monastery of Saint Peter at Monkwearmouth, today part of Sunderland, England, and of its companion monastery, Saint Paul's, in modern Jarrow , both in the Kingdom of Northumbria...
wrote that 1200 monks were slaughtered before the attack. More than a millennium later, the massacre was recounted in a poem entitled "The Monks of Bangor's March" by Sir Walter Scott, and put to music by Ludwig Van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time.Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of...
. Today no trace of the monastery remains and even its site is uncertain.
The settlement at Bangor is nevertheless likely to have continued after this date, although it was not mentioned in the Domesday Book
Domesday Book
Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...
. A village was certainly in existence by 1300, when the present church is believed to have been built. By the late 1690s, the historian Edward Lhwyd recorded that the village still had only 26 houses, but by the end of the 19th century it had significantly expanded, including a free school, coaching inn
Coaching inn
In Europe, from approximately the mid-17th century for a period of about 200 years, the coaching inn, sometimes called a coaching house or staging inn, was a vital part of the inland transport infrastructure, as an inn serving coach travelers...
, a shop, further houses and a brewery
Brewery
A brewery is a dedicated building for the making of beer, though beer can be made at home, and has been for much of beer's history. A company which makes beer is called either a brewery or a brewing company....
.
The five-arched stone arch bridge
Arch bridge
An arch bridge is a bridge with abutments at each end shaped as a curved arch. Arch bridges work by transferring the weight of the bridge and its loads partially into a horizontal thrust restrained by the abutments at either side...
across the River Dee dates from about 1660 and it is believed to have been built by Inigo Jones
Inigo Jones
Inigo Jones is the first significant British architect of the modern period, and the first to bring Italianate Renaissance architecture to England...
. A 1903 suspension bridge
Suspension bridge
A suspension bridge is a type of bridge in which the deck is hung below suspension cables on vertical suspenders. Outside Tibet and Bhutan, where the first examples of this type of bridge were built in the 15th century, this type of bridge dates from the early 19th century...
by David Rowell & Co.
David Rowell & Co.
David Rowell & Co. was a company based in Westminster, London that fabricated wrought iron and wire rope, built suspension footbridges, and structural steel frame buildings. They were established in 1855 and closed in 1970.-History:...
is nearby at Pickhill Meadows.
Transport
Cambrian Railways
Cambrian Railways owned of track over a large area of mid-Wales. The system was an amalgamation of a number of railways that were incorporated in 1864, 1865 and 1904...
' Wrexham to Ellesmere
Ellesmere, Shropshire
Ellesmere is a small market town near Oswestry in north Shropshire, England, notable for its proximity to a number of prominent lakes, the Meres.-History:...
line which crossed the River Dee via an iron bridge to the north of the village. This line was opened in 1895 and ran through an entirely rural area. The line closed for passenger services in 1962.
Today there is only a local bus service that runs to the nearby towns of Wrexham
Wrexham
Wrexham is a town in Wales. It is the administrative centre of the wider Wrexham County Borough, and the largest town in North Wales, located in the east of the region. It is situated between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley close to the border with Cheshire, England...
and Whitchurch.
Recreation
South-west of the village there is Bangor-on-Dee racecourseBangor-on-Dee racecourse
Bangor-on-Dee Racecourse is a thoroughbred horse racing venue located in Bangor-on-Dee near Wrexham, Wales.It is a left-handed National Hunt racecourse, and doesn't have a Grandstand.- History :...
, a National Hunt racecourse
National Hunt racing
National Hunt racing is the official name given to the sport of horse racing in the United Kingdom, France and Ireland in which the horses are required to jump over obstacles called hurdles or fences...
. There are also two lively pubs, a basket ball court and river activities such as fishing and rafting.